MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE RELAYS : Erik Mitchell Runs Away From 200-Meter Field

As he hunkered down into the starting blocks before the boys’ 200-meter run at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays Saturday, Erik Mitchell found himself in the worst position.

Mitchell, a senior at Los Alamitos High School, was stuck in the outside lane.

Thus, he would not see his competition for at least the first 100 meters and therefore would have little to gauge his pace.

As it turned out, Mitchell left all his competitors behind in the final 80 meters, running a personal-best time of 21.13 seconds.

Mitchell, the Southern Section 2-A champion in the 200 two years ago at Mayfair before transferring to Los Alamitos last fall, was buoyed by a tail wind of more than six meters per second, far above the two m.p.s. allowable for records.

Andre Green of Long Beach Poly, Mark Noriega of Pasadena and Donovan Burks of L.A. Washington were among those left in Mitchell’s wake.

Green came closest, finishing second in 21.48. Noriega was third in 21.50 and Burks fourth in 21.70.

“No, it didn’t bother me at all,” Mitchell said of running in the outside lane. “I just ran the whole race hard.”

He said he saw no one, but heard Green, running a few steps behind in Lane 4, just as he entered the straightaway.

Indeed, Green and Noriega appeared poised to take the lead after 100 meters. But Mitchell seemed to shift into a gear the others couldn’t match and rocketed away to win by five meters.

“The 200 is my favorite race,” said Mitchell, who eclipsed the fastest time in Orange County this season.

San Clemente’s Tim Martin had run 21.69. Mitchell’s previous best was 21.75 and he ran 21.3 last year.

“In the 200, there’s more time (to run),” he said. “It gives me more time to pick up speed.”

Less than two hours earlier, Mitchell faced Burks and Green in the 100, the weaker of his two sprint races.

Burks, the state leader and undefeated at 100 meters this year, won in a wind-aided 10.60. Green was second in 10.67 with Mitchell third in 10.68, his fastest time this season and the top time among county runners in 1990.

Mitchell’s previous best this season, 10.71, also was wind-aided.

“I was losing my form in the last 10 meters,” Mitchell said.

While Mitchell was losing it, Burks moved away strongly in the final 20 meters for a decisive victory.

Mitchell’s time of 10.68 capped a brilliant week in which he ran 9.8 for 100 yards in a dual meet against Loara Tuesday. He then improved to 9.7 against El Dorado Thursday.

Bill Pendleton, the weight events coach at Los Alamitos’ Empire League rival Esperanza, brought his stable of shotputters and discus throwers to Mt. SAC in search of the best competition the country has to offer.

Mark Parlin, the county leader in the shotput and discus, Mike Burns and Mark Kinney give Esperanza the best depth in the Southern Section in the weight events.

Brent Noon of Fallbrook, whose 73-5 3/4 throw is the best in the nation this year for a high school athlete, was a noteworthy absentee, however.

Jim Noon, Brent’s father and his coach, said he decided after his son’s sub-par performance in a dual meet Thursday that Brent would be better off practicing Saturday than making a four-hour round-trip for six throws.

With Noon a no-show, Parlin placed second in the shotput with a throw of 59-1/4. Rene Bustamante of Schurr was the winner, throwing 60-1 1/2. Kinney was fifth with a mark of 55-1/4. Burns did not advance to the final.

In the discus, Parlin finished sixth with a throw of 162-11. Greg Hodel of Don Lugo won with a throw of 185-1.

Mt. SAC Notes

Phouphet Singbandith of Magnolia won the triple jump for the second consecutive year. He jumped a wind-aided 50-0. Two weeks ago at the Arcadia Invitational, Singbandith jumped 51-1/4, the best mark in the country this year. . . . Katella’s Kevin Carlson, who tied the county high jump record in a dual meet against Esperanza Thursday, finished third Saturday, jumping 6-6. Carlson’s 6-11 3/4 Thursday matched the county record set by Foothill’s Doug Dreibelbis in 1983. . . . Adrian Brown of Huntington Beach ran 14.72 to take fifth in the 110-meter hurdles. Greg Greene of Garey won in 14:37.