Candaele Hopes Shortest Route Will Have the Longest Impact

When Coley Candaele of Carpinteria had to decide whether to run the 800 or 1,600 meters in Saturday’s 23rd annual Arcadia High School Invitational track and field meet, he chose the tougher 800.

In becoming one of the top middle-distance runners in the state the past two seasons, Candaele beat many of the top local runners he would have raced in the 1,600. In the 800, though, the competition figures to be tougher, with top-rated Steve Adderley of Delray Beach, Fla., entered. Atterley tuned up for the 800 by running 4 minutes 10.34 seconds for a mile last weekend.

Adderley, who is the top returning half-miler in the nation with a best 1:50.00, defeated Candaele in their only two meetings last summer in a junior national meet in Ohio.

“I just wanted to run against Adderley again,” said Candaele, who was the No. 3 800-meter runner in the nation last season with a best of 1:51.11. “I have been looking forward to this race for some time.”

In the fall, the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Candaele kept busy as the quarterback of Carpinteria’s team that gas won two Southern Section titles and tied for a third. He was named divisional player of the year in 1989.

“This year I trained through football season for track, so I am better prepared than I was at this time last year,” Candaele said. “I feel real good about myself right now and I have been running well.”

Candaele consistently has been running low 1:50 splits in relays for Carpinteria and ran a 4:15.54 in the mile last weekend. Adderley leads the nation this spring with a 1:51.4 in the 800.

In preparing for Adderley, Candaele, whose father is the football coach at UC Santa Barbara, has varied his racing techniques to match Adderley’s quick racing bursts.

“He is a different type of runner for me,” said Candaele, whose uncle is former Houston Astro infielder Casey Candaele. “He goes out hard for the first 200 meters and then backs off . . . and just when you think that he has had it, he speeds up again. He can really change gears quick.”

The Arcadia Invitational, which begins at 4 p.m. with the discus, will feature other outstanding matchups besides Adderley and Candaele.

With Chris Nelloms of Dayton, Ohio, the national indoor prep 200-meter record-holder, out with an injury, the sprints will feature local standouts Napoleon Kaufman of Lompoc, Andre Green of Long Beach Poly, Tim Martin of San Clemente, Lamont Warren of Dorsey and Chris Alexander of Hawthorne.

In the pole vault, Jayson Lavender of Wichita Falls, Tex., who was last year’s Arcadia athlete of the meet, will try to break his own meet record of 17-3 1/4. Nick Hysong of Tolleson, Ariz., who cleared 17 feet indoors, will also compete.

Brent Noon of Fallbrook, the state’s first 70-foot shotputter with a best of 73-3 this season, is ranked No. 3 on the all-time national list. He will compete against Scott Peterson of Lafayette, La., who won the national indoor title earlier this year and has a best of 68-3.

In the girls’ competition, defending state champion Pasadena Muir and Inger Miller are expected to be challenged by a strong Houston Sterling team, which recorded the best 400- and 1,600-meter relay times in the nation last season.

Miller, the top girl sprinter in the nation, has run an 11.48 in the 100 meters already this spring. She will race Zundra Feagin of Cocoa, Fla., who ran 11.4 in the 100 and 24.33 in the 200 meters last season. Freshman Marion Jones of Oxnard Rio Mesa, who has already run 11.76 and 24.06, will also be a factor.

Other key matchups between nationally ranked athletes will occur in the 800 between Kim Toney of Atascadero and Nicole Teter of Cottonwood West Valley; the 1,600 among Beth Bartholomew of Sunnyvale Fremont, Karen Hecox of West Covina South Hills and Shelly Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison; the 3,200 between Deena Drossin of Agoura and Becky Spies of Livermore; the 100-meter low hurdles between Felice Lipscomb of Santa Monica and Kwani Stewart of Yuba City, and the 300-meter low hurdles among Twila Sims of Lompoc, Keri Sanchez of San Jose Santa Teresa and Christine Gray of Houston Sterling.

In an update on the controversial playoff soccer game between Long Beach Millikan and Santa Barbara San Marcos played Feb. 20, referee Charles McKay has decided to tell his side of the story, nearly a month later.

Problems began for McKay when San Marcos protested its 3-2 loss to Millikan, claiming a conflict of interest by McKay, a long-term substitute teacher at Millikan who officiated the game.

Despite McKay and Millikan Coach Rod Petkovic’s denial of collusion, the Southern Section ordered the game to be replayed two days later. San Marcos won the rematch, 3-2, but questions remained concerning McKay’s role in the first game.

McKay, who was responsible for assigning officials to playoff games in the Long Beach area, claimed that he decided to officiate only when two of the three assigned officials did not show up.

“I did not do anything wrong,” McKay said. “It was all just a big misunderstanding and it is unjust the way I have been portrayed. If I really wanted to work the game, I would have just assigned myself to it.”

McKay, a respected national referee, officiated the game with Jesus Galarza, who he said he contacted two days before the game to work.

Even though two San Marcos players and an assistant coach were thrown out, McKay denies any bias.

“We have two separate tapes of the game, which clearly show that the game was officiated fairly,” he said. “There were not any controversial calls made in the game against San Marcos. In fact, the only questionable call made went against Millikan.

McKay also maintains that he was not removed by the Southern Section from his job of assigning playoff officials but that he asked to be relieved until the case was resolved. Karen Hellyer, Southern Section official administrator in charge of soccer officials, could not be reached for comment.

There have been several remarkable performances during the first month of the baseball season, but record-setting efforts by pitcher Shinjiro Katano of San Marino Southwestern Academy and slugger Troy Dunlap of Culver City stand out.

In Southwestern Academy’s 14-0 Liberty League victory over Yeshiva March 27, Kitano, a right-handed senior, pitched a no-hitter and struck out 23 batters in a seven-inning game, breaking the Southern Section record of 22 strikeouts set by Jim Peterson of Sonora in 1973.

In the first two innings, Kitano, a native of Japan who has been in the United States for three years, had nine strikeouts, thanks to three passed balls on third strikes. For the season, he is averaging 2.7 strikeouts an inning.

Whereas Kitano has dominated hitters, Dunlap has been a terror for opposing pitchers. In a game against Canoga Park Faith Baptist earlier this season, he tied a Southern Section record with four home runs in a seven-inning game. In 1985, Carey Windes of Bellflower St. John Bosco established the record with four homers against Long Beach St. Anthony.

In the Centaurs’ 26-1 victory March 17, the 6-foot, 185-pound senior outfielder was six for eight with eight runs batted in, which included solo home runs in the first and fifth innings, a two-run shot in the sixth and a grand slam that highlighted a nine-run seventh.

Dunlap did not hit his fifth homer of the season until last Saturday in Culver City’s 5-4 win over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the Palos Verdes-Redondo Beach tournament.