San Diego Section Track Preliminaries : Morse Pays Heavy Price for Victory in Relays

The Morse High School girls’ 400-meter relay team scored a costly victory at Saturday’s San Diego Section track and field preliminaries at Mt. Carmel High School.

In the 400-meter relay, the day’s first event, Morse leadoff runner Shawnette Sapp pulled up lame rounding the turn. Sapp cautiously coasted to teammate Nicola Stennis and handed her the baton in time for the Morse team to win the race in 47.85 seconds, only a second slower than its county best of 46.89.

“She pulled a hamstring in her left leg,” said Gary MacDonald, Morse girls’ coach. “It had been tight all week. There’s a chance she won’t run next week (section finals).”

Sapp was scratched from the 200 meters, 400 meters and the mile relay, and she’s not sure if she’ll be able to run in the section finals or the state meet June 5 and 6 at Sacramento.

“I hurt it when I came off the turn,” Sapp said. “It was like a sharp pain. All week my leg has been tight. I’ve never pulled before.”

Sapp said the meet trainer, Susan Trebor of the San Diego Medical Center, considered it to be a slight strain.

“She said if I go to the trainer and stretch and don’t run on it, I can be OK for next week,” Sapp said.

Sapp’s injury may not be as significant next week as it would be at the state meet. Morse has the state’s second-fastest time in the 400-meter relay and is considered the favorite to win the state title. Hawthorne, which has the fastest time (46.31), has lost three of its four runners because of injuries and academic problems and isn’t expected to challenge Morse.

Sapp’s absence from the mile relay team was felt immediately as Crawford’s Onnie Ferguson beat Morse’s Kim Matthews at the tape to win by .02 seconds (3:59.77) .02 seconds faster. Morse fell behind early in that race. Matthews, who ran in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, used all her remaining stamina to pass Ferguson, but she couldn’t hold her off.

Three athletes set county bests Saturday, and three others lost county bests because their times were judged to be wind-aided.

Setting county bests were Crawford’s Raymond Ethridge with 21.33 in the 200 meters; La Jolla’s Charles Huff, who jumped 49-4 1/2 in the triple jump, and Lincoln’s Michelle Outlaw, who ran 45.25 in the 300-low hurdles.

Matthews won her heats in the 100 and 200, with her time in the 100 a wind-aided 11.95.

Also losing county bests because the wind exceeded 2.0 meters per hour were Lincoln teammates Charles Patterson in the 110-high hurdles (14.56) and Patrick Rowe in the 100 meters (10.47).

Matthews’ time of 24.78 in the 200 meters was just off her county leading time of 24.62, set at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays against state leader Janeene Vickers of Pomona.

“The first time I ran relaxed was at Mt. SAC against Vickers,” Matthews said. “I used to panic when I was neck and neck with people, but now I just tell myself to relax.”

Outlaw, who had a knee operation in December, won her heat in the 100 low hurdles (14.56) and qualified in the long jump (17-1 1/2).

“I only feel it when I warm up,” Outlaw said. “I feel the pain on my inner ligament (left leg). I don’t think about it at all when I run.”

Huff, a junior, is the defending section long jump champion, but is now looking to win two events.

“I’ve been underachieving up until now,” Huff said. He also qualified in the long jump at 22-4.

Results BOYS: 100--Raymond Ethridge (Crawford) 10.56, Essex Burton (Mira Mesa) 10.99w, Patrick Rowe (Lincoln) 10.47w; 200--Raymond Ethridge (Crawford) 21.33, Michael Stevenson (Morse) 22.09w, Patrick Rowe (Lincoln) 21.52w; 400--Dustin Seale (Poway) 50.45, Marcus Wesley (Poway) 50.27, Michael Stevenson (Morse) 49.11; 800--Ray LeBrun (Orange Glen) 1:55.79, Shan Forehand (Mt.Carmel) 1:56.4, James Fraser (Monte Vista) 1:54.36; 1,600--Jason Martin 4:20.07, Goshu Tadese (Crawford) 4:21.4, John Kemp (El Capitan) 4:22.68, Marc Davis (San Diego) 4:13.58, Jorge Castro (Ramona) 4:17.4, Andy Davis (Patrick Henry) 4:20.0; 400 relay--Mira Mesa 43.41,Poway 42.76, Crawford 42.13; mile relay--Mount Miguel 3:23.17, Poway 3:24.85, Morse 3:24.67; 110 high hurdles--Fred Saria (Mira Mesa) 14.96w, Ken Graves (San Pasqual) 15.10w,Charles Patterson (Lincoln) 14.56w; 300 intermediate hurdles--Doug Eagle (Poway) 39.62, Ken Graves (San Pasqual) 40.43, Kevin Jones (Mount Miguel) 39.33; high jump--12 qualified at 6-2; long jump--Matt Farmer (Monte Vista) 23-2; pole vault--Pat Alduenda (Ramona) 15-2 3/4; triple jump--Charles Huff (La Jolla) 49-4 1/2; discus--Jumbo Malsack (Escondido) 165-11; shot put--Brent Noon (Fallbrook) 55-11 1/2.

GIRLS: 100--Laural Isles (El Camino) 12.31w, Onnie Ferguson (Crawford) 12.39w, Kim Matthews (Morse) 11.95w; 200--Yolanda Fitch (Morse) 25.25, Onnie Ferguson (Crawford) 25.75, Kim Matthews (Morse) 24.78; 400--Shani Freeman (Crawford) 58.01, Carla Tucker (Serra) 59.35, Yolanda Fitch (Morse) 57.79; 800--Kristi Bache (USDHS) 2:18.4, Erica Olson (USDHS) 2:18.51, Kristina Hand (Fallbrook) 2:16.67; 1,600--Michele Keim (San Pasqual) 5:16.18, Krishna Foster (Helix) 5:16.79, Diane Bradley (El Capitan) 5:16.94; (Heat 2) Kira Jorgensen (Vista) 5:02.83, Karen Karcher (Ramona) 5:13.58, Jenny Berry (Helix) 5:17.5; 3,200--(30 runners qualified for finals with league qualifying times last week); 400 relay--Crawford 49.00, El Camino 49.68, Morse 47.85; 1,600 relay--Vista 4:07.10, Crawford 3:59.77, El Capitan 4:07.44; 100 high hurdles--Michelle Outlaw (Lincoln) 14.56w, Darla Vaughn (Mira Mesa) 14.69w, Stephanie Williams (University City) 14.46; 300 low hurdles--Veronica Powell (Lincoln) 46.01, Michelle Outlaw (Lincoln) 45.25, Salynda Gray (Mount Miguel) 47.91; high jump--Zoe Anastas (Poway) 5-0; long jump--Latanya Canada (Castle Park) 18-8; triple jump--Cherise Poole (Patrick Henry) 37-9; discus--Terri Mann (Point Loma) 134-1; shot put--Starla Ahu (Vista) 40-7.

(w--wind-aided).