Morningside Aiming to Keep Its Winning Track Record Going : Preps: Monarchs will count on Leslie and relay teams to lead them to victory in Southern Section meet.

At today’s Southern Section divisional championships at Cerritos College, the Morningside High girls’ track-and-field team will be one of the favorites for the 2-A title.

And senior Lisa Leslie, one of the few Monarchs with championship experience, will be in the spotlight. She’s Morningside’s top entrant in the field events and will compete in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.

The meet is just one part of busy week for Leslie, who Monday signed a basketball letter of intent to attend USC. But Coach Ron Tatum is counting on her to be at her best.

“We’re hoping we can get a good performance out of Lisa (today),” Tatum said. “We definitely would like to win the title--it’s something we’ve talked about since early in the season--and she can help us do it.”

But, unlike in basketball, Leslie doesn’t have the pressure of being “the franchise.” As is the case with many outstanding track and field squads, the Monarchs are built around their relay teams.

Morningside’s athletes said that the relay events generate team spirit.

“I like my individual events,” said sophomore hurdler Sanoma Nickson, who also runs on the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. “But the relays are more special because I like working with my teammates.”

Senior Toneisha Hodges, who also runs on both relay teams, agrees with Nickson. “You get more pumped up (for relays) than for individual events because you’re depending on each other,” she said.

Sophomore Santisha Arnold and freshman LaShawn Stringer are anchors for Morningside’s 400 and 1,600 relay teams, respectively. The Monarchs had the best qualifying times in both relays and will have girls entered in nine of the other 13 events.

Irvine Woodbridge, another top contender in the 2-A, is also entered in 11 events.

Without looking past the challenge of Woodbridge and other Southern Section 2-A teams, Tatum said he is already thinking about the state championships. “We want to go to state, not just to be there, but to score,” he said.

Tatum is counting on both relays to advance to the state meet and is hopeful that Arnold (100 and 200), Nickson (100 hurdles) and Stringer (400) will also qualify.

Nickson and Stringer are in their first season of varsity competition.

Nickson qualified for the finals with a time of 15.08 seconds in the 100 hurdles, only .05 seconds behind top qualifier Elinor Tolson of La Quinta. Stringer clocked 57.37 in the 400, the best mark in last week’s preliminaries.

Nickson said that an absence of top-flight competition in the league enabled Morningside to focus on the postseason.

“I always ran to win, not for a time,” Nickson said. “But now it’s the big time, so I really have to run.”

Arnold had the 2-A’s top qualifying time in the 100 (12.49) and was the No. 2 qualifier in the 200 (25.45). Hodges (who qualified for the 200 with a time of 26.46) is the Monarchs’ leader and is confident Morningside can win the state title.

Hodges is so confident, in fact, that she said Morningside’s biggest fear isn’t the competition, but injuries.

“Everybody has to make sure to completely stretch out their muscles,” she said. “We just have to be careful; we’ve come too far to mess up.”

Nickson said she is concentrating on details.

“I felt that we did well last week, but I’m a little nervous now,” she said. “I’ll be concentrating on the baton (exchange) because any little thing can go wrong.

“There’s a lot of pressure.”

Hodges said that the large crowd anticipated for today’s meet can also help the Monarchs.

“Our teammates have big mouths, so we always hear them and get fired up,” she said. “And we usually seem to pick up a following from other people (in the crowd).”

Others representing Morningside will be Rena Harris (long jump), Sherin Harris (400) and LaTarus Johnson (300 hurdles).

The Morningside boys are also entered in both relay events today. The Monarchs had a season-best time of 3:21.74 in the 1,600 relay, despite having to shuffle their lineup at the last moment due to injuries.

That mark gave them the best time in the field. Morningside’s 400 relay team qualified with a time of 43.19 seconds, which was second only to Lompoc (42.75).

A dominant performer in the boys’ triple jump will make it tough on three South Bay athletes at the Southern Section 2-A finals.

St. Bernard’s Martin Smith (45-7 qualifying mark), Morningside’s Dennis Savage (45-1 1/4) and Torrance’s Bryce Yamaguchi (44-7 1/4) will have to battle Magnolia’s Phoupet Singbandith, who set the 2-A record in last week’s preliminaries with a jump of 49-11 3/4.

Senior Enna Serina (33-3 qualifying mark in the shot put) and junior Joe LoGuidice (15.63 in the 110 high hurdles) will represent Miraleste in the Southern Section 1-A finals.

Bishop Montgomery’s Nicole Haynes is only a sophomore, but she is a veteran of the Southern Section finals. She is entered in the 3-A finals in the 200 and 400 runs and both relays. Last year, she finished sixth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 and 400, which didn’t meet her goals.

“Last year, I was nervous,” she said. “Now I feel more confident.”

Haynes qualified for the finals with a personal best of 57.4 seconds in the 400, which was the second-best qualifying mark. And she said that she is capable of improving that time by almost a full second.

“This year, I’ve been preparing with different workouts,” she said. “I’ve been doing more speed work, not so much on distances, and that’s bringing my times down.”

Haynes said her experience from last year’s finals is providing her with a lot of motivation. “I really want to do well since I didn’t last year,” she said.

In the 400 relay of the Southern Section 4-A girls’ finals Friday, Hawthorne (47.69 qualifying time) and Torrance (49.91) will be trying to chase down favorite Pasadena Muir (47.07).

In the same meet, Melissa Fair and Jennifer Valliere will form the Rolling Hills team. Fair had the fifth-best qualifying time in the 1,600 (5:09.5) last week. Valliere had the fifth-best mark in the 400 (58.78).