Southern Section Track and Field Championships : Hawthorne Takes 4-A Team Titles

Add two more track championships for Hawthorne High School, this time for the record books.

The Cougars’ 4-A team titles in the boys’ and girls’ divisions of the Southern Section/Reebok/Round Table track and field championships Saturday gave Coach Kye Courtney 10 in 6 years, surpassing Muir of Pasadena, which has won 9. It was also the sixth championship in seven years for the boys and second in his last three tries for the girls.

Fittingly, it would come down to the 1,600-meter relay, the final race of the day, for the boys before a crowd of 5,450 at Cerritos College. Hawthorne loses this race about as often as it drops the baton--which is what happened with the meet on the line last year, when Muir won the event and the team title--and the Cougars proved true to form.

With Curtis Conway and Travis Hannah back from the team that suffered the heartbreak in 1987, the Cougars easily won their signature race in 3:13.63, about 3 seconds ahead of second-place Muir. The memories of last year served them well.

“It was in the back of everybody’s mind,” Courtney said. “Especially mine.

“We talked about it before the race. . . . We knew nobody could beat us, so we said let’s just make sure everybody keeps their cool and makes the handoffs.”

Were you nervous, somebody asked him?

“About 3 minutes and 13 seconds worth,” the coach said.

Conway, just a junior, led the way all day. An All-Southern Conference quarterback who is also rated as an outstanding prospect in football, he won the 100 and 200 and opened a lead while running the second leg of the 1,600 relay the Cougars would never relinquish. Hannah took the 400.

Hawthorne finished with 44 points to beat Long Beach Poly by 5 and Cerritos by 8. Arroyo of El Monte, combining a strong field-event group with the distance runners who were regarded as one of the best cross-country teams in the country during the fall, easily won the 3-A. Morningside of Inglewood took the 2-A crown and Oak Park of Agoura the 1-A.

The Cougar girls whipped second-place Rio Mesa of Oxnard by 37 points. Corona del Mar of Newport Beach was also an easy winner in the 3-A. Woodbridge of Irvine beat Cajon by nine in the 2-A, and Agoura took the 1-A.

Nobody won more than two individual championships, but there were several double winners in addition to Conway:

Kevin Dallas of Pasadena took the 110 and 300 hurdles in the 4-A; Kerry Tate of Upland in the 3-A 400 and 200; Billy Ivey of Covina Edgewood in the 2-A long jump and triple jump; Coley Candaele of Carpinteria in the 1-A 800 and 1,600; David Nottoli of Paraclete in the 1-A 100 and 200; and Rick Fuller of Arroyo, the UCLA football signee, in the discus and shotput.

In girls’ competition: Angela Burnham, the outstanding sprinter at Rio Mesa, in the 4-A 100 and 200; Allison Franke from Canyon of Anaheim in the triple jump and discus; d’Layne Kerr of Corona del Mar in the 3-A 200 and 400; Tonya Irick of Apple Valley in the 2-A 200 and 400; Karen Hecox of West Covina South Hills in the 2-A 1,600 and 3,200; Althea Moses of Morningside in the 2-A triple jump and 800; and Shenae Mills of Compton Regina Caeli in the 1-A 200 and 400.

High jumper Reggie Betton took only one event, but he made it worthwhile. The first-year competitor from Antelope Valley won the 4-A with a best of 7-feet, his second time over the plateau, and came close in one attempt after moving the bar up to 7-4 before three misses at the height.

Additionally, Loni Larson of Fillmore won the 300 low hurdles in the 1-A to become the first girl runner ever to finish No. 1 in the same race four straight years and only the second in any event. Natalie Kaaiawahia won four in a row in the shotput for Fullerton from 1980-83.

The next step for the Southern Section is the Masters meet Friday at Cerritos College, when the four divisions combine for qualifying for the state meet a week later.