Southern Section Track : Sabra Dusts Off Memories, Competition : One Year Later, Ocean View Runner Makes Most of 1,600 Opportunity

A year ago, Haissam Sabra of Ocean View High School was voted out of the Southern Section track and field championships by the Sunset League coaches after a bumping incident in the 1,600 meters in the league finals.

Sabra, considered to be one of the best distance runners in Orange County, lost his temper on the final lap of the race when Steve LaMon of Fountain Valley attempted to pass him. The two hooked arms and engaged in a bumping match in the final 100 yards of the race.

At one point, Sabra had pushed LaMon all the way to the eighth lane on the track at Huntington Beach High in what looked more like a wrestling match than a race.

“The guy had ‘Eat My Dust’ written on the bottom of his shoes and was real obnoxious, but that’s no excuse for what I did,” Sabra said. “I made a mistake. That race is still in the back of my mind every time I race.”

LaMon went to the championships instead. The incident must have seemed like a distant memory Saturday as Sabra, a senior, won the 1,600 meters of the 4-A division in the 75th Southern Section track and field championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Sabra’s time of 4 minutes 14.14 seconds was the fastest mark in four divisional races and established him as a favorite next Friday in the Masters meet at Cerritos. Sabra’s best time this season is 4:13.03.

“I want to run under 4:10 before the end of the season,” Sabra said. “I don’t care if it’s at the state meet in Sacramento or next week in the Masters. I’m ready to surprise myself.”

Sabra said he felt comfortable the entire race on the all-weather track. He was in fourth place after two laps, moved to second with a lap running and then turned on the speed for the final 300 meters.

“If I want to get under 4:10, I’m going to have to take a couple of seconds off my second or third lap,” he said. “I can’t control the first lap. You can’t pace yourself because you’re usually jockeying for position.”

Chris Conrad of Mater Dei was up all night on Thursday for his school prom and admitted he was y tired Saturday.

But the lack of sleep didn’t affect Conrad’s performance as he won the triple jump and finished second in the long jump in the 3-A division.

Conrad qualified for the Masters meet with a leap of 47-feet 5 1/2-inches in the triple jump, but his mark of 22-2 in the long jump wasn’t among the top nine finishers who qualify for the Masters.

Conrad recorded a personal best in the triple jump, surpassing his mark of 47-2 1/2 set in the Bronco Invitational in March. He has been training with Steve Rogers at UC Irvine and plans to compete in the decathlon for the Anteaters next season.

“I was confident I would win the triple jump today,” he said. “I came close to my personal best in the prelims (46-10). The conditions were good and I just tried to relax.

“Right now, I’m beat. I just want to go home and get some sleep.”

Paul Peters of Santa Ana Valley remained undefeated in the 400 meters, winning the 4-A division race in 47.79, the best mark of the day. He has the Southern Section’s best mark at 47.34.

“It’s been a dream since my sophomore year to go up against the big boys and win the 400 meters,” Peters said. “I’ve beaten Travis (Hannah of Hawthorne) twice now. I showed it wasn’t a fluke.”

Peters’ time for the final 100 meters of the race was 11.7 seconds. It was a wire-to-wire win for the senior, although he ran into the wind on the back straightaway.

“The wind hit me and slowed me down,” Peters said. “I didn’t have a time in mind; I just wanted to win. If I can maintain the lead until the final 100 meters, I know I’ll win.”

Peters suffered only his second loss of the season by finishing fourth in the 200 meters, but there was some consolation. His time of 21.48 set a school record, and he qualified for the Masters.

“I got beat fair and square,” he said. “I beat Cory Ealy (Muir) last week and he beat me this week. I’ll get another chance next week.”

Nick-John Haiduc of Servite figured to have the best chance of winning two events among the county’s entries after posting the top qualifying times in the 400 and 800 meters in the 3-A division preliminaries nine days ago.

Haiduc won the 800 meters in 1:54.13, but managed only a sixth-place finish in the 400 meters as Billy Thurmond of Saddleback was a surprise winner. Haiduc has been fighting a cold all week.

“I tried to talk him out of running the 400 meters after he won the 800,” said Jaime Sandoval, Servite coach. “But he wanted to do it really bad.

“He cramped up in practice on Monday, and that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him hurt in practice. He had problems breathing today, but he doesn’t know the word quit.”

Haiduc’s strategy in the 800 meters was simple.

“I was looking to run the first 400 meters in 54 seconds, and my coach said I ran a 52.8,” Haiduc said. “I knew if I forced the pace, no one was going to catch me.

“I ran as fast and as hard as I could. The race drained me and I didn’t have anything left for the 400 meters. I really wanted to double, but I felt terrible in the second race.”

Track Notes

Edison shotputter Kaleaph Carter finished second in the 4-A division for the second consecutive year. Carter’s mark of 60-9 was 6 inches behind winner Dave Bultman of Royal. Four county athletes--Carter, Rich Brown (Mission Viejo), Kevin Fairman (Edison) and Doug Blanchard (Edison) finished among the top five shotputters. . . . Myron Williams of Orange was a surprise winner in the 2-A high jump with a personal best of 6-10. Williams has progressed from 6-7 to 6-10 in the past three weeks. . . . Distance runner Kathy Karpel of Ocean View won the 4-A 1,600 meters in 4:55.23 and finished second in the 800 meters in 2:14.83. Erika Lovett of Savanna was second in the 2-A 800 meters. . . . Mission Viejo sprinter Sheri Bertell was third in the 4-A 100 meters at 12.09 and sixth in the 200 meters at 25.40. . . . Michael Bain of Corona del Mar established a 3-A division record in the discus with a mark of 184-6. . . . Chris Lugo of Valencia won the 2-A 3,200 meters with a time of 9:12.72, and Terrence Mahon of La Habra was second in the 3-A 3,200 meters with a time of 9:10.40. Both qualified for the Masters. . . . Lori Svoboda of El Dorado was the winner of the 3-A high jump with a mark of 5-7.