HIGH SCHOOL TRACK / SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS : Shaw Sets National-Best Time in 1,600

Nikki Shaw decided to concentrate on quality instead of quantity in Saturday’s Southern Section track and field championships at Cerritos College.

Last year, Shaw scored an unprecedented triple, winning the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter races. This spring, the Fillmore High senior concentrated on just two events and the decision paid off as Shaw won the girls’ 1,600 in 4 minutes 50.40 seconds and the 800 in 2:13.78 before a crowd of 4,350. The 1,600-meter time was the fastest girls’ prep mark in the nation this season.

Fillmore, powered by Shaw’s two victories (worth 20 points), finished second in the 1-A Division team standings with 38 points. Pius X was first with 61.

Harvard-Westlake, led by individual winners David Moran (50.15 in the 400) and Jesse Stern (14 feet in the pole vault), won the 1-A boys’ title with 60 points. Pius X was second with 50.

“Last year, I ran the 400 for the fun of it,” said Shaw, who will run at Villanova next season. “But it just wasn’t fun anymore, so I dropped it.”

The fact that the 400 falls between the 1,600 and the 800--Shaw’s primary events--influenced her decision. As did soreness in the arch of her right foot.

Nevertheless, Shaw’s time in the 1,600 was a pleasant surprise.

“I didn’t expect to run quite that fast,” she said. “But my training is going really well right now. I felt great in both races. . . . I’m really looking forward to next week.”

The Southern Section Masters meet is next Friday, and there Shaw will meet 3-A Division champion Shelley Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison in a rematch of the 1,600 in the Arcadia Invitational in April. Taylor won that race.

But Shaw won’t be the only Fillmore athlete competing next week. Teammates Maribella Aparicio and Joel Lopez also won events for the Flashes on Saturday to advance to the Masters meet.

Aparicio, a junior, set personal bests to win the 3,200 (10:41.88) and place second in the 1,600 (4:55.67). Lopez, a senior, lowered his personal best by more than 1 1/2 seconds to win the boys’ 800 in 1:52.56.

Aparicio’s time in the 3,200 and Lopez’s 800 mark were the fastest of the meet.

The Marmonte League produced a pair of double winners in the boys’ 3-A meet.

Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park erased the frustration of finishing eighth in the 1,600 last year by scoring come-from-behind victories in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Wilson passed Todd Tressler of San Marcos with 300 meters left in the 1,600 and charged past Fernando Mendoza of Channel Islands with 250 meters remaining in the 3,200.

Royal sophomore Andre Desaussure won the 200 in 21.90 and the 400 in a region-leading 48.58. Desaussure led from the start in the 400, then gunned down Anthoni Davis (21.92) of Santa Ana Valley in the final five meters of the 200.

* JONES WINS 4 TITLES: C10