Running : Egypt Calls, and Sabra’s Glad to Answer

Haissam Sabra, a freshman miler at UCLA, did not qualify this season for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. track and field championships at Eugene, Ore.

Disappointed?

Not really. Sabra, formerly of Ocean View High School, was too excited after he learned he was chosen to represent Egypt in the Olympics in September at Seoul.

Sabra, a native of Cairo, clocked a 1,500-meter best of 3 minutes 49.7 seconds this year. Though it was seven seconds off the NCAA qualifying standard of 3:42.20, Sabra’s best was better than that of any other Egyptian runner this year.

As the top-ranked miler in Egypt, Sabra, 19, automatically qualified for the Egyptian Olympic team.

“It has been my dream all my life to run for my homeland in the Olympics,” Sabra said. “I’m very grateful for this.”

Sabra first learned that he had a chance to make the Egyptian national team in January. His relatives in Cairo kept him updated on his situation with Telex messages, about twice monthly.

When Sabra clocked the 3:49 in April, the messages started pouring in.

“I think they (the Egyptian Olympic track and field committee) were real excited about the 3:49,” Sabra said. “Everything was happening pretty fast. I couldn’t believe it; it was great.

“This whole thing has given me great incentive to train. Right now, if I wasn’t training for the Olympics, I’d probably just be eating and working a lot.”

After he moved to the United States with his mother, father and five brothers and sisters in 1974, Sabra was raised in Huntington Beach, where he became a track star at Ocean View.

As a senior, Sabra won the Southern Section 4-A 1,600-meter title and placed third in the state meet at 4:11.8.

But that, Sabra said, was accomplished off a minimum of training, roughly 30 miles a week.

“I look back and wish I had trained like a lot of the good high school runners do today,” Sabra said. “I always wonder how much better I could have run if I’d been doing 50 or more (miles) a week.”

Sabra said he realizes making it to the finals of the Olympic 1,500 may be a bit beyond his reach. At least for now.

“My goal for the Olympics is to run a big (personal record),” he said. “I’m not going to worry about getting smeared in the first round. I just want to use it as good experience for 1992.”

Sabra was UCLA’s second-best miler this season. He also competed in the 800 meters. With a best time of 1:52, he wasn’t the star of the team. But guess what?

“I’m the No. 1,800-meter guy in Egypt right now,” he said. “I’m considering running that in the Olympics, as well.”

Not many knew what to expect last Saturday when Jim Geerlings of Newport Harbor High School took a quick 40-yard lead on the mile field at the Golden West Invitational at Cal State Sacramento.

Geerlings, the county’s top high school 1,600-meter runner this season at 4:09.54, ran a gutsy race that had both friends and opponents cheering him on.

Geerlings ran the first 400 yards in 60 seconds--that’s a 4-minute mile pace. He hit the half-mile mark at 2:02.

With one lap to go, Geerlings had a 30-yard lead on the field and still looked strong.

“Everyone was pulling for him. We thought he could pull it off,” said Doug Speck, a Southern California editor of Track & Field News.

But doom came with about 100 yards to go. He was passed on the final stretch by Alan Foster of Beaverton, Ore., and Matt Mitchell of Lyncroft, N.J., and finished third in a respectable 4:10.24.

Race Results: John Koningh of Newport Beach won the Corona del Mar Scenic 5K last Saturday. Koningh held off Derek May of Balboa to win in 14:30. May was second in 14:45 and Kevin Broady was third (14:56).

In the women’s division, winner Kathleen Smith (17:39) was followed by Kim Nelson, second in 17:49, and Nancy Hunsaker, third in 18:02. Harolene Walters, the 1987 winner, was fourth at 18:27.

This week’s schedule:

Saturday: The Main Event 10K at Village Green Park, Garden Grove. 5K at 7:30 p.m. 10K at 8:30. For more information, call 741-5280.

Sunday: Dad’s Day Dash 8K. At Hermosa Pier, Hermosa Beach. 8 a.m. For more information, call (213) 374-8990.

Tuesday: Summer Solstice Five Miler at El Dorado Park, Long Beach. 6 p.m. Children’s mile run at 5:30 p.m. For more information, call (213) 439-6875.