STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Noon’s Last Shot Is a Winner but Falls Short of His Goal

For the past four years, Fallbrook High’s Brent Noon had shot for the moon.

He had taken a 12-pound ball and aimed it directly at the official national high school shotput record of 77-feet-0 set by Michael Carter in 1979.

He could do it. He would do it.

But he didn’t.

Noon didn’t feel as though his efforts were so sparkling after the state track and field finals at Cerritos College Saturday, his last chance to hit 77-0. His best throw fell at 74-4 3/4.

Noon’s four-year quest ended with that mark, which bettered his state-meet record of 73-6 set in Friday’s preliminaries.

A record, yes, but still the worst of two major blows for the day. The first came in the discus after he let go with a throw of 200-8, then watched the next competitor, Redwood’s Rob Powell, steal the gold with a heave of 203-4.

Oh, well. As Noon said, “I didn’t come here for the discus.”

No, he was after one thing, and when it didn’t come, Noon faced the same media gathering he has met a number of times during the past two years.

This time, Noon came without his broad smile, his easy laugh. Maybe it was his way of showing that something more was missing, the attainment of a goal he set four years ago.

He was told he still came away with the meet record in the shot and a San Diego Section record in the discus (bettering his 195-9 set earlier this year).

“That’s not what I was looking for,” he said. “But still, it’s not a failure.”

Noon then was reminded how he was on a roll up until three weeks ago--how his marks were on a consistent ascent and had peaked at 76-2. Then came a strained left hamstring while running sprints in training.

Did the injury take away his momentum?

“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “Maybe if I hadn’t had my knee operated on in the eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade and 11th grade, I would have hit it?”

What Noon was implying was clear: He was the same athlete with or without the injuries.

He was disappointed to be sure, but not devastated. Indeed, undaunted would be a more appropriate description. Noon said he will now pick up the 16-pound shot and begin training for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

“I’m going to train real hard and get ready for that 16-pound shot,” he said. “My next goal is to win the gold medal in ’92.”

Like Noon, University City’s Jerome Price took first place in the high jump but came away with much less than what he wanted--a jump of more than 26 feet.

Price’s best for the evening was 25-3 1/4. Afterward, he said he felt he robbed himself of several inches on each of his jumps.

“I kept putting my hands back (in the sand),” he said. “So they were marking my jumps there. . . . I’ve been trying so hard . . . nothing I can do about it now.”

Price, like Noon a senior, was also close to a record he couldn’t quite reach. But unlike Noon, Price could touch this record with his fingertips he just couldn’t get a grip.

Price’s personal legal best is 25-5, a quarter-inch shy of Doyle Steele’s section record of 25-5 1/4.

While the San Diego Section’s two senior winners came away disappointed, two sophomore third-place finishers were on top of the world.

Mt. Carmel’s Allison Dring, who had the fastest time of any entrant in the 400 meters coming into the meet (54.29), placed third in 55.07. Bakersfield’s Janice Nicholas, another sophomore, won in 53.89, and Alta Loma senior Shanequa Campbell placed second at 54.63.

Southwest sophomore Riley Washington was third in the boys’ 100 meters at 10.70. First went to Napoleon Kaufman, a junior at Lompoc, in 10.57. Wheatland senior Willie Clark ran 10.66.

Another top finisher from San Diego was Oceanside senior Angela Sims, who placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 38-2 1/4 despite qualifying sixth. Walnut’s Juliana Yendork placed first with a best of 42-0 1/4.

Dring was near tears after her finish.

“I’m very surprised,” she said. “It was the best I could do . . . I’m just so happy I could finish third.”

But she almost didn’t.

“I didn’t have anything left at the end,” she said. “Another five yards, and I would have had to crawl across.”

Washington thought he could have done better.

“I have to work harder on my concentration,” he said. “Toward the end, my eyes weren’t focused ahead--they started to wander.”

The San Diego Section’s top team finish was Fallbrook, which rode Noon’s first and second places to a third-place tie with Carson at 18 points. Muir placed first with 24 points and Lompoc second with 20.