Track : Dashing Success of Win America Puts ‘Speed Valley’ in the Fast Lane

The San Jose State track program, which has produced a bevy of world-record sprinters and helped earn its home the sobriquet “Speed City,” was axed several weeks ago for economic reasons. But a junior version has taken root in the San Fernando Valley.

The Win America Track and Athletics Club, based in Canoga Park and founded by Taft High assistant Hilliard Sumner, boasts some of the best junior (19 and under) sprinters in the nation.

The club’s list of speed merchants includes Quincy Watts of Taft, Bryan Bridgewater of Washington High, Angela Rolfe of Dorsey High and Simone Cain of Hueneme High.

Those four head a list of 20 Win America athletes entered in The Athletics Congress Junior track championships in Tallahassee, Fla., to be held today and Saturday.

Watts placed second in the 200 meters in last year’s junior championships in Tucson, Ariz., and will run in the 100 and 200 this year. The Toreador senior, who won three CIF state titles during his illustrious career at Taft, will be challenged by Bridgewater, who edged Watts for this year’s state high school 200 title.

Rolfe won the CIF state title in the 400 and Win America teammate Althea Moses of Morningside High won the triple jump. At the state high school meet, Cain was second in the 200 and third in the 100.

Win America’s focus, however, will not be limited to the track and field, according to Sumner.

“It will be based on the three A’s,” he said. “Attitude, academics and athletics. Every athlete on the club must have a grade of C or better in every class, but a C average is not good enough. No one with a D will be allowed to compete.

“We’re trying to develop people as well as athletes.”

Because of the club’s wide-ranging membership, workouts are held at Birmingham High on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at USC on Mondays and Wednesdays.

“It’s difficult, but we’ve learned to live with it,” said Sumner, whose club won the Young Men’s and Young Women’s division titles at the West Coast Classic in Modesto last weekend even without some of its top members.

William Reed of Central High in Philadelphia, Reggie Betton of Antelope Valley and Hawthorne standouts Travis Hannah and Curtis Conway are all expected to join the team in the coming weeks.

Reed, who is rumored to be heading for USC, was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 400 in 1987. At the CIF state meet, Betton won the high jump, Hannah won the 400 and Conway placed second in the 100 and third in the 200.

“We’ve got some speed to burn,” Sumner said.

Add Win America: Tommie Smith, who helped San Jose State earn its Speed City moniker in the 1960s, will coach the club’s hurdlers. Smith, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist in the 200, will be joined by former Morningside standout Billy Hicks (sprints), Gary Wright (middle distances) and Darrell Taylor (jumps) on the Win America coaching staff.

Hicks’ brother Steven, a professional dancer, will be in charge of conditioning and flexibility.

Add Junior championships: Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa High, Tom Parker of Notre Dame, Rodney Burt of Birmingham and Melanie Clarke of El Camino Real also will compete in Tallahassee.

Burnham, the state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, has a legitimate shot at qualifying for the U. S. junior team, as does pole vaulter Parker, who placed fifth last year.

The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the World Junior championships in Sudbury, Canada, on July 26-31. The first four finishers in the 100 will qualify for the 400-meter relay team.

Burt will run the 200 and 400 and Clarke is entered in the 400, high jump and shotput.

Coming home: Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge, who attended Grossmont High in La Mesa, will run in the 2,000 meters at the Michelob Invitational in San Diego on Saturday.

Arreola was scheduled to compete in the 1,500, but that distance was changed to 2,000 meters at the request of Mary Slaney, the American record-holder in every event from the 800 to 10,000 meters.

“It doesn’t matter to us,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “Darcy’s had some very, very good workouts in the last week.”

Upcoming events: The 29th annual all-comers series of track meets will begin at Birmingham High on Wednesday. The meets will be held every Wednesday through Aug. 3.

Youth events begin at 6 p.m., followed by novice, open and masters events starting at 7.

All-comers cross-country meets will be held at Pierce College at 6:30 p.m. in conjunction with the track meets.