Brown Short of Her Best Mark, but Wins

Danielle Brown of Sunny Hills High School didn’t perform up to her expectations Friday at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. But lately, Brown expects a lot.

The senior was a relatively unheralded competitor before she triple jumped 39 feet 5 1/2 inches at the Arcadia Invitational last week. Before she set the nation’s top mark, she had a best of 37-3, set in March at a dual meet against Buena Park. Her best mark last season was 36-10, set at the Masters meet, where she placed sixth.

Friday, Brown won the girls’ triple jump with a leap of 37-9 1/2, defeating Kim Andrews of Torrey Pines High, who jumped 37-1 1/4. Morningside’s Shirena Harris was third at 36-9 3/4.

Brown has trained since her sophomore year with Charles Yendork, the father of Walnut High’s Juliana Yendork, a senior who didn’t compete in the triple jump because of a hamstring injury. Yendork, an 1988 Olympian for Ghana, posted the third-best high school mark last year at 42--6 3/4.

“Her (Brown’s) confidence is real high now,” said Charles Yendork, an assistant coach at Mt. SAC. “She didn’t jump real well today, but she has been very excited in practice because I’ve been telling her all along that she can jump 39 feet.”

Brown said she had doubts about her ability before the Arcadia meet.

“At practice, he (Yendork) always told me if I did this and this, I’d jump far,” said Brown, who hopes to finish in the top three at the State meet. “But I still kind of doubted it because I had never done it.”

Brown is scheduled to compete in the long jump today. She has a best of 18-9.

In boys’ events, Foothill broke the school record in the sprint medley relay. The team of Ethan Taub, Sean Amos, Aaron Taub and Tad Heath ran 3:36.64.

El Toro’s Andy Frogue, Greg Nelson, Rick Mattson and Blake Rothschild took third in the 6,400-meter relay, running 18:02.9. San Pasqual won the race in 17:56.7 and Hart was second in 18:00.0.

Valencia’s Paul Richard won the boys’ shotput at 51-2. Palm Springs’ Nathan Greer was second at 51-1. El Modena’s Mike Pallad was third (50-2 1/2).

Valencia’s relay team of brothers Kevin and Korey Alexander, Brian Manning and Devon Edwards took first in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:22.17, eclipsing a school record set in 1966. They also set a school record with their second-place finish in the 400-meter relay at 43.70. The four took second in the 800-meter relay as well.

“We thought we did well,” El Toro Coach Rick Hagin said. “But we competed at the Orange County championships last Saturday and at a meet Tuesday and Thursday. The boys were tired today.”