RUNNING / JOHN ORTEGA : Arreola Gets No Kick From TAC Showing

She is in the midst of her seventh competitive track and field season, yet Darcy Arreola of Northridge is still learning about racing tactics at the national class level.

Her latest lesson came in The Athletics Congress championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk last week.

After cruising to a third-place time of 4 minutes 16.39 seconds in a 1,500-meter qualifying heat Friday, Arreola appeared capable of trimming her 4:14.15 personal best by a considerable amount in Saturday’s final.

But when no one pushed the early pace, Arreola found herself in a kicker’s race, a situation in which she has improved but still lacks the speed to excel.

Confident of a top-five finish, Arreola placed seventh in 4:18.16, well behind winner Suzy Favor of Wisconsin (4:13.47).

“Looking back, I should have pushed the pace after the slow first lap,” said Arreola, who has run for the Nike Coast Track Club this season while redshirting at Cal State Northridge. “But I was really shocked when the pace was that slow. I figured for sure that PattiSue (Plumer) would take it out.”

When it became apparent that Plumer, who ran the 3,000 in the 1988 Olympics, was content to vie with Favor in a kicker’s duel, Arreola should have forced the pace.

“Part of me knew I should be running faster,” Arreola said, “but part of me said, ‘Maybe the pace is fine and I just feel good.’ ”

The initial thought was correct.

After the leaders passed the 400-meter mark in 71.8 seconds and 800 meters in 2:23.7, the field was full of fight in the last lap.

Arreola, who had about as much chance of outkicking Favor as the U. S. soccer team had of outkicking its opponents in the World Cup, was in fourth place with 250 meters left. But she couldn’t hold off Gina Procaccio (fourth) of the Sallie Mae Track Club, Linda Sheskey (fifth) of Nike South or Kathy Franey (sixth) of Villanova in the last 200.

The results exasperated CSUN Coach Don Strametz, who had expected Plumer, who finished second, to try to neutralize Favor’s lethal last-lap speed with a fast pace throughout.

“There’s no way in the world that (Darcy) is not in 4:07 or 4:08 shape right now,” Strametz said. “She’s just had some great workouts lately.”

Although Arreola had a more conservative estimate of her fitness level--”I figure I’m in 4:10 or 4:11 shape”--she was disappointed with her performance.

“I’ve been pointing to TAC all season,” she said. “I wanted to use this meet to see how good of shape I’m in and go from there. But I didn’t do anything, so it’s hard to tell.”

Add Arreola: While Strametz was disappointed with his protege’s performance, he was philosophical about it.

“If she learned something from the race, then it was worthwhile,” he said. “You’ve got to remember, she’s only 21.”

Middle-distance runners typically peak in their mid- to late 20s. Five of the six who finished ahead of Arreola at the TAC meet were older than she and four are at least 24.

Only Favor was younger (by four days) than Arreola, who will turn 22 in August.

Looking ahead: Had he been completely fit, Farron Fields of Northridge would have been disappointed with his 10th-place finish in the men’s 10,000 meters in the TAC meet. But after his condition was diagnosed as severely anemic--he has an iron deficiency in his blood--three weeks earlier, Fields was happy just to be in the race.

Having timed 13:51 in a 5,000-meter road race in March, Fields clocked 28:45.2 in the 10,000 to finish 10th in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April but he had felt tired and sluggish since.

Previously easy workouts became extremely difficult and 5,000-meter track races of 14:16 and 14:11 left him exhausted.

“Things were really getting bad,” said Fields, a 1979 graduate of Granada Hills High. “Three weeks before TAC, I couldn’t have broken 30 minutes (in a 10,000). I figured there was no way I was going to be able to run there.”

Fields took iron supplements to combat the anemia, and while his health improved, he was still inconsistent in workouts. He’d feel fine one day, terrible the next.

“It was really hard on me mentally,” he said. “Until the morning of TAC, I didn’t think I was going to run there. . . . I didn’t know what to expect. I remember telling (a friend) that I could run anywhere between 28 and 32 minutes.”

Although Fields ran 28:48.40 at Cerritos, earning a trip to the U. S. Olympic Festival in Minneapolis (the track portion is July 12-15), he wants to race in Europe at some point this summer.

“I don’t think I’ve come close to my best in either the 5,000 or the 10,000,” Fields said. “Based on that 5,000 in Carlsbad, I really think I’m capable of approaching 28 minutes in the 10,000.”

Fun in the sun: Scott Huffman of the Mazda Track Club cleared 19 feet, 2 1/4 inches to win the Champs Sports Beach Pole Vault in Manhattan Beach on Sunday but don’t expect the mark to appear on lists of world or U. S. leaders this season.

The brainchild of former Crespi High standout Anthony Curran, the event attracted an estimated 4,000 spectators, but leading track statistician Scott Davis said that the marks produced there are hardly legitimate.

Davis said the meet was not properly sanctioned and that the runway likely did not meet official specifications.

“That’s absolutely exhibitionism. It’s a circus,” Davis said. “I think it’s great if they can promote the pole vault and make some money doing it, but there’s no way it’s statistically valid.”

Huffman cleared only 18-0 1/2 to tie for third in the TAC championships Saturday.

At the beach event, Frank Burke of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won the collegiate division at 17-6 (former Taft High standout Jay Borick of UCLA finished third at the same height), and Howie Schrier of Birmingham took the high school event at 14-0, the same height as runner-up Justin Van Fleet of Verdugo Hills.

Grounded Pile: Northridge senior Lolita Pile has had a difficult time since placing second in the women’s triple jump in the NCAA Division II championships last month.

Five days after jumping a wind-aided 41 feet, 10 3/4 inches in the Division II meet, Pile failed to qualify for the finals of the Division I meet in Durham, N. C. (leaping 39-10). She did not jump last Thursday in the qualifying round at the TAC meet because of a stomach virus.

Add Pile: Although she has used up her athletic eligibility for outdoor track and field, Pile will compete for Northridge during the 1990-91 indoor season, when the school will be a Division I member.

Pile, scheduled to graduate from CSUN with a degree in liberal studies next May, can compete indoors for the Lady Matadors because she has never done so.

NCAA rules allow an athlete to complete four seasons of eligibility in five years. Because Pile came to Northridge in the fall of 1986, she has one indoor season left.

More jumps: Northridge freshman Chris Perry finished 27th out of 28 entries in qualifying for the men’s long jump in the national championships Friday, but according to Northridge assistant Tony Veney, he only narrowly missed making Saturday’s final.

True, Perry’s mark of 24 feet, 2 1/4 inches was more than a foot and a half behind the last qualifier, but he had two foul jumps of almost 26 feet.

Perry, the Northridge record-holder at 25-10 1/4, will get a chance to redeem himself in the TAC Junior championships for 14- through 19-year-olds in Fresno, June 30.