HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS : TRACK

After Saturday’s preliminary round of the Southern Section 4-A track and field championships at Gahr High, one thing is very clear: No one in 4-A throws his weight around better than Royal High’s Dave Bultman.

Bultman, who has thrown the shot 62-0 and flung the discus 192-1, was the top qualifier in both events. He had bests of 59-8 1/2 in the shotput and 185-10 in the discus.

In the discus, Bultman overwhelmed the field. His worst throw of the day was 182-5. That would have been enough to defeat Mission Viejo’s Rich Brown, who finished second with a throw of 168-6.

And Bultman’s effort in the shot put wasn’t anything to be taken lightly, either. Before his winning effort in the event, he had throws of 58-10 1/2 and 56-7 3/4.

Among those who will be joining Bultman at Cerritos College next Saturday for the division finals are two of the area’s most versatile athletes--Staci Leach and Sharon Manship, both of Thousand Oaks.

Leach, who was trying to overcome the disappointment of false starting in last year’s preliminaries in the 100-meter low hurdles, turned in the day’s fastest time in the 300 meters with a clocking of 44.54. Later, she came within a hundreth of a second of the day’s fastest time in the 100-meter low hurdles as she won the second heat in 14.05.

Manship, who had the day’s second-fastest time in the 300-meter hurdles, winning the second heat in 44.67, finished her day by qualifying first in the triple jump with a leap of 37-11 3/4.