HIGH SCHOOL TRACK / CITY SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS : Birmingham Wins 1st Title in Dominating Fashion

The waiting is finally over for the Birmingham High boys’ track and field team and Coach Scott King.

After finishing five points behind first-place Locke in last year’s City Section championships, the host Braves won their first title Thursday with 70 points. Locke finished second with 46, followed by Gardena (43) and Belmont (34). Dorsey and Monroe tied for fifth with 30.

“This is something we’ve been waiting for since last year,” King said. “It was very frustrating to come so close last year, but this team just wasn’t ready to win last year. They were ready this year.”

Although Birmingham had a comfortable margin of victory, the Braves experienced an anxious moment when Raymond Banner failed to finish the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Banner, who had been upset by Reseda’s Drue Powell in the 110 high hurdles, was leading after the first four barriers, but he clobbered the fifth and crashed to the track.

Birmingham rebounded quickly. Tony Serpas placed fifth in the 200 in 22.14 seconds and Alvaro Mejia placed third in the 3,200 in 9 minutes 45.55 seconds. Sophomore James Lincoln followed that with a personal best of 6 feet 8 inches to win the high jump, and the 1,600 relay team of Patrick Abdelkerim, Serpas, Banner and Mike Moguel finished fourth with a region-leading time of 3:22.33.

“I knew we needed a win,” said Lincoln, whose previous best was 6-7 1/4. “Some of our guys didn’t do as well as we had expected, so it was a big event for us.”

Like all champions, Birmingham took advantage of its opponents’ misfortunes, particularly those of Dorsey. The Dons entered the meet as a co-favorite with the Braves but quickly self-destructed.

First, they failed to hook up on the first pass of the 400 relay--an event in which they were favored. Then favored Abram Toomes pulled up in the 100, and Ronnie Williams finished a non-scoring seventh in the 400 after entering the meet with the second-fastest qualifying time.

Birmingham, meanwhile, was turning in one solid performance after another.

Banner finished second to Powell, 14.50 to 14.51, in the high hurdles, and the Braves finished third in the 400 relay (42.78). Adam Naftalin placed fifth in the 800 (1:59.88), and Moguel took fourth in the 400 (49.36).

Serpas and Abdelkerim placed second (10.96) and fourth (11.10) in the 100. Mejia won the 1,600--as expected--in a personal best of 4:22.60, and Colin Marian gave the Braves a huge boost with a personal best of 4:28.52 to finish fourth.

The top four in each event advanced to next week’s state championships at Cerritos College.

Powell competed despite being involved in an automobile accident Monday. “He came to school Monday and he couldn’t even bend over,” Reseda Coach Steve Caminiti said. “He’s not real fast and he’s not real big, but he’s got the heart of a lion.”

Reseda won the boys’ 400 relay in a big upset. The team of Tom Haliburton, Sam Salter, Powell and Demetrius Walker timed a season best of 42.58 to edge Carson (42.59). Other winners included El Camino Real’s John Golden in the pole vault (14 feet), Sylmar’s Brian Roberson in the long jump (21-6 1/4), and Grant’s Nicole Baynes in the girls’ high jump (5-2).