THE MASTERS MEET : Corona del Mar Relay Team Would Be One for Books

Although an official school record book has never been kept, no one is arguing that the girls’ 1,600-meter relay team at Corona del Mar High School is the fastest in Sea King history.

Darcy McGrath, Anne Marie Moiso, Laurie Sawin and de’Layne Kerr’s victory in the 1,600-meter relay helped lead Corona del Mar to a second-place finish in the Southern Section 3-A Track and Field Championships at Cerritos College last Saturday.

Their time--3 minutes 55.06 seconds--advanced them to the Masters meet tonight at Cerritos College. The 1,600-meter relay will be the evening’s final event, scheduled for 9:35.

Corona del Mar, running in lane seven, will face its toughest competition from favorite Long Beach Poly (3:48.66) in lane five, Hawthorne (3:49.67) in six and Muir (3:50.76) in four. Woodbridge, the 2-A division winner in 3:55.38, will run in lane eight.

The top five finishers will qualify for the California state championships, June 5-6, at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium.

“We’re shooting for fourth, just to play it safe,” said Moiso, a junior. “It’ll be such a competitive race, but we all really want to make it to state.”

Steve Kaczynski, in his fifth year as Corona del Mar coach, said his 1,600-meter relay team is stronger than any the school has had. Of course, without record books, he can’t be absolutely sure.

“But I’d put my money on it,” he said. “I doubt there’s ever been this kind of depth here. We could put teams together with seven or eight of our girls, and they’d run 4:05 or better.”

McGrath, the only senior among the four, was primarily a half-miler and cross-country runner through most of her high-school career. But after passing many of the regular quarter-milers in a track workout, McGrath, only 4-feet 11 3/4-inches, was placed as the relay team’s leadoff runner.

Moiso, a junior, was the team’s most valuable player this season, competing in everything from the 200-meter dash to the 100-meter high and 330-meter low hurdles.

Running third is Sawin, who Kaczynski says is his best overall athlete. Sawin, only a sophomore, was third in the 3-A 400-meter final (58.8) and fifth in the high jump (5-2).

The fastest of the four is Kerr, who, after finishing her first-ever 200-meter race in 26.2 seconds (on a dirt track), was chosen athlete of the meet at the Orange Rotary Relays in April. Though a stress fracture in her left shin kept her out of track practice much of the season, Kerr managed to clock 56.8 as the relay team’s anchor at the Southern Section final.

“All of the girls have great competitive desire,” Kaczynski said. “And they really believe in each other. You never hear them complaining that one’s running harder than the other or doing a better job. They all know they’ll run to their potential.”