Wisconsin’s Dameworth Treading Warily

The distance-running career of Bryan Dameworth must seem to him like a long, strange trip since his graduation from Agoura High last year.

Dameworth--the 1989 Kinney national cross-country champion and the 1990 state track champion in the 3,200 meters--has yet to run a collegiate race for Wisconsin because of injuries.

He redshirted the 1990 cross-country and the 1991 track and field seasons, and he might miss the upcoming cross-country campaign if he doesn’t quickly round into racing form.

After running 80-90 miles a week during the summer of 1989, Dameworth is currently running for 25-30 minutes, five days a week.

That’s not much for an athlete of his caliber, but it is a start for someone who had been unable to run since September.

“I’m pleased with the way things are going now,” said Dameworth, who began running five weeks ago. “I felt real awkward when I started running again, but I’m starting to get a little of the fluidity back. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting back into the groove.”

Dameworth had been excelling in races before the start of his injury woes, which began in the middle of June last year.

He won the 3,200 in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in April, then lowered his personal best to a time of 8 minutes 53.26 seconds--the fastest in the nation that year--in winning the event in the state meet. A week later, he ran a personal best of 4:09.32 to place third in the mile in the Golden West Invitational.

The first of three injuries--a stress fracture in his right foot--cropped up after the International Prep meet the following week, however, and Dameworth wore a cast on that foot from mid-June until mid-July.

He was given medical clearence to run again shortly after the cast was removed, but the injury resurfaced, and he found himself in another cast from mid-September until mid-November.

During that time, doctors also determined that he had a stress fracture in his left foot, although it did not require a cast.

“It’s been extremely frustrating,” Dameworth said. “I wanted to do well during my freshman season and establish myself on the collegiate level, but I found myself on an emotional roller coaster instead.”

That up-and-down ride has taught Dameworth not to force the issue in certain situations like before.

“The last year has mellowed me out,” he said. “It has made me more tolerant and patient of situations in general. I used to be a little more high-strung.”

That high energy level might have caused Dameworth to come back too soon before, but he and Wisconsin Coach Martin Smith are taking a cautious approach to his latest attempt to bounce back.

“I’d like to run cross-country this year,” Dameworth said. “But I’ll just have to wait and see how things go. The key is to not expect it. To not put any extra pressure on myself.”

Trivia question: He ranks fifth on the all-time regional list in the high school two-mile, and he later finished fifth in the 1978 World cross-country championships. Who is this former Valley-area standout?

Downward trend: Based on his recent performances, Quincy Watts of USC does not appear to have recovered from his bout with strep throat.

Watts--a three-time state sprint champion at Taft High--ran a personal best of 44.98 seconds in the 400 to place third in The Athletics Congress championships in mid-June. That performance qualified him for the U. S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Tokyo, starting Aug. 24.

Watts has struggled since he became ill last month, however.

He ran 45.84 to finish second behind Chip Jenkins (45.57) in the Olympic Festival last month, and he was a well-beaten fourth (46.01) in the Pan American Games in Havana on Monday.

Cuban Roberto Hernandez finished first in 44.52.

Three and counting: Darcy Arreola of Nike Coast and Marion Jones of Rio Mesa High have posted automatic qualifying marks for next year’s Olympic Trials in their respective events, and Kevin Hendrix, who completed his collegiate career at Northridge in June, has exceeded the provisional standard in the 100 meters.

Provisional qualifiers will be used to fill out the fields in events in the Olympic Trials if the number of automatic qualifiers is below the desired level.

Qualifying dates for all events except the men’s and women’s marathon and the men’s and women’s walk races, are from April 10 of this year to June 14, 1992.

Arreola--the NCAA Division I champion in the 1,500 for Cal State Northridge in June--has exceeded the automatic qualifying time in that event with her personal best of 4:09.32, and she has posted provisional qualifying times of 2:05.19 in the 800 and 9:17.03 in the 3,000.

Although Arreola ran 2:04.0 in the 800 at an all-comers meet at Birmingham High last month, that mark cannot count as a qualifying mark for the Olympic Trials because it came in a race that included men.

Jones, this year’s Gatorade National High School girls’ track and field athlete of the year as a sophomore, has exceeded the automatic qualifying standards in the 100, 200 and 400 with her personal bests of 11.17, 22.76 and 52.91.

Hendrix’s wind-aided time of 10.35 in the 100 exceeds the provisional qualifying standard (10.37) in that event.

Trivia answer: Guy Arbogast ran 9:00.6 in the two-mile for Crespi High in 1974 and led the United States to a runner-up team finish behind France in the 1978 World cross-country championships in Glasgow, Scotland.