Beck Speeds to Victory in Hurdles Heats : Track and field: The Chatsworth senior stands out in the 300 intermediate and the 110 high events at the City Section semifinals.

Chatsworth High senior Kyle Beck galloped to the No. 1 qualifying time in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in the City Section track and field semifinals Thursday, clocking 39.11 seconds at Birmingham High.

The top four finishers in each heat and the top eight individuals in the field events advance to the City finals, to be held next Thursday at Birmingham.

Beck surged away from Hamilton’s Park Long (40.09) on the final stretch to win his heat by almost a second, but the 110 high hurdles next week, Beck said, will be the race.

“Those guys have run 14 flat or 14 zero something,” Beck said. “I’m going to give them a run for their money. If I don’t win it’ll be a run for their money.”

The top three qualifiers for the high hurdles final are within .04 seconds of each other.

Beck held off Terrence Campbell of Banning to win his high hurdle heat in 14.66. Campbell timed 14.68. Carson’s Curtis Hawkins, the defending City champion, led all qualifiers with a 14.64 mark.

A late addition in the long jump at the City quarterfinals last week, Beck jumped 21 feet 5 1/2 inches Thursday, good for fourth place. But what made Beck’s semifinal performances even more impressive was that he was nursing a left knee injury sustained in a workout Sunday.

“Last Sunday night it hurt a little bit and when I woke up Monday morning it was swollen,” Beck said of his trail leg. “I didn’t hit it (on a hurdle), it was the twisting.”

Beck wasn’t the only hurdler-jumper to have a good day. Matthew Roderick of Van Nuys advanced to the finals in both hurdle races, the triple jump and the high jump.

The senior finished third (15.27) and fourth (40.64) in his respective heats of the highs and intermediates. He also bounded 44-0 1/2 (fourth place) in the triple jump and finished in a six-way tie in the high jump at 6-0.

“I didn’t do my best, I was just going to qualify,” said Roderick, who is wary of Hawkins in the high hurdles and Beck in the intermediates.

“(Hawkins) is the good one and that’s the one I’ve got to shoot for,” Roderick said. “And I’ve got to go for Beck in the 300s.”

Teammate Feltina Means also stood out in four events. The Van Nuys senior led all qualifiers in the long jump at 17-7 and finished third (35-1) in the triple jump.

Means, who advanced to the state meet last year in the 100 low hurdles, clocked 16.0 (hand-timed) to finish fourth in her heat. She later came back to finish second in the second heat of the 300 lows in 46.16.

Canoga Park’s Marcus Reed advanced in three individual events and helped the Hunters’ 400 relay team qualify.

Reed won the long jump at 21-10 1/2, placed fourth (10.99) in his 100 heat and qualified sixth in the triple jump (42-10). He also anchored the Canoga Park sprint relay team that included Darrin Payne, Frank Harris and Dalton Payne to a 42.48 mark.

Washington produced the state’s top time at 41.07 in the 400 relay.

Birmingham distance runner Brian Gastelum, who has beaten Venice’s Danny Jordan once in three attempts this season, beat Jordan by almost five seconds in a 1,600 heat. Gastelum, who led from the start, timed 4:15.85 to Jordan’s 4:20.36.

After passing the 800 in a slowish 2:11.8, Gastelum ran his final half-mile in 2:04 to win by 25 meters.

Gastelum later finished second to San Fernando’s Obed Aguirre in the 3,200. Aguirre ran 9:15.80 and Gastelum sprinted past Wilson’s Martin Morales in the final stretch to finish second in a personal-best 9:22.88. Morales finished in 9:24.79.