U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : Notebook : Dasse Comes Into Own to Win Shotputting Gold

Bonnie Dasse never set any more impressive a record in high school than the Costa Mesa High school shot put record. In college, she never threw farther than 47-feet 6-inches, not a mark that would gain much notice.

But now, Dasse is the second-ranked woman shotputter in the United States, one of only a few who have thrown more than 60 feet.

Friday, she won the U.S. Olympic Festival gold medal with a throw of 58-9 1/2, edging Stanford’s Pam Dukes, who beat her for second place in the TAC championships at San Jose this summer.

“I just finally learned what to do,” said Dasse, 28, of the tremendous improvement she accomplished after completing her eligibility at San Diego State. “I just learned that I had been going about weight training and everything all wrong.”

Dasse, who lives in Cost Mesa and trains at UC Irvine, will not compete in the Pan Am Games--only the top two TAC finishers go--but she will compete in the World Championships at Rome in August.

Dasse, who said she has felt “let down” in some recent competitions, said she will take a couple of months off after the World Championships.

“I know my motivation is still there,” she said. “It’s just a little suppressed.”

The West field hockey team of player/coach David McMichael of Newport Beach won the gold medal with a 6-2 victory over the South in Chapel Hill.

“The West team approached the game methodically,” said McMichael, 26. “Each day of the tournament we added a little to our game, so that we peaked in the semifinals and finals.”

Festival Notes After the first three races in boardsailing competition, Lanee Butler of Dana Point is in 11th place and Jayne Fenner of San Juan Capistrano is 13th. Butler and Fenner are the only two women in the 15-person field. . . . Susie McIntyre of Santa Ana (West team) will play in the women’s water polo gold-medal match against the North tonight. Sandy Vessey of Huntington Beach (South) will play against the East for the bronze. . . . Goalkeeper John Blue of El Toro will help lead the South ice hockey team against the North in the gold-medal match Sunday. . . . Former Edison High soccer star Joy Biefeld was a member of the gold-medal winning West women’s soccer team.