Newport Pair Makes an Impression, Any Way You Put It : Track and field: Sailors’ Gina Heads and Tony Mancuso have the best shotput marks in Orange County this season.

Her braids are the first thing you notice about Gina Heads. They fall below her shoulders in long rows and swing in wide arcs whenever she moves her head.

On first meeting, Tony Mancuso’s arms and legs stand out most of all. They are strong, sturdy limbs--so strong and sturdy they almost seem out of place on his average build.

She is a 5-foot-3 sophomore at Newport Harbor High School.

He is a 5-10, 200-pound senior at Newport Harbor.

They have the best shotput marks in Orange County this season, and are a virtual lock to advance from today’s Southern Section 3-A preliminaries to next week’s finals.

Heads and Mancuso are each so similar and so good. Each is a former sprinter, steered into shotputting essentially because they weren’t very good runners. Each competes in another sport--she in basketball, he in football--but counts track and field as their favorite.

Heads’ best of 41 feet 5 1/4 inches, set in winning the Orange County championships last month, is tied for second-best in the 3-A division. Andrea Bill of University also has put the shot 41-5 1/4, and each trails Westlake’s Crystal Brownlee, who leads the 3-A with a mark of 44-8 1/2.

Mancuso’s best of 59-2, set in winning the county championships, is the best in the 3-A, No. 2 in the section and No. 4 in the state. Tyson Lingenfelter of Upland leads the section and the state with a 62-10 winning mark at the Arcadia Invitational.

It took a major change for Heads and Mancuso to put the shot as far as they have this season. Each had to scrap the traditional, glide-across-the-ring style in favor of a discus-style spin.

Each is short and seems to be built for speed. So, when the time was right, Newport Harbor weight events Coach Tony Ciarelli asked each to switch to the spin to better take advantage of their speed and strength and to negate their lack of height.

“Both sizes do both (styles), but gliders tend to be taller,” said Ciarelli, who was a State meet finalist in the shotput for Huntington Beach in 1972. “Because of Gina’s and Tony’s explosive ability, we decided to go with the spin.”

It took a while to adjust, but each says they couldn’t be throwing as well without the change.

With the exception of Heads’ duels against Bill, neither has found much competition in the county this season. Heads and Bill hold the top 11 girls’ marks and Mancuso has the top eight marks and nine of the top 10.

Now, Heads and Mancuso say they are primed and ready to peak for upcoming championship meets. Indeed, each is closing in fast on preseason goals.

“I want to get close to 45 feet,” Heads said. “I have to hit 43, but I’m capable of 45.”

Mancuso is hoping to break an elusive 60-foot barrier, though he said he passed it while warming up for Sea View League finals last week. He is sure it will come and when it does, he will probably raise his arms in triumph and say, “About time.”

“It’ll be a relief,” he said.

Each fully expects to reach the State finals June 5-6 at Cerritos College. Last season, Heads made the State prelims in the discus but did not advance to the final, and Mancuso finished ninth in the Masters meet shotput and did not qualify for the State meet.

The shotputters have started tapering for the big meets, and, if they follow form, making the State meet should pose no problems.

“Obviously, we’ve set the program up to (peak) at this time of year,” Ciarelli said. “Both are taking a lot of throws in practice right now. Both had PRs (personal record) in the last couple of meets. We designed the program to enable them to come up with the big throws now.”

Early in the season, Ciarelli started Heads and Mancuso off with intensive weightlifting, running and drills. As it turned out, a little extra dull preparation was sorely needed.

Heads came out late to track because Newport Harbor’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the section playoffs. Mancuso suffered a dislocated shoulder during football season and was slow in healing.

Since then, each has shown steady improvement, capped by their victories at the county championships April 25. In the weeks since then, they have focused on the little things to make the most of each throw. The key lately, has been to be relaxed and fine tune their forms.

“We’ve gone from the general--weightlifting--to the specific--throwing--at this time of the season,” Ciarelli said. “This is the time of the season when you want to PR.”

So, it seems Ciarelli has every possible angle covered. Now, we’ll see if it all works out as planned for Heads and Mancuso.