ORANGE COUNTY TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Boys, Girls Get Together for First Time in This Meet

In the year the powers that be finally decided to hold the Orange County boys’ and girls’ track and field championships on the same day at the same school, the girls’ competition figures to draw most of the attention.

Trabuco Hills High, with its new $300,000 all-weather track, will play host to the first co-ed county championships. In the past, the boys’ and girls’ meets were always held a week apart, sometimes at different sites.

Three girls’ distance races should provide most of the highlights and include head-to-head battles between some of the Southern Section’s top runners. The 800 meters will feature Edison’s Shelley Taylor and Ocean View’s Christie Engesser; the 1,500, Taylor and Orange Lutheran freshman Barbara Boisvert, and the 3,000, Sunny Hills’ Carrie Garritson and University’s Tanja Brix.

After running a personal-best of 2 minutes 12.45 seconds to win the 800 at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays last week, Engesser said she hoped to go faster today. She said she has a specific goal in mind, but “I’m going to keep it to myself.”

Taylor crushed a strong field in winning the Arcadia Invitational 1,600 meters two weeks ago, running a national-leading 4:51.98. She said she hopes to break 4:50 by season’s end.

After failing to finish after a fall with 200 meters to go in the Mt. SAC 800 last Friday, Boisvert bounced back to finish fourth in the 1,500 in 4:38.84 Saturday. That translates to about a 4:57 for 1,600 meters.

Garritson, only a sophomore, won the Sunkist Invitational indoor two-mile in 10:45.7 and backed that up with a 10:47.16 for 3,200 meters at Arcadia two weeks ago. Brix ran 11:04.38 at Arcadia.

Barring a big breakthrough by an unknown, the boys’ meet appears to be predictable. A lack of depth in most events leaves a long list of decided favorites, including Charlie Davidson of Saddleback in the 110-meter high hurdles and Tony Mancuso of Newport Harbor in the shotput.

Davidson ran a section-leading 14.22 to win at Mt. SAC last Friday and Mancuso had a personal-best of 58-4 1/2 to place second in the shotput.

Two of the more competitive events will be the high jump with Terry Mann of Sunny Hills (a best of 6 feet 10) and Jay Salim of Sonora (6-8) and the 100 meters with Valencia’s Kevin Alexander (10.90) and Korey Alexander (11.04).

The girls’ team championship figures to be a battle between Edison’s talented distance runners, led by Taylor, and Mission Viejo’s sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers, led by long jumper Heather Sterlin.

The boys’ championship is wide open because of a lack of depth.

Meet Notes

Organizers for today’s meet, which begins at 9 a.m. and will continue until after 7 p.m., are asking spectators and competitors to arrive early to avoid traffic snarls with the El Toro Air Show. The air show begins at 10 a.m. at the nearby El Toro Marine Base. . . . There are more than 2,000 entrants scheduled to compete, making this the largest Orange County championships in history.