PREP TRACK / MASTERS MEET : Woodward Has Fast Start, Fast Finish in 800 Meters

Bryan Woodward of Long Beach Poly expected to run a fast 800 meters in the Southern Section Masters track and field meet, but he wasn’t sure how fast.

In the past, Woodward struggled with an early fast pace, but he didn’t have any problems with this tactic Friday night at Cerritos College in winning with a personal-best time of 1 minute 50.48 seconds.

With the push of Nathan Woods of Duarte, Woodward ran the first 400 meters in 53.2 seconds and then pulled away on the final lap to record the second-best time in the nation this season.

“I like a fast early pace now because I feel like I’m in more control,” said Woodward, who finished second in the 800 in last year’s State meet. “When I start out like that, of course, I feel like I’m running a fast race.”

With the top five performers in each event qualifying for next week’s State meet, Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks again was the most watched athlete.

The two-time defending State 100 and 200 meters champion was the leading girls’ qualifier in the 100 (11.39 seconds) and 200 (22.78) and ran sizzling come-from-behind legs on Thousand Oaks’ qualifying 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams.

“I’m disappointed with my 100 time,” said Jones, who holds the national high school records of 11.17 and 22.67 in the 100 and 200 meters. “I wanted to run 11.2 or so in the 100 and mid-22 in the 200.”

The only other individual two-event winner was Twila Sims of Lompoc, who was the leading qualifier in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles in times of 14.09 and 43.06.

Angel Martinez of San Gabriel won the 3,200 in 8:56.99, best in the nation this year.