TRACK : Three Valley Runners Qualify for U.S. Team

Led by Regina Jacobs’ victory in the 1,500 meters at The Athletics Congress track championships last Saturday in San Jose, three Valley-area athletes qualified for the United States World Championship team that will begin competition in Rome on Aug. 29. The top three finishers in each event at San Jose City College qualified for the team.

Alice Brown of Panorama City placed second in the 100 meters (a wind-aided 10.93) and Denean Howard of Chatsworth placed third in the 400.

Jacobs, who attended high school at the Argyll Academy in North Hollywood, won her first national title with a season-best 4:03.70.

Brown, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the 100, was pleased with her performance but said she should have run faster.

“I strained my right hamstring in the semifinals and it affected me a little in the final,” she said. “I thought too much about the leg and not enough about the race itself. I made some technical mistakes which might have cost me the race.”

Icing on the cake: Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge finished her season on a high note Saturday, placing 10th in the 1,500 meters at the TAC championships.

The 1986 California state high school champion at 1,600 meters, Arreola lowered her CSUN record to 4:15.35.

Her previous best was 4:16.79, which she ran in placing second at the NCAA Division II championships in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Little big man: At 5-10, 200 pounds, former Granada Hills High standout Scott Schain is small for a shotputter. But that didn’t prevent CSUN Coach Don Strametz, however, from recruiting the Glendale College product.

Schain compensates for his lack of size with quickness, technique and a competitive attitude, Strametz said.

“He’s got a great record in big meets,” Strametz said. “He always rises to the occasion.”

Schain’s competitive nature was evident at the 1987 state community college track championships when he placed third, despite throwing with a sprained right ankle.

Philadelphia-bound: The West Valley Eagles Track Club, led by state sprint champion Quincy Watts of Taft High, will compete in the TAC Youth Nationals beginning today in Philadelphia.

Watts, who won the 100 and 200 meters at the state championships in June, will compete in both of those races and the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.