Section Track and Field Preliminaries : Jorgensen Looking More Like Her Old Self With State Best in the 1,600

It had been awhile since Kira Jorgensen felt this good. And perhaps longer since she felt this good about herself.

“I was always down on myself about something,” said Jorgensen, a senior at Rancho Buena Vista High who has signed a letter of intent to run track for UCLA.

“I was going into races thinking, ‘I can’t win this.’ ”

This from someone who had always prided herself on mental toughness.

Saturday at Poway High in the San Diego Section track and field preliminaries, that mental toughness returned along with that good feeling. Jorgensen ran a state best (4:53.66) in the 1,600 meters, bettering her previous season best by a whopping four seconds. Karen Hecox of South Hills High had held the top state mark at 4:53.94.

In the boys’ preliminaries, Brent Noon, who holds the 1989 national best mark in the shotput with a throw of 68-9 1/2, threw just 61-8 1/2 while trying out a new technique.

Noon, who foot-faulted on two of his three throws, began using his new technique on Friday. The newfangled approach is designed to put more weight on his right (or back) knee when he begins to throw.

“If I do it right, it will make a huge difference,” he said.

Noon will also begin to cut back on his weightlifting this week in preparation for the section finals next weekend and the state meet starting June 3 in Cerritos. Noon said his coaches have told him the tapering down should improve his distance by three feet. That would put him over 70, which has been his season-long goal.

“If I do it right, it will make a huge difference,” he said.

Noon also led all qualifiers in the discus with a toss of 166-1.

Jorgensen, who finished a disappointing fifth in the 3,000 at the Mt. SAC relays and back in the pack at the Arcadia meet before that, began to get that good feeling again from Dr. Brent Rushall, a sports consultant who teaches at San Diego State.

“He’s helped me concentrate better before my races, and he’s given me a positive attitude,” said Jorgensen, who qualified for the 800 meters last week at the Avocado League finals but decided against running the race Saturday. “To go this fast by myself (she won by 23 seconds) surprised me a bit, but I knew I wanted to run my best race of the season today.”

Jorgensen began seeing Rushall several weeks ago on the advice of her parents and her coach at Rancho Buena Vista, Ed Matheus.

“This is the best I felt since last year’s state meet,” said Jorgensen, who was referring to her 4:49 victory last year.

At next Saturday’s finals, also at Poway, Jorgensen will attempt to pull off a double--the 1,600 and 3,200--for the second consecutive year. She also has the state best this year in the 3,200 at 10:34.7, which she ran after she began seeing the good doctor.

Kim Dill, a junior from Poway, ran a 14.55 in the 110-meter low hurdles to break her section best of 14.84. Rochelle Johnson of Patrick Henry jumped 39-9 1/4 to lead qualifiers for the triple jump. La Frania West of Grossmont was second with a leap of 38-4.

Orange Glen’s Lenny McGill leaped 50-1 3/4 on his third triple jump, just short of his best of 50-4, which leads the state. McGill was performing with laryngitis and a sore left ankle, which still is not a 100% following an early season injury.

Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual was the fastest qualifier in both the 800 (1:52.16) and 1,600 (4:20.73).

One heat of the girls’ 1,600 relay race will have to be rerun because three schools (Torrey Pines, Monte Vista and Fallbrook) started at the wrong lines. The race will be run Tuesday at 4 p.m., with the winner qualifying for the finals.