SportsScope : Muir’s Miller Will Seek State Track Titles in 2 Events

Muir High of Pasadena leads a contingent of San Gabriel Valley schools that have qualified athletes for the 70th CIF state track and field championships Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

The Mustangs have qualified in four girls events and one boys event for the meet, which starts at 3 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.

Heading the way is Muir sophomore sprint standout Inger Miller, who has qualified in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Miller finished second in the 100 with a swift time of 11.64 seconds and third in the 200 (23.76) at the CIF Masters Meet last week.

The Muir girls have also qualified in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays while the boys will compete in the 1,600-meter relay.

Several other valley athletes have qualified for the meet in two events: Tracey Williams of Mountain View in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, Rick Fuller of Arroyo in the shot put and discus and Billy Ivey of Edgewood in the long and triple jumps.

Williams, one of the top distance runners in the state the last four years, figures to have her best chance of winning in the 1,600 in which she has a season best of 4:50.75.

Fuller, a 6-8, 275-pound senior who has signed a letter of intent to play football at UCLA next season, is also expected to finish among the leaders after posting strong qualifying marks of 174-9 in the discus and 60-3 in the shot.

Nogales, Pasadena and Alhambra have also qualified two individuals.

Nogales figures to be among the leaders in the boys 800 meters with Edgar Montez, who finished second in the Masters in a swift 1:52.56, and the girls discus with Reneeka Williams, a sophomore who finished second with a throw of 153-9 at the meet.

Pasadena has one of the favorites in the triple jump in Mingo Hosey, who won the Masters with a leap of 49-3, and also qualified Kevin Dallas in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

Among the other top boys are Scott Hempel of Walnut in the 3,200 meters and Mark Wilson of Charter Oak in the high jump. Other top girls include Andrea Sansom of Glendora in the 800 meters and Karen Hecox of South Hills in the 3,200 meters.

Sylvia Mosqueda of Cal State Los Angeles, who won the NCAA Division II women’s cross-country title last season, has been selected the top female athlete in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. by conference sports information directors.

The 22-year-old Mosqueda is the first winner from Cal State since hurdler Sam Turner in 1978.

Considered among the top distance runners in the U.S., Mosqueda also won the 1987 Division II Far West Regional and finished fifth at the TAC national cross-country championships. A former standout at San Gabriel High and East Los Angeles College, she also made the Division II All-American cross-country team in 1986.

Mosqueda has also been a top performer in track for the Golden Eagles, qualifying for the Olympic trials in the marathon, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

After finishing third in the 5,000 in the NCAA Division I finals last year, Mosqueda is competing in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at this week’s Division I championships at Eugene, Ore.

Cal Poly Pomona had two high finishers in the CCAA athlete of the year voting. Track standout Durelle Schimek was third among women and baseball player Dave Hajek was fifth among men.

Schimek, a sophomore from Nevada, earned All-American honors in three events in leading the Broncos to fourth place in the Division II track championships two weeks ago.

She won the heptathlon with 5,479 points and the javelin with a throw of 186-10, the fourth best mark in the U.S. this year, to qualify for the Olympic trials in both events. She also earned All-American in the high jump.

Hajek, a junior shortstop who was recently selected a most valuable player in the CCAA, paced the Broncos to the conference title and Division II playoffs with a team-leading .368 batting average, 82 hits and 23 doubles.

Second baseman Alison Stowell, who led Cal Poly Pomona to a tie for third with Arizona in the NCAA Division I College World Series last week, has been named to the division’s All-American softball team for a school-record fourth straight year.

Stowell, a 5-7 senior from Walnut, was previously named to the All-Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. and All-West Region teams. She became the first player ever to make the All-PCAA team four straight years.

She finished her career as Pomona’s all-time leader in hits, doubles, runs, stolen bases and at-bats and was second in batting average. As a senior she batted .283 with a team-leading 66 hits, 47 runs and an on-base percentage of .451.

Pomona’s finish in the World Series was its highest ever in Division I. The Broncos finished third in the AIAW Division I in 1979.