PREP TRACK AND FIELD : Top Prep Boys to Highlight Mt. SAC Meet

The Mt. San Antonio College Relays, the second big test of the season for the Southland’s top high school track and field athletes, will start today and continue Saturday with its annual marathon of events.

The high school portion of the meet starts at 2:45 p.m. today and continues at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Though many of Orange County’s top girls are competing in the county championships Saturday, most of the top boys will be at Mt. SAC.

Dana Hills will be the favorite in the 4 x 1,600-meter relay, scheduled at 6:40 tonight. The Dolphins will be led by the Tansley brothers, Mike and Andrew, and the Niednagel brothers, Steve and Daniel.

All four placed in the top 10 in the Southern Section 4-A cross-country championship last fall. Mike Tansley ran a personal best and school record of 9 minutes 10.11 seconds for 3,200 meters at Arcadia. The foursome will be gunning for the county record of 17:31.6, set by Foothill in 1975.

Eddie Lavelle of Corona del Mar will run the 3,000 meters at 2:55 p.m. today and the 1,500, along with teammate Greg Shryock, at 11:40 a.m. Saturday.

Lavelle has looked particularly strong in the past two weeks, according to Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner. At Arcadia, he ran 4:11.94 for the open 1,600, then came back a couple hours later with a 4:13 1,600 leg on the distance medley relay.

Last week at the Tustin Relays, Lavelle ran 1:53.8 for 800 and 45 minutes later did a 4:20 1,600.

In the 3,000, Lavelle will face stiff competition from Bryan Dameworth, an Agoura junior, and Scott Hempel, a senior from Walnut.

Phouphet Singbandith, a junior at Magnolia, will try to break the Orange County triple jump record at noon Saturday. Singbandith has jumped 50-feet 3-inches this season, a half-inch short of the record set by Ken Williams of Troy in 1982. Singbandith’s 50-3 mark was set two weeks ago at the Orange County championships.

A fast-improving Doug Nichols of Edison will run the 800 meters at 12:05 p.m. Saturday. Nichols, a senior, is the county leader with his 1:53.93 at Arcadia two weeks ago.

One notable absentee at Mt. SAC will be Tim Martin, San Clemente’s sophomore sprinter. Martin, who has run 10.42 and 21.3 for the 100 and 200 meters this season, did not receive an invitation to run, according to his coach, Bill Hartman.

Allison Franke, Canyon’s multievent star, and Woodbridge, led by 400-meter runner Kaci Keffer, and a deep Mission Viejo team will highlight the Orange County Girls’ Track and Field Championships.

The meet, at Rancho Santiago College, begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with the long jump.

Franke, a hurdler, triple jumper and discus thrower, will forgo tougher competition at Mt. SAC to compete at the county championships. She had thrown a county-leading 158-4 in the discus this season.

Two weekends ago at Arcadia, Keffer ran a county-leading 57.75 in the 400. She will face tough competition in that event from Mission Viejo’s Allison Axtell, Corona del Mar’s Laurie Sawin and Esperanza sophomore Lynn Murray.

Lori Svoboda of El Dorado, the county leader in the high jump, also will compete. She has a best of 5-10 3/4, also best in the county this season.

In the distance events, Edison freshman Shelley Taylor and University freshman Tanja Brix will highlight competition in the mile.

Mission Viejo, the defending team champion, will be favored again, but Canyon, Edison, Esperanza and Woodbridge will be the top challengers among the 43 schools entered.