Jones Finds the Fast Lane : Track: Speedy freshman sprinter transfers to Rio Mesa High to become Angela Burnham’s heir apparent.

When Angela Burnham graduated last June and took her talents to UCLA, Rio Mesa High track Coach Brian FitzGerald figured that another athlete of her caliber would not come along soon.

After all, Burnham had won five state titles in her four years at Rio Mesa, including 100- and 200-meter titles in her junior and senior years.

She had also run in the Olympic Trials and twice was honored as Track & Field News magazine’s female high school athlete of the year.

No, Burnham was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent for a high school coach.

But a telephone call FitzGerald received only eight weeks later caused him to reevaluate his thinking.

On the phone was Marion Jones, who informed FitzGerald that her daughter, also Marion, would be moving to Camarillo from Sherman Oaks to attend Rio Mesa in the fall.

This was the same Marion Jones who had smashed Burnham’s national age-13 record in the 200 meters (24.90 seconds) with a 24.30 clocking during the summer--a time which would have placed second behind only Burnham in the Southern Section 3-A Division finals last season.

This was the same Marion Jones who had run personal bests of 12.01 in the 100 and 56.98 at 400 meters as an eighth grader.

“I had read about her and I knew who she was,” FitzGerald said. “I said to myself, ‘Boy, it would sure be great to have her,’ and the next thing I knew she was coming here.”

Comparisons with Burnham are likely to arise as the season progresses, but Jones, 14, would prefer to focus on herself.

“(The state meet) is a long way off,” she said. “I just want to try my best and see what happens. Angela is a very fast runner and her records will be tough to beat.”

While the two are certain to be compared by their performances on the track, they are very different off it.

“Angela is Angela, and Marion is Marion,” FitzGerald said. “The only similarity is that they run very fast. Their personalities are complete opposites. Marion is a real aggressive and gregarious kid. Angela was very shy and quiet as a freshman.”

Burnham’s younger sister, Alycia, a junior at Rio Mesa who also competes on the track team, also notices a difference.

“Marion is real outgoing and likes to joke around,” Alycia said. “She’s real nice, but if she doesn’t like something, she’s not afraid to let people know.

“Angela is real quiet and likes to keep things to herself even when she’s happy or does well.”

Jones would have originally attended either Montclair Prep or Notre Dame, but a neighbor, whom Jones calls a “a great track fan,” suggested that she should attend Rio Mesa.

“People will talk about recruiting,” FitzGerald said, “but the fact is I think her mom was just shopping around to find the best place for her daughter to develop. I’m not trying toot my own horn, but I think our results speak for themselves.”

Rio Mesa has has won seven league titles in the past eight years, tied for the state title in the girls’ division in 1988 and finished second last year.

The outdoor season has yet to begin, but Jones put herself into the record books indoors at last month’s Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena.

Running on the boards for the first time, Jones won the girls’ 50-yard dash (6.53), ran the opening leg on the Spartans’ winning 640-yard relay team and anchored Rio Mesa’s winning mile relay team with a 57.7-second split.

Her time in the 50 was the fastest ever by a ninth grader and ranks sixth on the all-time high school performance list.

FitzGerald was especially impressed with Jones’ 440-yard leg in the mile relay.

“She’s a big girl to be running on such a small track . . . and hasn’t really been training for the quarter,” FitzGerald said of Jones, who stands 5 foot 9 and weighs 130 pounds.

In fact, Jones hasn’t had much time to train for track at all: She has been playing on Rio Mesa’s basketball team.

Jones led the team in scoring (21.2) and rebounding (14.4) and helped Rio Mesa (9-15) win a Southern Section playoffs.

“She jumps so quickly and explosively it’s hard to describe,” said Rio Mesa girls’ basketball Coach Al Walker of Jones, who is able to touch a 10-foot rim. “She’s very confident and just dominates the defensive backboard and offensively at the post. She’s very competitive and aggressive.”

That competitiveness was apparent even during the first week of track practice in the fall.

“We were just doing some repeats up a hill with the cross-country team,” Alycia said. “Nothing fast, just trying to get into shape and on the first one, Marion took off and just starts to run full speed up the hill. We just said ‘Marion, Marion, relax! We have to do more.’ She just looked at Fitz and gave him the strangest look and said ‘What? Aw man.’ ”.

But Jones speaks in a very serious tone when she discusses another sport she would like to play.

“I’d like to give football a try, just on the high school level, not in college,” Jones said. “It’s been done before. Hueneme had one girl and Channel Islands had two girls that have played.

“I think I can play wide receiver, just like Jerry Rice (of the San Francisco 49ers). I can catch the ball and I’m fast enough to run with it. “

Worried about injury?

“It’s just like any sport,” Jones said. “You don’t go looking to get hurt. It it does, it’s just an accident. It’s a risk you have to take.”

FitzGerald, apparently unaware of Jones’ ambitions, shook his head in disbelief to a reporter.

“She actually told you that?” he said. “She’s really talented, but that idea is really kind of far-fetched.”

Yes, Marion is Marion and Angela is Angela.

They both run fast.

That’s where the similarity ends.