RUNNING : High-Mileage Program Spurs Harvey’s Swift Progress

A year ago, as a Paraclete High senior, Jean Harvey failed to qualify for the Southern Section Masters track and field meet in her specialty, the 3,200 meters.

But she’s come a long way--literally and figuratively--since then.

On Sunday, Harvey, now an Antelope Valley College freshman, placed second in the 10,000 meters at The Athletics Congress Junior (19 and under) championships. She made improvement the old-fashioned way--she earned it.

Training under Antelope Valley Coach Mark Covert--a proponent of high-mileage workouts--Harvey ran 50 miles a week during her freshman cross-country season, an increase from the 20 to 25 she averaged in high school.

That paid off with a seventh-place finish for Harvey in the state junior college cross-country championships in November. But it was the 90-100 miles a week that she ran in the weeks after the state meet that laid the foundation for her track success. “Getting her up to 50 miles a week was easy,” Covert said. “But going to triple digits was another story.”

After running more than 100 miles a week and living to tell about it, Harvey’s confidence climbed as the track season neared. And when she had some success during the season, her confidence soared.

“She had never had any real success on the track,” Covert said. “But those early races let her know that track can be fun. That she could have success on the track too. It wasn’t limited strictly to cross-country.”

Harvey, who was fifth in the 3,200 and seventh in the 1,600 at the 1990 Southern Section 1-A Division track championships, finished second in the 5,000 and fourth in the 3,000 at the state junior college meet at Sacramento City College in May.

“It was kind of surprising,” Harvey said of her success. “But I knew I would improve a lot because of the mileage.”

After Harvey, 19, lowered her personal bests to 9 minutes 56 seconds in the 3,000, and 17:02.85 in the 5,000 this season, Covert figured that she had a good chance to finish in the top two in the 10,000 at the TAC junior meet at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.

Villanova freshman Carole Zajac, who finished second in the 10,000 at the NCAA Division I championships, won the event in 34:22.32, while Harvey placed second in 35:39.10, qualifying for one of two U. S. team that will run in a series of international meets next month.

When Zajac decided to call it a season, Harvey was selected to represent the U. S. in the Pan American Junior Games in Kingston, Jamaica, July 18-22.

Before that, she will run the 3,000 in meets at Spokane, Wash., and Tallahassee, Fla.

“She has just kind of scratched the surface of her potential,” Covert said. “We’re still only doing pretend speed work because of her mileage. Prior to this season, she was one of those typical high school kids who ran well in cross-country, then got hammered by the kids with better leg speed in track. . . . But I told her that no one is going to give you a scholarship for cross-country. You have to be able to run track well.”

Based on her performances, Harvey has gotten the message.

Trivia time: When Marion Jones of Rio Mesa High won the 100 and 200 at the TAC Junior meet, she became the second Spartan sprinter to win a TAC Junior title, following Angela Burnham, who won the 200 in 1989.

Before Burnham’s victory, who was the last athlete from the region to win a TAC Junior title?

Misleading statistic: Cal State Northridge track and field Coach Don Strametz said that this year’s Matador men’s recruiting class does not represent a change in philosophy, but it is noteworthy that of the seven athletes who have signed a letter of intent with CSUN since April 10, five are from junior colleges.

However, Northridge also has signed seven women, all of whom will be freshmen in the fall.

“There is no trend there,” Strametz said. “That’s just the way things have gone so far.”

Recruit watch: Tamika Bradfield of Compton Dominguez High, who has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge, will run in a series of meets for a U. S. junior team next month.

Bradfield, who finished third in the 200 and eighth in the 100 at the TAC Junior meet, will run in meets in Spokane, Wash., (July 6-7), London (July 13-14), and Salamanca, Spain (July 18-22).

Bradfield, the runner-up in the 100 and 200 to Jones in the state championships, has personal bests of 11.71 and 23.94 in those events.

All-comers switch: Two all-comers track and field meets will be held each week at Birmingham High for the next six weeks.

The meets, which began Wednesday night, will be held every Wednesday and Friday for the next six weeks, starting with the youth division at 6 p.m., and the novice and open divisions at 7.

The meets were held at Birmingham on Wednesdays in previous years, but when Santa Monica City College declined to play host to them on Fridays this summer, Birmingham picked up the extra meet. A series of all-comers cross-country meets also will be held at Pierce College every Monday at 6 p.m. for the next five weeks.

Trivia answer: Junior Denean Howard of Kennedy High won the 200 in 23.42 at the 1981 TAC Junior meet at UCLA.