RUNNING / JOHN ORTEGA : USC’s Watts Aims to Use His Speed on Football Field

Had things gone as planned, Quincy Watts of USC never would have tried out for the Trojan football team this season. He would have been too busy competing on the European track and field circuit to consider it.

But since his sophomore track season was cut short by a hamstring injury, the former Taft High standout had plenty of time this summer to contemplate his athletic future.

He concluded that he’d like to give football a shot. And although he’s never played at an organized level, Watts has become a wide receiver for the Trojans, who began drills last week.

“We used to play it on the streets and playgrounds in Detroit,” Watts said. “But it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. . . . I thought about doing it in high school, but I was always too busy with other sports.”

Watts, who moved to California in 1984 and was a two-sport star in track and basketball at Taft High, won three state high school sprint titles from 1986-88. He was the runner-up two other times and also averaged 19.4 points a game in basketball as a senior, earning first-team All-Valley honors from the Times.

As a junior, he was the No. 1-ranked high school sprinter in the country, according to Track & Field News, running personal bests of 10.30 seconds in the 100 meters and 20.50 in the 200 at altitude (Provo, Utah).

Despite suffering a hamstring injury midway through his senior season, he was one of the nation’s most highly recruited sprinters, eventually choosing USC over UCLA.

Since then, however, his injury woes have worsened.

As a freshman, he won the 200 against UCLA in 20.67 before suffering a season-ending injury to his right hamstring.

This year, Watts strained his left hamstring at a meet in April, but recovered to run 20.66--his low-altitude personal best--at the Occidental Invitational on May 12. He placed third in the Pacific 10 Conference championships in Seattle eight days later.

He pulled up lame, however, in the semifinals of the NCAA championships in Durham, N. C., and hasn’t run since.

“If I had been injury-free, I most likely would be in Europe right now, and this never would have happened,” said Watts, who, at 6-foot-3 and 204 pounds, is 14 pounds heavier than he was during track season. “But I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and I want to give it a shot.”

Watts’ injury-checkered past doesn’t seem to concern him.

“You have injuries in all sports,” he said. “Track, football, baseball. You can’t duck sports because you might get injured. . . . You can never worry about possible injuries or it will affect your performance.”

Add injuries: Contrary to popular theory, Watts believes that his collegiate injuries have resulted from too little racing, not too much training.

“When I was in high school, I used to run in dual meets on Friday and invitationals on Saturday,” Watts said. “I got used to racing a lot. But in college, I’ve been on a different schedule. You don’t race as much, and my legs haven’t been able to handle the fast times early in the season.

“When I ran 20.67 in high school, it was like my 10th 200 of the season. But when I ran 20.66 this year, it was my second.”

Healthy Hartman: If times are any indication, Dave Hartman should have a stellar senior season at Canyon High.

The Southern Section 4-A Division cross-country champion as a junior, Hartman has run College of the Canyons’ three-mile cross-country course in 15 minutes 52 seconds this summer, only five seconds off his best, posted last October.

“My races and workouts have shown that I’m in better shape now than I was in the middle of last track season,” said Hartman, who placed sixth in the 1989 state Division I cross-country championships. “I’m really looking forward to the start of the season.”

Much of Hartman’s optimism stems from the fact that he ran a personal best of 9:06.28 in the 3,200 meters during track season, and he’s finally healthy after battling knee injuries as a sophomore and junior.

“I just want to keep working on my strength,” said Hartman, who is running 60-65 miles a week and cycling 100. “I definitely want to stay off the track. There’s no use getting injured again.”

Taking it easy: With the collegiate cross-country season fast approaching, it is becoming more and more likely that Bryan Dameworth will redshirt at Wisconsin because of a stress fracture suffered in June.

Dameworth, the three-time state Division I and 1989 Kinney national cross-country champion at Agoura High, was on a tear in early June before sustaining the injury.

He won the 3,200 meters at the state track and field championships and placed third in the mile at the Golden West Invitational. But after Dameworth finished a disappointing third in the two-mile at the International Prep Invitational in Elmhurst, Ill., a bone scan revealed a fracture in his right foot.

“(The injury) drove me up the wall at first,” said Dameworth, who wore a cast for four weeks. “But it’s getting better now. I’m learning to work with it. Before, I was fighting it.”

Dameworth began to run again last week, but after experiencing some pain he’s decided to wait until next week to run in earnest.

“I just don’t want to take any short cuts and try to come back too quickly,” said Dameworth, who has personal bests of 4:09.32 in the mile and 8:53.26 in the 3,200 meters. “I don’t want to get injured again.”

The biggest worry for Wisconsin Coach Martin Smith is that Dameworth might alter his stride while favoring the injury in an effort to come back too soon.

“Martin is actually trying to convince Bryan to redshirt,” said Bill Duley, Agoura’s coach and Dameworth’s stepfather. “He’s putting no pressure at all on him to run this season.”

Sticking to the roads: Peter De La Cerda, a 1989 graduate of Granada Hills High, will enroll at College of the Canyons this fall, but he won’t run for the Cougars’ cross-country or track teams.

De La Cerda, who finished fourth in the 3,200 at the 1989 City Section championships, originally intended to enter Cal State Northridge, but after being declared ineligible under the NCAA’s Proposition 48, he did not attend school last year.

“I’m only going to take two or three classes at COC,” said De La Cerda, who plans to race on his own. “Hopefully, I can get some good times on the roads and submit it to some schools for scholarship help.”

The two schools that De La Cerda would like to run for are Oregon and Adams State (Colo.), collegiate powers in NCAA Division I and the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics.

But De La Cerda, who ran 9:20.88 in the 3,200 in high school, would have to improve dramatically to merit consideration at those schools. His 5,000-meter best is 14:53 and he has run 31:48 for 10,000 on the roads.