HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Top Local Athletes Thrown Off Track at the State Level

The San Diego Section hobbled through the state track and field finals at Cerritos College Saturday as if it had stubbed its collective big toe.

The section did have two gold medalists in Fallbrook shotputter Brent Noon (74-feet-4 3/4) and University City long jumper Jerome Price (25-3 1/4). Both were national leaders in their events and expected to win.

But what of other section competitors who entered Friday’s prelims among the top athletes in the state?

Many did not even qualify for Saturday’s finals. Among those who did not advance were Scott Hammond, a sophomore long-jumper from Lincoln who entered the meet with the third-best mark in the state (24-2); Castle Park’s Eric Bell, a junior hurdler who came in with the fifth-fastest time in the 110-meter highs (14.43) and Monte Vista junior Latasha McKinney, the third-fastest girls’ 100-meter runner going in at 11.90.

Others who got past Friday struggled on Saturday.

Morse hurdler Chris Jones, who had the fourth-best 110 time (14.38) and fifth-fastest 300 (37.89) qualified for the finals only in the 110 and finished seventh (14.90), more than a half-second slower than his previous best.

San Pasqual’s Erin Blunt, a sophomore hurdler, had the third-best legal time in the girls’ 300 lows before Friday (43.10). She finished seventh in the finals at 43.95.

Even some of the better San Diego performers might have been expected to do more. Southwest sophomore Riley Washington placed third in the boys’ 100 meters (10.70) after going in the with state’s fastest legal time (10.53).

Mt. Carmel sophomore Allison Dring entered the meet with the best time among the girls’ 400 entrants (54.29) but also finished third (55.07). And she did not make it out of the preliminaries in the 200 despite going in with the third-fastest time (24.43).

So what happened?

Well, some runners questioned whether they have enough competition during the season to properly prepare for the state finals.

Angela Kimmey, a University City senior sprinter who placed fifth in the girls’ 100 in 12.10, was one such runner.

“As far as San Diego goes,” she said, “we should have more good schools coming down to our invitationals. We all come up here and are barely able to stay with the competition.”

The injury Grossmont gymnast Alison Litrownik sustained during the San Diego Section championships May 23 well might have been career-ending, Grossmont Coach Carol Laue said.

Litrownik, a junior, was the Grossmont League all-around champion and the league’s highest hope to challenge the strong competition from North County. But in the vault, Litrownik tore her anterior cruciate ligament, a knee injury common in football but, Laue said, not so common in gymnastics.

“She was landing her vault, a handspring full (twist),” said Laue, “and had completed most of the twist. But she started to land as she was twisting, leaned forward, and her leg stayed, and her knee gave.”

The rehabilitation process after such an injury is a long one, and Laue said she would be surprised if Litrownik returns to gymnastics competition next year.

“It leaves the knee real unstable,” Laue said. “This year was tough for her. She came in weak, having quit her club. But she did a great job for us and won the league championship.”

St. Augustine tennis player Ignacio Martinez, who won the past two San Diego Section singles titles, said he will play as an amateur on the pro satellite tour beginning with the Segment 4 tournament in Kansas City July 2-4. Martinez plans to spend a year on the tour and then hopes to enroll in and play for a Division I college in Southern California.

Martinez defeated Hilltop’s Francisco Santillan, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, in 2 hours 55 minutes last Friday for the title.

When Mt. Carmel’s baseball team was shut out, 5-0, by Mira Mesa’s Brendan Hausein in the semifinals of the San Diego Section 3-A championships, it marked the first time since “at least 1983” that the Sundevils had been shut out, Mt. Carmel Coach Sam Blalock said.

Blalock could confirm the streak back through the 1984 season, but 1983 was before he had a personal computer to keep track of such information.

“But that team could have been shut out,” he said.

Hause’s two-hitter practically ensured that the Marauders would win the section 3-A title. Since 1981, either Mt. Carmel or the team that defeated Mt. Carmel in the playoffs has won the section championship.

Mira Mesa beat Monte Vista, 8-1, in the final.

Kim Q. Berkshire, John Geis and Martin Henderson contributed to this story.