SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Rivals in Running to Earn a Masters : Nielsen Will Line Up Against Lavelle Again in Formidable 1,600-Meter Field

Three years ago, Mike Nielsen played on the Mater Dei High School freshman basketball team with a tall, gangly kid named Eddie Lavelle.

Lavelle transferred to Corona del Mar after his freshman year and became one of Nielsen’s biggest rivals. Not on the basketball court, but on the track.

Friday night at 7:45, Lavelle and Nielsen will line up along with seven other runners for the boys’ 1,600-meter final at the Southern Section Masters meet at Cerritos College.

The field is a Who’s Who of Southern California prep distance-running talent, including Agoura’s Bryan Dameworth, the 1987 state cross-country champion; Burbank’s Todd Lewis, who won the 3-A title last Saturday in 4 minutes 11.44 seconds--the fastest time of the day, and Carpenteria’s Coley Cadaele, who won the 1-A 800 and 1,600 Saturday.

Lavelle and Nielsen, along with Corona del Mar’s Greg Shryock and Capistrano Valley’s Neil Stevenson, are expected to represent the county well.

Not that representation is the main idea.

Nielsen, who also will compete in the 3,200 approximately two hours after the finish of the 1,600, said, “I’m just getting on that line to win.”

And, perhaps, to prove a few things.

Nielsen, normally a soft-spoken, amiable fellow, said he wasn’t happy when he learned last fall he had been left off the all-county cross-country team, one that is selected by a vote of coaches at a meeting of the Orange County Cross-Country Coaches Assn.

“I felt I was overlooked,” he said. “I think that’s what was driving me (to train hard) during the winter time.”

And now, after beating Lavelle twice in the past two weeks--in the 3,200 at the Southern Section preliminaries May 13 and again in the 3,200 final last Saturday--Nielsen said he has the confidence necessary to run with the very best.

And if he, like other Masters competitors, finishes among the top five of his event, he will advance to the state meet June 3-4 at Cerritos College. But Nielsen says that is not his first priority.

“I’m not going just to qualify,” said Nielsen, whose best times are 4:14.36 in the 1,600 and 9:15.62 in the 3,200.

“The big goal is to win.”

If that happens-- and if Nielsen runs faster than Lavelle’s county-leading time of 4:11.94--he will no doubt take a major step toward proving himself the best miler in the county this season. It is a goal both Nielsen and his coach, Dave Zeitler, have sought for some time.

“A 4:12 (for the 1,600), that was basically our goal for him,” Zeitler said. “But I think Eddie’s best time is 4:11.96 this year, so I think we’d like to go 4:11.95.

“We’d like to show that Mike’s basically the best middle-distance runner in the county. Of course, we want to get to the state meet, but that would be the icing on the cake.”

And Lavelle was not at his best in the section finals Saturday.

In the 1,600, he had to scramble from the back of the pack before finally overtaking Nielsen on the final straightaway for second in 4:13.86. And later, in the 3,200, Lavelle finished sixth in 9:25, 10 seconds behind Nielsen, who was second.

But Lavelle, who will attend Notre Dame in the fall, should not be counted out. His 11 years of racing experience alone--he won four national championships as an age-group competitor before high school--lends a certain advantage.

Though Nielsen did not race against Lavelle before high school--he is one of the few Masters 1,600 meter entrants without any age-group background--he said he has certainly heard plenty of his name and reputation.

It doesn’t seem to bother Nielsen, though. He said he’d rather be the underdog anyway.

“Oh, definitely, that’s the way I like it,” he said.

And for at least one more race anyway, that’s the way it will probably be.