Girls’ Track : Jorgensen Finishes in Style

There were no tears Saturday from Rancho Buena Vista’s Kira Jorgensen, who ended her illustrious high school track career in San Diego County with two more vintage runaway victories.

But there was definitely cause for an emotional outburst. As she came down the stretch in the 3,200, which she won for the fourth consecutive year, Jorgensen was given a standing ovation by the crowd at Poway High.

“That was awesome,” said Jorgensen, will finish her high school track career next weekend at the state meet.

In winning the 3,200 (10:55.59) and her third consecutive 1,600 (4:59.76), Jorgensen ran as she has most of her prep career--alone. She beat the second-place finisher, which in both races happened to be teammate Mira Hornbacher, by 19 seconds in the 3,200 and 3.3 seconds in the 1,600.

Still Jorgensen was not completely pleased with her races.

“I wanted to run a little faster to get better seeds at state,” Jorgensen said. “But no matter how fast I ran, it would have been a bummer because it was the last race.

Actually, Jorgensen finished with a 59-second anchor on RBV’s fourth-place mile relay team.

Jorgensen was almost upstaged by a couple of outstanding performances by Poway junior hurdler Kim Dill and Serra freshman sprinter Angela Sullivan.

Dill won the 100 and 300 low hurdles, and Sullivan won the 100 and 200 meters.

Dill topped surprising San Pasqual freshman Erin Blunt in both races. In the 100, she expected a challenge from San Pasqual’s Cathy Stark, who finished third.

“She’s always wanted to beat me,” said Dill, who finished in 14.29 to Blunt’s 14.92. “When she was next to me, I was scared to death.”

In the 300, Dill said she was scared to death of Mt. Carmel’s Casandra Tyson, who came in with the fastest qualifying time. Dill took the lead early and never faltered; Tyson fell just yards from the finish and did not qualify for the state meet.

“This is a shocking day,” Dill said.

It was even moreso for Sullivan, who ran a section best 11.98 into a slight wind to beat Hilltop’s Francine Wada (12.18) in the 100. In the 200, she dusted University City’s Angela Kimmey by almost a full second, 24.51 to 25.20.

“I just wanted to qualify for state,” Sullivan said. “In a way, this is a surprise.”

There was no big surprise in the 400-meter relay, which Morse won for the 11th consecutive year. Senior Nicola Stennis and sophomores Ayanda Bennett, Sharon Russell and Nichella Milner easily beat Mt. Carmel, 47.33 to 47.49.

San Pasqual won the team title with 50 points, Mt. Carmel had 49 and Rancho Buena Viosta 45 1/2.

Crawford City junior Shani Freeman ran a meet record 55.19 in the 400 to beat Mt. Carmel freshman Allison Dring (56.44). The two were virtually even as they came around the final turn, but Freeman had much more left and won by 10 yards. Freeman, who was ineligible last year in post-season, said Dring was her motivation.

“I didn’t want to get beat by a freshman,” she said. “I conserved myself in the middle, because wanted to make sure I had some left at the end.”

Patrick Henry’s Rochelle Johnson was the outstanding girls’ field competitor, winning the triple jump (39-8 1/4) and taking second in the long jump (17-10 1/4).