TRACK AND FIELD STATE HIGH SCHOOL MEET : Bakersfield Girls Win Early, Muir Boys Win Their Title Late

Mike Sulcer of Pasadena Muir knew the Mustangs needed to finish in at least second place in the 1,600-meter relay to win the boys’ state track and field team title Saturday night before 10,470 at Cerritos College.

Sulcer, who ran the anchor leg, already had scored 10 points for Muir by winning the 400 meters, but the Mustangs’ 14 points trailed first-place Lompoc’s 20 going into the meet’s final event.

But Muir won its fifth boys’ state championship with 24 points by winning the 1,600-meter relay in 3:14.00.

“It was the last quarter of the season and we had to take first in an event we take pride and joy in,” said Sulcer, who ran a 46.9-second anchor leg.

Muir’s relay team’s effort offset an outstanding meet by Lompoc’s Napoleon Kaufman, who accounted for all of the Braves’ points. Kaufman, a junior, won the 100 meters in 10.57 seconds and the 200 in 21.15.

Carson, behind Curtis Hawkins’ victory in the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.41 seconds and the Colts’ runner-up 400-meter relay team, finished tied with Fallbrook for third place with 18 points. Brent Noon, the state shotput record-holder, scored all of Fallbrook’s points by winning the shotput (74 feet 4 3/4 inches) and finishing second in the discus (200-8).

City champion Washington, a pre-meet favorite, finished out of the running when two-time City sprint champ Donovan Burks suffered a hamstring injury in Friday’s preliminaries.

After failing to win a state championship the last two years, Coley Candaele of Carpinteria outdueled Louie Quintana of Arroyo Grande in the 1,600 meters to win his first title in 4:06.26.

Quintana tried to combat Candaele’s strong finishing kick by quickening the pace after 800 meters, but that tactic failed when Candaele took the lead with 300 meters remaining.

“(Quintana) had to run a race like that, but I was not going to let this one slip away,” Candaele said, who finished out of the running in the 800-meter final one hour later. “The 1,600 took a lot out of me for the 800, but I had to get at least one title.”

Competition for the girls’ team title was basically over one hour into the meet, as Bakersfield finished 1-2 in the shotput and then won the 400-meter relay to score a quick 28 points.

Bakersfield finished with 61 points to Inglewood Morningside’s 30. The bulk of Bakersfield’s scoring came in the shotput and discus, with Dawn Dumble and Melisa Weis accounting for 18 points each. Sophomore Janice Nichols won the 400 meters in 53.89 seconds, fastest time in the nation by a high school girl this season.

Freshman Marion Jones of Oxnard Rio Mesa easily won the 100 and 200 meters in 11.67 and 23.71, respectively.

Defending state champions, Felice Lipscomb of Santa Monica and Juliana Yendork of Walnut, joined Jones as double-event winners.

Lipscomb won the 100-meter low hurdles for the second consecutive year in a national best of 13.58, and then won the 300-meter hurdles by defeating last year’s champion, Twila Sims of Lompoc, 41.69 to 41.76, also a national best.

Yendork, a junior, won the long and triple jumps for the second year in a row with leaps of 20-1 1/2 and 42-0 1/4.

Kim Toney of Atascadero defended her state title in the 800 meters by winning in 2:06.13, also a national best this season.