Watts, White Decide to Skip Sunkist Meet

With Quincy Watts of Taft High and Russell White of Crespi playing basketball, distance runners Ian Alsen of Granada Hills and Bryan Dameworth and Deena Drossin of Agoura head the list of Valley-area performers for the 29th Sunkist Invitational indoor track meet Jan. 22 at the Sports Arena.

Watts, the 1987 state champion in the 100 and 200 meters and the No. 1-ranked high school sprinter in the country by Track and Field News magazine, is averaging 21.4 points and 6.3 rebounds a game for the Taft varsity. White, runner-up in the state triple jump, is beginning his first season on the Crespi junior varsity.

“I’ll run track after basketball is over,” White said. “But right now, I just want to play basketball and see how it is.”

In the absence of Watts and White, Alsen and Dameworth will challenge Rob Kennedy of Westerville High (Ohio) in the boys two-mile. Kennedy won the Kinney national cross-country championships in San Diego on Dec. 12.

Alsen, the 1987 City Section champion in cross-country and 3,200 meters, won the Kinney West regionals but didn’t run at the national meet because the City championships were held the same day.

Dameworth, a sophomore who is the state Division I cross-country champion, lost a shoe, then tripped and fell, and finally dropped out of the West regionals.

Drossin, a freshman, also will try to rebound from a disappointing finish at the Kinney national championships. She placed 11th.

Other entrants from the area include Tom Parker of Notre Dame (pole vault), Travis Cooksey (800 meters) and Angela Burnham (500-yard dash) of Rio Mesa, and Desiree Joubert (800 meters) of Westlake.