Track Meet Has International Flair : Strong Australian Team Takes Part in Event at Poway High

An all-star team from Down Under definitely won’t be looking up to its competitors at the Sundevil Invitational track meet, which begins at 12:30 p.m. today at Poway High School. More likely, it will be looking back at them.

“They ran a meet against themselves today,” said Alan Duke, track coach at Castle Park High School, where the Australian team worked out Thursday. “And they have some runners.”

The Australians are here on a three-week tour being sponsored by International Sports Exchange. Most impressive among them was sprinter Paul Henderson, Duke said.

“I talked to him a long time,” Duke said. “He’s run a hand-timed 10.3 (100 meters) and an electronic 10.59. Today he ran an 11.0, and he backed off.”

That should instill a little fear into the rest of the field, which includes Long Beach Poly’s Andre Green (10.52), Castle Park’s Kiyoshi Moody, Mira Mesa’s Brian Nelson and Orange Glen’s Glen Reyes. Moody, Nelson and Reyes have turned in times of 10.8.

The Australians also will be strong in the 400 meters with Brett Blinman (49.8) and Peter Barton (49.9). However, they will be pushed by Jerome Gross (48.97) of Hoover and Tony Borquez (47.96) of Alemany.

One event of particular local interest will be the long jump, where University City’s Jerome Price will try to equal or better last week’s mark of 24-feet-4 3/4, a state best set at the Arcadia Invitational.

That mark was more than a foot better than Price’s previous personal best. “In practice I had been jumping 23-9, 24-even, that kind of stuff,” Price said. “I’ve just been putting a lot of practice into it.”

But Price has participated in two meets already this week, and complained of soreness Thursday evening after competing in the long jump, high jump and both relays.

His long jump on Thursday was only 23 feet. But Price did that on his first try and did not jump again.

Price’s main competition? None other than Australia’s Henderson, who has jumped 24-1 1/2.

Shotputter and discus thrower Brent Noon from Fallbrook, who has not been in a meet for two weeks because of the flu, also will compete. Noon is nearly 10 feet ahead of his nearest competitor in the shotput with a mark of 65-9, but must make up five feet in the discus to catch Don Lugo High’s Greg Hodel, who owns a mark of 175-1.

In the girls’ meet, county sprinters Angela Kimmey (12.4) from University City, Vicki DeJesus (12.4) of Mount Carmel and Francine Wada (12.2) of Hilltop will most likely be chasing Inger Miller of Pasadena Muir, who has run a national-best 11.59.

In the distances, Kira Jorgensen of Rancho Buena Vista will try to avenge her loss to Ashley Black of Palos Verdes in the 1,600 meters at the Pasadena Games. Both runners come into today’s meet with bests of 4:58.

Jorgensen and Black will also duel in the 3,200 meters.