SOUTHERN SECTION MASTERS TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS : Carlson Keeps His Cool in High Jump Victory

At 6-foot-4 and just under 130 pounds, Kevin Carlson of Katella High School has a physical stature of a human knitting needle. An intimidating presence, he is not.

But Friday night at the Southern Section Masters meet at Cerritos College, Carlson kept cool when the others couldn’t, winning the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 9 3/4 inches.

Although it was not a personal best--Carlson leads the state at 6-11 3/4, a leap made in a dual meet against Esperanza--it was a significant improvement over last year. In 1989, Carlson did not even make it to the Masters meet and finished the season with a best of 6-5 1/2.

Five jumpers, including Carlson, had cleared 6-8 Friday when the bar was raised to 6-10. While no one else came close, Carlson cleared the height on his second attempt. The bar was later measured at 6-9 3/4.

Carlson then attempted 7-0, but couldn’t clear it.

“I got close (on the second attempt), but it’s pretty hard to tell. It’s pretty high up there,” Carlson said. “I’m going to go for it in the state meet.”

Carlson was one of five Orange County athletes to win a field event. And 30 Orange County athletes and one relay team qualified for the state championships, scheduled for June 1 and 2 at Cerritos College, by placing in the top five of their events.

Esperanza junior Mark Parlin won the boys’ shotput with a mark of 60-3 1/2 after qualifying in the discus with a fourth-place throw of 175-4. Parlin, who leads the Southern Section shotput list at 61-4, will now get the chance to meet high school star Brent Noon of Fallbrook at the state meet. Noon has put the shot 76-2 this season, the second best effort on the all-time high school list.

“I just want a good series next week, like I had last week (in the divisional finals),” said Parlin, who Friday night had only one toss more than 60 feet. “I really wasn’t into the throwing mode yet.”

Dana Hills’ Andy Marrone knew the feeling. Marrone, who set a 4-A discus record (192-1) last week, won that event on his first throw, 184-1.

And Magnolia’s Phouphet Singbandith, the national leader in the triple jump at 51-0 3/4, won that event on his first attempt (49-8 1/2). Then, as has often been his habit this season, Singbandith passed on the rest of his jumps--keeping a close watch on the competition all the while--to avoid risk of injury.

Villa Park’s Beth Byron won the girls’ high jump at 5-6, then passed at 5-7 before missing all three jumps at 5-8.

In the running events, Edison sophomore Shelley Taylor finished second in the 1,600--an event she won here last year--with a time of 4 minutes 55.50 seconds. Taylor ran shoulder to shoulder with favorite Karen Hecox of South Hills for most of the race, staying 20-30 yards behind Deena Drossin of Agoura. Drossin set a fast pace from the gun, and looked strong until the final 100 meters where Taylor and Hecox began to reel her in. But Drossin held them off, winning in 4:54.71. Hecox was third in 4:55.82.

University’s Tanja Brix and Katella’s Martha Pinto had career-best times in the girls’ 3,200. Brix, who was in sixth with 200 meters to go, passed three runners around the final turn to finish third in 10:50.10--erasing four seconds from her previous record. Pinto, in fifth with a lap to go, dropped to sixth but then powered past Lucinda Reyes of Lakewood to regain fifth in 10:51.29.

In the 100, San Clemente’s Tim Martin was third (10.70) and Los Alamitos’ Erik Mitchell was fourth (10.71).

But in the 200, Mitchell’s better event, Mitchell was second (21.34) to Martin’s sixth (21.80).

In the hurdles, Woodbridge’s Kaci Keffer ran a lifetime best 42.98 to place third in the 300 hurdles. La Quinta freshman Elinor Tolson qualified for the state meet by taking fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.56), and Dave Fair of El Toro was fourth in the 300 hurdles (38.46).

Esperanza’s girls 1,600-meter relay team finished n fourth in 3:52.93, a county best this year, on the strength of Nikki Jackson’s third leg and Lynn Murray’s anchor leg.

Other state meet qualifiers included: Kendall Welsey of Katella (fourth in the 400 at 48.78), El Modena’s Mike Terry (third in 800, 1:54.29), Esperanza’s Clayton Tharrington (second in triple jump, 48-0 1/4), Valencia’s Josiah Williams (fourth in long jump, 22-7 3/4), and Mark Kinney (third in shotput, 55-6 3/4, Dana Hills’ Matt Jordan (55-5 1/2 in the shotput), Loara’s Albert Avila (fifth in discus, 175-4); Estancia’s Debbie Hargrove (third in discus, 143-10) and Marie Midland (fifth at 133-10), Mater Dei’s Melissa McDonald (third in long jump, 17-9), Mission Viejo’s Lisa Fager (second in triple jump, 38-5 3/4) and Tammy Graham (fifth, 37-8), Santa Ana Valley’s Joanna Alo (third in shot put, 41-7 3/4), Esperanza’s Nikki Jackson (fourth in 300 hurdles, 44.37) and Mission Viejo’s Kristin Dunn (fifth in shotput, 40-9).