The Preps / Maryann Hudson : Track Meet to Draw Top Athletes

In addition to world-class track stars Roger Kingdom and Steve Scott--to name only two--an all-star high school cast has been assembled for the 30th annual Sunkist Invitational, to be held Jan. 20 at the Sports Arena.

The list includes both Southern California prep athletes and standouts from other parts of the country.

Scheduled to compete in a special 60-meter dash for high school football players are Russell White of Encino Crespi, Tommie Smith of Antelope Valley, Andre Green of Long Beach Poly, Larry Billoups of Carson and Curtis Conway of Hawthorne.

White, the all-time leading high school running back in California with 5,998 yards, also has a mark of 49 feet 7 inches in the triple jump, leaps more than 22 feet in the long jump, and runs the 100 meters in 10.79. In the eighth grade, White cleared 6-8 3/4 in the high jump.

Heather Scobie, a senior at Saugus High School who ran a 4-minute 56.26-second mile as a freshman, plans to compete in the mile race. She was hurt in a car accident last year, has had two back operations since, and faces three more.

Scheduled to run in the 500 yards is Angela Burnham of Oxnard Rio Mesa, who was chosen as the 1988 outstanding high school female athlete by Track and Field news. Burnham, at 16, was State 100 and 200 champion as a junion and became one of the youngest athlete ever to compete at the Olympic track and field trials last summer. She is the third-fastest high school 100-meter runner of all-time with a best of 11.28.

Other area high school athletes planning to compete include Karen Hecox, a junior from South Hills in West Covina who finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the Kinney national cross-country meet earlier this month; Ashley Black, a senior from Palos Verdes; Reyna Cervantes of Montebello High, who finished second in the state cross-country meet and eighth in the Kinney national; and Eric Smith of Redlands High, who ran 1:52.22 for 800 meters as a junior.

There was cause for at least two double takes last Tuesday at the Beverly Hills High School boys’ basketball invitational.

Both occurred in the second-round game between Palisades and St. Bernard of Playa del Rey. Not only did underdog Palisades lead at the half, 42-40, but 17 of Palisades’ points had been scored by Jason Edwards, a 6-foot 1-inch point guard whose total included a trio of 3-pointers.

Edwards, a senior who also plays shooting guard, transferred to Palisades this year from Brentwood, where he had not played much. He has averaged 25 points a game this season.

In the second half, Edwards was stifled by Sean Patikas, St. Bernard’s star guard, and Ed Stokes, St. Bernard’s 6-11 center, took over the game.

Stokes had played only 4 minutes of the first half because of foul trouble, but he led St. Bernard to a 66-58 victory.

Then, with Stokes scoring 36 points and taking down 17 rebounds, St. Bernard broke a 4-game, 3-year losing streak against Rolling Hills with an 65-61 victory in the title game.

The Viking offense basically revolves around Stokes, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Stokes has committed to the University of Arizona.

Prep Notes

Southern Section boys’ basketball tournaments this week include Torrance and Thousand Oaks. Boys’ tournaments beginning Dec. 26 include the San Bernardino at San Gorgonio High, Nogales, Covina, Hart, Chino, Chaminade and Brea-Olinda, Estancia and the Orange Invitational at Chapman College. . . . Girls’ basketball tournaments this week include the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, Simi Valley, Cypress and the Riverside County Invitational at Norco and Canyon Springs high schools. The finals of the latter tournament are Dec. 29 at Raincross Square in Riverside. The Cerritos Gahr and Marina-Edison tournaments begin next week.