Injury Doesn’t Hamstring Hervey or Compton

For the crowd of 10,510 that attended last weekend’s State track and field meet at Cerritos College, there were outstanding performances by several athletes, but Edwin Hervey of Compton might have turned in the most impressive.

Hervey played a key role in Compton’s resurgence as a track power this season. His consistency at 200 and 400 meters, along with senior Ricky Carrigan’s domination in the sprints, made Compton one of the best teams in the state.

And the longer the season went, the better Hervey got, winning the Southern Section 4-A Division 400 meters in 47.55 seconds, then the Section’s Masters meet in 47.13.

Hervey--who ran the second leg on Compton’s 400-meter relay team--also was a strong contender at 200 meters, finishing second to Carrigan in the 4-A final and third in the Masters meet.

Going into last weekend’s State meet, Hervey was expected to have a big impact on Compton’s team title hopes. But in last Friday’s 400-meter preliminary heat, he suffered a pulled hamstring and finished second, in 47.85, to Richard Dupree of Fresno Roosevelt.

Hervey appeared to be out for the rest of the meet when he missed a 200-meter heat 90 minutes later, and Compton’s team title hopes seemed to be gone, too.

But Hervey had one more race in him and, despite his injury, ran an impressive second leg in Saturday’s 400-meter relay final, putting Compton in position for Carrigan’s winning anchor leg. It was a big victory for Compton and Hervey, who did not run in the 400-meter final.

Carrigan swept the 100 and 200 meters, and the Tarbabes finished with 30 points, winning their first State title since 1958, when Compton tied Manual Arts.

Marion Jones’ record show continued over the weekend as the Oxnard Rio Mesa sophomore won State titles in the girls’ 100- and 200-meters for the second consecutive year. In Friday’s preliminaries, Jones ran the fastest automatically timed 100 meters under any conditions by a prep runner, 11.12 seconds, with a 4.10-m.p.h. trailing wind. In the final the next day, she ran an 11.17, breaking her national record for high school competition.

“The competition and the weather played a big role because I was just trying to win, and if a record comes along, great,” said Jones, who ran a wind-aided 22.91 in winning the 200. She holds the national record for both events, having run a 22.87 in the 200 at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

As Jones prepares for the USA/Mobile Outdoor Championships--The Athletic Congress national championship meet--in New York June 13-15, some have wondered if she may have peaked too soon. But, Bob Kersee, UCLA women’s track coach, says that her best times are still ahead.

“I don’t think that she is peaking too early,” he said. “She has a coach (Brian FitzGerald) who knows what he is doing. He understands that progression is important. She is only 15 and can run another 15 or 16 years.”

Said FitzGerald: “Marion is a real confident kid who sets real high goals for herself. She has been working all year toward making the finals in both sprints at the TAC meet.”

More track: Standouts in the field events over the weekend were Steve Stanley of Gardena, who was a surprise winner in the long jump, and Avery Anderson of Riverside North, who upset defending champion Kevin Carlson of Anaheim Katella in the high jump.

Stanley, whose best jump before the two-day State meet was 23 feet 6 inches, leaped 25-0 1/4 in defeating Masters champion Tyrone Edwards of La Puente Nogales. Stanley’s 1 1/2-foot improvement gave him the best long jump in the state this season.

Like Stanley, Anderson also needed a personal best to win the high jump, leaping 7-2 to defeat Carlson, who finished at 7-1. Anderson’s previous best this season had been 6-8.

In the girls’ competition, Juliana Yendork of Walnut won the long and triple jump titles for the third consecutive year and tied the record for girls’ individual State titles with six set by Natalie Kaaiawahia of Fullerton. Yendork broke her national triple jump record Friday with a leap of 44-0 1/2.

Last add track: Watch out for the Inglewood Morningside boys’ and girls’ track teams next year. Both showcased a lineup of young athletes in the State meet.

The Morningside girls won their first State title with 28 points as junior Santisha Arnold finished fourth in the 200 meters and fifth in the 100; sophomore Lashawn Stringer finished third in the 400 and freshman Tai-Ne Gibson ran fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 200. The Monarchs also won the 400-meter relay, with junior Sanoma Nickson joining Arnold, Stringer and Gibson.

The boys’ team will also be strong next season, and the Monarchs’ entire 1,600-meter relay team--which won in 3:15.01--will return with juniors Levester Williams, Trayvan Harris and Jesse Swayze and sophomore anchor Edward Turner.

In the Southern Section baseball finals, Linfield of Temecula Valley completed a 25-0 season with a 7-4 victory over Chadwick of Palos Verdes for the Small Schools title. Linfield trailed, 4-0, before scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and giving Richard Hunter his 11th victory of the season.

Ontario joined Linfield as the Southern Section’s only unbeaten teams Saturday, defeating La Mirada, 9-2, to finish 26-0 as the 3-A Division champion.