Southern Section Track : It’s Hawthorne, Vickers . . . Again

Were the highlights of Saturday afternoon’s Southern Section track championships to be filmed as a commercial, American Express would not get many of the winners. “Do you know me?” was not the question of the day at Cerritos College.

Something along the lines of “Same thing? Same thing,” would have been more appropriate. Janeene Vickers and Kye Courtney were back again in their starring roles.

Vickers, the junior from Pomona, had the outstanding individual performance of the day by winning all four events she entered--the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles, the 400 and the 400 relay. That gives her eight Southern Section titles in three years.

“I had no choice,” she said. “I either had to win all four events or go home without the plaque.”

That means the 3-A team championship for the Red Devil girls, and they won that, too.

Courtney, the coach at Hawthorne, knows a little something about team titles himself. The boys’ 4-A championship Saturday was the fifth straight title for the Cougars--two in the 3-A and three after being moved up a level--while the girls won their first in the 4-A after winning the 3-A in 1982 and ’83.

Still, the 1986 plaque for the boys will stand out in its own way since this was, for the most part, a group of unknowns who made good after stars Henry Thomas, Sean Kelly and Michael Marsh had graduated.

“What turned us around was going down to Texas and getting our butts kicked,” Courtney said of the Texas Relays in April. “We ran a 3:15.1 (in the 1,600 relay) then. Today, we went 3:14.35, and we should be at 3:12 before it’s over.”

Second-place Simi Valley--with Jim Zimmer winning the 1,600, Mike Carnes finishing third in the long jump and 100, and Robert Harris taking second in the 200 and fourth in the 400--had 39 points, 20 less then Hawthorne. Muir of Pasadena was third with 30 points.

Rodney Bradshaw won the 110-meter high hurdles and finished second in the 300 intermediates, Kirk Stonerock won the 3,200 and finished second in the 1,600, and his twin brother, Daren, took second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 to lead Saugus to a 12-point win in the 3-A Division. Duarte was second with 56 and West Covina took third.

In the 2-A, Inglewood Morningside, with sprinter Otis Dixion winning the 100 and 200, edged Blair of Pasadena, 44-39, for the championship with Loyola third at 38 points. Cabrillo won the 1-A with 53 points and room to spare, while Morro Bay was second with 38 and Marshall Fundamental of Pasadena took third with 34.

Tami Stiles’ victories in the 100 and 200, and Tamiko White’s win in the 300 low hurdles paced the Hawthorne girls. The 66 points by the Cougars outdistanced Long Beach Poly (40) and Thousand Oaks (35).

Morningside and Cabrillo were also double winners for team awards as the Monarch girls team, with Samantha Bryant taking the 100 and 200 and Althea Moses the 800, edged Cajon for the 2-A title, 53-52. South Pasadena was third at 34.

Cabrillo won the 1-A with 43 1/2 points, and Yucaipa was second with 42, but the remainder of the places will be decided next week after an event-by-event rescoring. Soon after the meet ended, officials noticed that a runner from Santa Ynez had competed in five events, one over the limit.

The Pomona girls beat second-place Woodbridge of Irvine by 10 points, 40-30, with Newport Harbor third at 29.

Marcus Hooks of Lakewood was another individual standout, adding to his 1986 national lead in the triple jump with a best of 52-3 1/2 while winning the 4-A title. Five of his six attempts were over 50 feet.

The top nine marks in each event qualified for the Masters meet Friday evening at Cerritos College, with the best five in that competition advancing to the state finals June 6-7. That will also be held at Cerritos.