Lovett Goes to Great Lengths to Win : Savanna Runner Gave Up Sprints and Joined Track’s Elite

It’s the time of the season when many high school track teams have been reduced to one or two members, as only the elite athletes remain in competition.

Erika Lovett, 16, a junior middle-distance runner at Savanna High School, was the only member of the girls’ track team who was seriously training this week in preparation for the 75th Southern Section track and field championships today at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

While other team members were playing pickup softball or soccer, Lovett was a lone figure running on the Rebels’ track. She has qualified for the 800 meters and 1,600 meters in the 2-A division.

Lovett established herself as one of the favorites to win the 800 by running a personal best of 2 minutes 16.37 seconds last week in the preliminaries at Gahr. That was only .39 seconds behind Kathryn Krieger of San Luis Obispo, who had the best time of the day. Lovett qualified for the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:22.86.

Lovett figures to be working out in solitude for at least two more weeks. She’ll likely qualify for the Masters meet on May 29 at Cerritos College and then, she hopes, move on to the state meet June 5 in Sacramento.

“Everybody else is playing, and I’m the only one working out,” Lovett said. “It’s just like last year. But it pays off in the end.”

Lovett is hoping the payoff will be a trip to Sacramento to run the 800 meters. She has set a goal of 2:10 in the grueling race, widely considered to be the most difficult in track and field.

“I’ll be concentrating on the 800 meters after Saturday’s race,” she said. “I think I can double in the CIF (Southern Section) meet, but the 1,600 meters will be very difficult. The competition is very tough.”

Lovett is scheduled to run the 800 meters at 2 p.m. and will get a four-hour break before returning for the 1,600. She was the Orange League’s champion in the 400 meters and was on the league-best mile-relay team, but decided to skip the two events after league competition.

“I’ve always considered the 800 meters my best event,” Lovett said. “I’ve been running the race for five years and winning most of the time. I like it because it’s over quickly.

“The race is a combination of a sprint and a distance race. I consider myself more of a distance runner than a sprinter, but I do have a good kick.”

Lovett’s strategy for running the 800 is relatively simple. She likes to get out in front for the first 100 meters and set the pace, stay steady through the back straightaway and then sprint hard for the final 200 meters.

“I’m usually relaxed after running the 800, so that helps me prepare for the 1,600 meters,” she said. “On the longer races, I’ll stay within the front of the pack, usually running third or fourth.

“I’ll speed up a little on the third lap and then hopefully increase the pace on the final lap.”

Lovett began running as a sixth-grader in Carson. She started as a sprinter, but became a distance runner after joining the Cobra Track Club.

She competed in the national age-group championships in the 800 meters for three years, finishing second as a 12-year-old, sixth at 13 and second again at 14.

“My first track coach on the Cobras told me my legs were too long to be a sprinter, and he was right,” Lovett said. “I was finishing third or fourth in the sprints, and when I started running the 800, I was winning everything.”

Lovett moved from Carson to Anaheim before her sophomore year and has been a member of the Rebels’ varsity cross-country and track teams for two seasons. She won the Orange League’s cross-country championship as a sophomore and finished second last fall.

Lovett blossomed into one of the county’s top track performers this season, winning the 800 meters in the Orange County Championships and the unseeded field of the Arcadia Invitational.

“Next year I want to run a 2:05 and earn a college scholarship,” Lovett said. “I’d like to go to either UC Irvine or UCLA. My dream is make the 1992 Olympic team.”

Track Notes

Field events begin at 11 a.m. and running events at noon, with more than 1,300 athletes scheduled to compete. The top nine finishers in each event will qualify for the Masters meet Friday at Cerritos. . . . Among the county’s top entrants in the 4-A division are Kathy Karpel of Ocean View in the 800 and 1,600 meters, shotputter Kaleaph Carter of Edison, pole vaulter Steve Slocum and high jumper John Amneus of Foothill and Paul Peters of Santa Ana Valley in the 400 meters. Carter has the best mark (62-feet 4 3/4-inches) in the state this season, but qualified second behind Royal’s Dave Bultman. Slocum and Amneus are aiming for county records. Slocum has a personal best of 16-0, six inches behind the county mark of 16-6 established by Greg Ernst of El Dorado in 1978. Amneus’ best is 6-10, only 1 3/4 inches behind the county mark established by Doug Drebelbis of Foothill in 1983. Peters has the top mark (47.34) in the Southern Section in the 400 meters. . . . Nick-John Haiduc of Servite represents the county’s best chance of doubling in the 3-A division. Haiduc had the fastest qualifying times in the 800 meters (1:55.49) and the 400 meters (49.55).