State Track Championships : 1987 Champions Face New Challenges

The state track meet is a once-in-a-lifetime event for many high school athletes. Winning, that’s secondary. Just making it to state is itself a goal.

For those with that in mind, Kira Jorgensen of Rancho Buena Vista High and Lynn Patrick of Serra must be frustrating. They’ve already won state titles . . . and they’re only juniors.

Jorgensen and Patrick will be back at this year’s meet, which begins with the preliminaries today at Cerritos College. The first field event, the boys’ discus, begins at 3 p.m. The first race is at 5 p.m. Finals begin Saturday at 5 p.m.

Jorgensen won the 1,600 meters (4 minutes 45.98 seconds) last year and finished second in the 3,200. But she is not top-ranked in either race this year.

Her season best in the 1,600 (4:53.41) ranks her behind Tracey Williams of Mountain View High (4:50.75) and Robbyn Bryant of Hesperia (4:53), both of whom Jorgensen beat last year.

Jorgensen has not been in a competitive 1,600 since she lost to Williams at the Sundevil Invitational. She had no one to push her in the San Diego Section finals last Saturday, when she ran 4:56.11, 13 seconds faster than Michelle Keim of San Pasqual.

“I was really happy with my time,” Jorgensen said. “I think the 1,600 will be a three-person race with Tracey and Robbyn. We should be able to go under 4:50 running together.”

In the 3,200, her top competition figures to be state leader Rena Cervantes of Montebello (10:33.91), Katy McCandless of Palo Alto Castilleja (10:34.6 converted from a 2-mile) and Karen Hecox of South Hills (10:40.37).

Jorgensen’s best this year is 10:36.0. She ran 10:24.23 last year, but her coach, Ed Matheus said she is in better shape now.

“Her workouts have been a little faster the last three weeks,” Matheus said. “Her times have dropped dramatically.”

Patrick, who cleared 5-feet 10-inches on her final try to win the high jump last year, is going to have a tougher time defending her title. She looked to be on the way when she cleared a county-best 5-9 to win the City Eastern League championship three weeks ago. But Patrick did not jump higher than 5-4 at either the section preliminaries or finals.

Unlike Jorgensen and Patrick, Kristina Hand of Fallbrook does not have to worry about defending a title. She has to avenge a loss.

Hand just missed winning the 800 last year as a junior, finishing second to Kim McAllister of Locke by one-tenth of a second.

Both Hand, ranked second in the state (2:12.0), and McAllister are entered again. But there are several who could win. Seven runners, including Kristi Bache of University of San Diego High School (fifth in the state at 2:13.41), have run under 2:14.

The boys’ 800 is similar. Mark Senior, who ran 1:51.77 to win the section, is the state leader. But nine others have run under 1:53.

One is junior Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual (1:52.55), but he will not be in the race, concentrating instead on the 1,600.

To win, O’Neill (4:18.08 at the section meet) will have to overcome state leader Jim Geerlings of Newport Harbor (4:09.54) and six others who have run under 4:12.

Brent Noon, a Fallbrook sophomore, will compete at the state meet for the second time. He finished seventh in the shotput last year.

Noon has the second-best mark in the state, 62-3 1/2. Kaleaph Carter of Huntington Beach Edison has thrown 63-2 3/4.

Noon also has the third best throw in the discus (177-4), but Fallbrook Coach Tim Oder said he may be forced to drop that event. Noon has been bothered by back spasms that hinder him in the discus but don’t seem to cause a problem when he puts the shot.

Michael Stevenson of Morse is ranked third in the 400 (47.22), but he is behind two formidable athletes in Quincy Watts of Woodland Hills Taft (46.67) and Travis Hannah of Hawthorne (46.84).