Mixed Luck in Finals for Local Runners : Edison’s Taylor Disqualified in 1,600; Nielsen Runs County Best for ’89

The emotional pendulum was at full swing Saturday night for Orange County athletes competing in the 71st state track and field championships at Cerritos College.

Bad news first.

Freshman Shelley Taylor of Edison High School came into Saturday’s 1,600-meter race with hopes of proving she could run with the best. As it turned out, she did just that--up until the final 10 meters.

Taylor, giving her finest effort to date, tried to hold off South Hills’ Karen Hecox for third. Hecox, who with 200 meters to go dueled Taylor in an all-out sprint, went to pass Taylor on the outside. Their legs tangled, and both runners went sprawling to the ground.

Taylor, who landed partly on the infield, and Hecox, who landed on the track, bounded to their feet and surged across the finish line. Both runners thought they had beaten the other.

But when awards were announced moments later, Taylor, waiting to hear if she was third or fourth, did not hear her name called at all. An official told her she had been disqualified.

As Taylor left the field sobbing, another county runner, Mater Dei’s Mike Nielsen, was having the best race of his life in the boys’ 1,600.

Nielsen, whose goal was to run the county’s fastest time this season, had come within a second of beating the county-leading 4:11.94 set by Corona del Mar’s Eddie Lavelle in early April. But as Saturday’s final began, Nielsen instantly found himself at the back of the pack.

Halfway through the race, Nielsen was still eighth in the nine-man field. But 200 meters later, Nielsen surged into fifth, and he surged again past Arroyo Grande’s Louie Quintana going around the final turn.

“At that point, fatigue was getting me,” said Nielsen, who graduated from Mater Dei earlier Saturday morning. “But I just thought, ‘Just finish strong, just finish strong.’ ”

He finished fourth in 4:11.56, the county’s best this season. Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual won in 4:08.67.

After the race, Nielsen, besieged by a group of 24 Mater Dei classmates--who, because of the prank-playing solidarity, call themselves the “‘Big Jerks”--said he was happy with the time, but, “I just wish I was further up in the pack when they made their move. I might’ve gone faster.”

Canyon’s Allison Franke expressed some of the same sentiment over her discus performance: third at 158-feet-1. It was short of her career-best 160-6, but Franke wasn’t unhappy.

“I’m happy that I was consistent,” said Franke, whose series went 155-9, 154-4, 147-11, 153-8, 158-1 and 155-5. “I mean, I’d like to have won, of course, but I’m satisfied.”

Westminster’s Shelly Tochluk, running in the girls’ 400, was just happy to compete at all Saturday. Tochluk left Friday night’s preliminaries to go to her school’s athletic awards banquet before finding out whether she qualified for the final. She was in low spirits, because her 400 heat time (56.34) seemed too slow to advance.

As it turned out, Tochluk qualified, though just barely as the slowest of nine that advanced. Her parents brought her the news while she was accepting her award as Westminster’s athlete of the year.

Tochluk’s attitude in Saturday’s final? Nothing to lose. Her time of 55.81, though off her county-leading 55.77, was good for fifth--a place she never figured to be in.

El Dorado’s Lori Svoboda, the three-time Masters champion in the high jump, placed third in that event with a leap of 5-10.

In the shotput, county athletes continued their season-long surprises. On the girls’ side, Irvine’s Bev Oden, who didn’t compete in the event last last year in order to concentrate on volleyball, placed fifth at 40-0 1/2. In the boys’ competition, Edison’s fast-improving Greg Thurston placed sixth at 56-10 1/2, a personal best by nearly seven inches.

Magnolia triple jumper Phouphet Singbandith could not improve on his season best performance--a leap of 50-3 at the Orange County boys’ championships in April. Singbandith, who has been bothered by sore knees for nearly six weeks, did not get a jump over 46 feet until his final attempt, when he went 47-2 1/4 for seventh.

In the boys’ 800 meters, Edison’s Doug Nichols placed fifth in 1:53.14. Nichols started in lane 8 and cut inside quickly after the first turn to share the lead with San Pasqual’s Francis O’Neill. Nichols and O’Neill led the pack through the first 400 meters in 54.6, the pace for a 1:49 800. But with 200 meters to go, Gordon Johnson of Piedmont came around Nichols and squeezed him toward the curb as they rounded the final turn. Nichols faded, and Johnson went on to win in 1:51.88.

In the boys’ 3,200, Santa Ana Valley’s Jimmy Rodriguez, third in the event as a junior last year, placed fourth in 9:05.96. Rodriguez stayed with the lead pack through seven of the eight laps, but with a lap to go could not overcome the final kick of the top three, winner David Welsh of Jesuit (8:58.08), second-place Bryan Dameworth of Agoura (9:00.27) and third-place Mike Williamson of Thousand Oaks (9:04.91).

Meet Notes:

Attendance for Saturday’s meet was 10,650 . . . In the girls’ 3,200, Katella sophomore Martha Pinto took a second off her personal best with a 10:58.13 for seventh. Montebello senior Rayna Cervantes, runner-up last year, won in 10:32.95. Cervantes will attend UC Irvine in the fall. . . . In the pole vault, Irvine’s Sean Rogan was sixth at 14-8, and Valencia’s Eric Whitcomb tied for seventh at 14-2. . . . Capistrano Valley’s Laurinda Mulhaupt finished eighth in the 800 in 2:16.22. . . . The Edison boys’ 1,600 relay placed fifth in 3:18.05. . . . Said Edison’s Shelley Taylor, after the fall: “I know I didn’t do anything ‘cause I was in front of her. I remember seeing her fall out of the corner of my eye. I do remember her hitting me. I don’t really care about (not getting) the medal or the recognition, it’s knowing that I didn’t do anything that’s so upsetting.” Said Hecox: “I’m not even sure what happened. She just came from behind me, she hit me from behind. It all happened so fast, it’s hard to say.” . . . Prime Ticket will televise the meet Tuesday at 8 p.m.