THE PREPS : County Meet Attracts Field of About 500 Girls

About 500 athletes from 40 high schools will compete today in the Orange County Girls’ Track and Field Championships at UC Irvine.

According to meet director Al Britt, only five county schools that have girls’ teams will not attend the meet.

Mission Viejo may pose the strongest threat for the team title.

The Diablos feature the county’s leading sprinter in Sheri Bertell. They also have hurdler Suzanne Kerho, triple and high jumper Lisa Fager and shotputter Kristen Dunn, who are among the county’s leaders.

Corona del Mar and defending meet champion Woodbridge may pose the most serious threat for Mission Viejo.

The Sea Kings are led by sprinter d’Layne Kerr, distance runner Leslie Cashion, high jumper Denise Mahoney and long jumper Sandy Lucas, the county’s leader at 18-feet 3-inches.

Woodbridge, whose distance runners captured second place at the state Division II cross-country championships last fall, is led by freshman 800-meter runner Amy Robles, distance runner Cathi Peck and sophomore sprinters Kaci Keffer and Michelle Muniz.

Allison Franke, Canyon’s multi-event star, headlines the individual entrants.

Franke will compete in the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, triple jump and, her specialty, the discus. Last Saturday, Franke tossed the discus 155-10, the second-best mark in the state this season.

El Dorado’s Lori Svoboda, who led the state in the high jump last year with a jump of 5-10, tops that event.

Other top entrants include: Savanna’s Erika Lovett (400 and 800 meters), Capistrano Valley’s Laurinda Mulhaupt (800), La Habra’s Sita Jones (1,500 and 3,000), Irvine’s Barbara Kozlowski (3,000) and Esperanza hurdlers Danielle Reaves and Emily Thiebaud.

The meet begins at 10 a.m. with the long jump and discus. Running events begin at noon, with the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries. The final event, the 1,600-meter relay, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.