STATE PREP TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Hurdler Brown Looking for a Few Good Starts

In the past three weeks, Adrian Brown of Huntington Beach High School has run the 110-meter high hurdles in times no slower than 14.34 seconds.

He won his heat in the Southern Section 3-A preliminaries, won the section title a week later, then placed second at the Masters meet last Friday. His best of 14.10 is the third-fastest time in the state, behind a 13.96 clocking by Isaac Carson of Daly City Jefferson.

So why is this man worried going into tonight’s CIF State prelims at 5 p.m. at Cerritos College?

Start with his start. The past two weeks, Brown has been unhappy with his slow starts out of the blocks. It’s a key to his fortunes tonight and Saturday.

Last week, he figured it cost him a victory. Dominique Arnold of Long Beach Wilson held on to beat a hard-charging Brown at the tape, 14.20 to 14.30.

But, he said, if his start had been better . . . well, who knows how fast he could have run?

At the 3-A prelims at Camarillo High three weeks ago, Brown broke quickly and ran the wind-aided 14.10.

The following week at the 3-A finals, he started slow but ran a fundamentally strong race to win in a wind-aided 14.34.

Of that start, he said: “I might as well have stood up and started. I don’t know why I’m so slow out of the blocks.”

Slow start or fast, Brown will face competition from Arnold, Carson and Charlie Davidson of Saddleback, among others. Last week, Davidson finished third behind Arnold and Brown in 14.49.

A closer look at the events:

BOYS’ SPRINTS

Tim Martin of San Clemente and the rest of the 100 and 200 runners resume their chase of unbeaten Ricky Carrigan of Compton. Martin set a county record of 10.56 in the 100 two weeks ago. Roshawn Sims of Esperanza improved his personal best in the 400 to 48.01 last week.

BOYS’ DISTANCES

When Louie Quintana of Arroyo Grande decided to drop the 800 in favor of the 1,600 last week, it threw the half-mile up for grabs. Dana Hills’ Dan Niednagel (1:53.48 last week), El Modena’s Mike Terry (1:54.23) and Newport Harbor’s Mike Hancock (1:54.47) figure to have as good a shot at winning as anyone.

Mike Bernstein of Garden Grove, who had never broken 4:20 in the 1,600, improved his best to 4:12.87 last week. But Quintana is a heavy favorite.

BOYS’ RELAYS

Valencia’s 1,600 relay team of Korey Alexander, Brian Manning, Kevin Alexander and Devon Edwards ran a swift 3:17.84 last week. The favorites are Compton Centennial (3:14.46), Sacramento Valley (3:14.6) and Vallejo (3:14.7). Foothill (3:18.53) also qualified.

BOYS’ JUMPS

Defending champion Kevin Carlson of Katella is the only high jumper in the state to clear 7 feet this season. Last week, he missed three times at 7-2 after winning the competition at 6-10. “He needs to jump at something higher,” Katella Coach Mike Cochrane said. “Sooner or later, he’s got to get this height (7-2).”

Vince Church of Kennedy (47-7 1/2) qualified in the triple jump. Trevor Lycett of Esperanza (14-8) qualified in the pole vault.

BOYS’ THROWS

Mark Parlin has the state’s best shotput mark by more than six feet--66-7 1/2--and the second-best discus mark--194-2. Jeff Buckley of Bakersfield is the national leader in the discus with a throw of 210-1. Paul Richard of Valencia (54-0 1/2) also qualified in the shotput.

GIRLS’ DISTANCES

The 800, 1,600 and 3,200 figure to be as hotly contested as any three races in the meet. Becky Spies of Livermore, who has run 2:10.07, is the national leader in the 800. Shelley Taylor of Edison lost her national lead in the 1,600 to Nikki Shaw of Fillmore last week. Taylor lowered her best to 4:52.38, but Shaw ran 4:49.77. Deena Drossin of Agoura, the defending state champion in the 3,200, ran 10:40.88 last week and has a best of 10:23.25. Freshman Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills (10:47.58) and sophomore Amber Parkinson of Orange Lutheran (10:51.30) also qualified in the 3,200.

GIRLS’ HURDLES

Nursing a sprained ankle, Elinor Tolson of Fountain Valley ran to victories in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles last week. Her 14.38 in the 100 hurdles ties her for the fourth-best time in the country this year. Her 43.25 in the 300 lows is the third-fastest time in Orange County history. Erin Blunt of San Pasqual has run a national-leading 42.69.

GIRLS’ JUMPS

If you can possibly look past the record-breaking feats of Walnut’s Juliana Yendork in the triple jump--and they do tend to catch the eye--Mater Dei’s Melissa McDonald has done a fair job of jumping herself. McDonald qualified in the high jump (5-5), long jump (17-10 3/4) and triple jump (37-11). Yendork pushed her national record in the triple jump to 43-6 1/2 last week. Mission Viejo’s Tammy Graham (37-3 in the triple jump) and Heather Sterlin (17-11 in the long jump) also qualified.

GIRLS’ THROWS

Nicole Beauregard of Valencia (40-7 1/2) qualified in the shotput, and Gina Heads of Newport Harbor (129-5) advanced in the discus.