Burnham to Defend Title in Sunkist 500-Yard Run

Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa will be the featured high school performer at the Sunkist Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena today, but the boys’ seeded 2-mile run could offer the most talented field of the meet, which starts at 4:40 p.m.

Burnham, Track and Field News’ national female high school athlete of the year in 1988, will be matched against Angela Rolfe of Dorsey and Roslyn Mack of St. Francis (Mountain View) in the 500-yard run.

Burnham is the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters and Rolfe is the defending state champion in the 400. Mack placed fourth in the 400 in the 1988 state championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

The boys’ 2-mile run will feature Brian Grosso of Walled Lake, Mich., Bryan Dameworth of Agoura and Mike Williamson of Thousand Oaks.

Grosso won the Kinney national high school cross-country championships in San Diego on Dec. 10 while Dameworth placed fourth and Williamson finished 16th.

Dave Hartman of Canyon and Craig Lawson of Granada Hills, seventh and 10th in the state Division I cross-country championships, also will compete.

In other events, Morgan Bateman of Crescenta Valley will renew his rivalry with Eric Smith of Redlands in the 880-yard run and Todd Lewis of Burbank will challenge Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual High in Escondido in the seeded mile.

Bateman defeated Smith for the Southern Section 4-A Division 800-meter title last June, but Smith (fifth) finished ahead of Bateman (eighth) in the state championships.

Lewis placed second in the 1,600 in last year’s Southern Section 3-A championships and O’Neill placed fourth in the state championships in the same event.