STATE TRACK AND FIELD PRELIMINARIES : Noon Sets Meet Record of 73-6, but Only 77-0 1/2 Will Satisfy Him

Fallbrook’s Brent Noon set a state meet record in the shotput with a throw of 73-feet-6 Friday night.

But who cares? Certainly not Noon.

The senior has already gone as far as 76-2, just 10 inches from the 11-year-old official national high school record.

It is that mark, 77-0, with which Noon is obsessed. He has been chasing it for four years, and time is now the enemy.

He has six more throws in his high school career, in today’s finals.

“76-11 wouldn’t mean anything,” Noon said. “77 wouldn’t even mean anything--it’s got to be 77-0 1/2.”

Noon’s best mark Friday erased the 68-4 set by Brian Blutreich of Capistrano Valley in the 1985 state meet. No one had come within a foot of that since then, not even Noon, who won last year at 66-1 1/2.

Noon had somewhat of a setback in the discus. His 193-6 was the best throw of the day until Rob Powell of Redwood entered the ring for his third and final try and let go with a 198-1.

If Noon was disappointed with his luck, he had plenty of company among San Diego Section athletes.

University City’s Jerome Price, who leads the nation in the long jump with a legal best of 25-5, scratched on two of his three tries and finished with only the second-best mark of the evening, 24-4 3/4. Jason Duff of Etiwanda jumped 24-8 1/2.

Price blamed bad steps, which he said caused the fouls, on a slight head wind. He said he’ll correct the problem by moving his starting point today.

Like Noon, Price is going for a national record. He needs to add 12 inches to his best to move past Tulare’s James Stallworth, who went 26-4 3/4 at this meet one year ago.

Top San Diego Section qualifiers also included Poway’s Kim Dill, who ran the second-fastest time in the 100 hurdles, 14.17 (behind the 13.61 of Santa Monica’s Felice Lipscomb in a different heat) and Mar Vista’s Hector Hernandez, who had the third-best 1,600 at 4:12.95. Coley Candaele of Carpinteria had the fastest, 4:12.44.

Hernandez said he could have gone faster if he hadn’t began his kick so early--at the beginning of the final lap. Hernandez won’t make the same mistake today, he said.

Castle Park’s Eric Bell, until last week the top 110 high hurdler in the county, did not qualify in that event, and Morse’s Chris Jones, who beat Bell last week at the section finals, had the slowest time of the nine qualifiers, 14.82.

Jones missed the finals in the 300 intermediates with a time of 39.97, despite having come in with the state’s fourth-fastest mark this year (37.89).

University City’s Angela Kimmey qualified for the finals in the 100 meters at 12.10 but reinjured a hip flexor and quadriceps muscle and had to skip the 200. She said she’ll be able to run the 100 today.

Lincoln’s Scott Hammond anchored Lincoln to a qualifying spot in the 400 relay but in doing so delivered a knockout blow to his chances in his big event, the long jump. Hammond had no spunk left in his legs and turned in the following series: scratch, 20-4 1/2 and 22-1 3/4. The last one was well below his season’s legal best of 24-2 and, as it turned out, five inches from the last qualifying mark turned in by Jon Baker of Foothill.

Hammond said he usually jumps before he runs the relay, and reversing that order took its toll.

“It’s real hard to come from behind on the anchor leg,” Hammond said. “And I had to come from behind.”

At least he received some thanks from his teammates after Hammond made up ground on two opponents and gave Lincoln a second-place finish in the first heat at 41.98, good for the seventh of nine qualifying spots.

Hammond also came back to qualify in the 200, but barely. His 21.88 was good for the ninth and final spot in today’s finals.

Mt Carmel’s Allison Dring, who ran in four races--the 200, 400, 400 relay and 1,600 relay--advanced in just one--the 400; her time of 55.55 was third best. Janice Nicholls of Bakersfield ran 55.30.

Riley Washington, like Dring and Hammond a sophomore, came in with the state’s best legal time in the 100, 10.53. He didn’t near that, but his 10.66 qualified him fifth. Lompoc’s Napoleon Kaufman had the top time, 10.56.