HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Trials Ahead, Jones Still Sets 100 Mark

Even though Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks High will be running to make the U.S. Olympic team in less than two weeks, she still gets excited when she faces high school competition in the State track and field meet.

What keeps Jones thrilled is the opportunity to increase her collection of prep championships. She added two more Saturday by winning her third consecutive State 100 and 200 meters titles and breaking her own national record along the way.

Before a crowd of 10,320 at Cerritos College, Jones set a high school record in the 100 with a time of 11.14, breaking her previous best of 11.17, set in last year’s State meet when she ran for Oxnard Rio Mesa.

Jones, a junior, then came back 20 minutes later and set a State meet record in the 200 with a time of 22.83, which is off her national record time of 22.67 set last month.

“I wanted to run fast and have a good showing,” said Jones, who is a strong candidate in both sprints to make the Olympic team, which will be determined in New Orleans June 19-28. “Running in the State meet is still exciting to me. It’s not like I am too big now to appreciate it.

“I wasn’t thinking about any records going into the meet, but I knew that I’d be happy to run anything under 11.17 in the 100.”

Jones realizes that her chances of making the U.S. team are good when considering that her winning times Saturday would have placed her second in the NCAA championships being held in Austin, Tex.

“I try not to compare myself to them, but I am aware of the times they are running,” said Jones, 16. “I think that I will make the team in both events. I am not setting any limitations on myself.”

In the girls’ team title race, Long Beach Poly defeated Inglewood Morningside, 39 to 28 points.

Freshmen sprinters Aminah Haddad and Andrea Anderson were the big scorers for the Jackrabbits. Haddad finished second to Jones in the 100 in 11.73 and in the 200 in 23.97, and Anderson finished third in the 100 in 11.79 and fourth in the 200 in 24.15.

“I knew that both would run well, but it is how they dealt with the pressure as freshmen that impresses me,” said Long Beach Poly Coach Don Norford.

The Jackrabbits would have had any easier time had their 400-meter relay team not dropped the baton in the Moore League finals. However, Long Beach Poly got unexpected points by Chanelle Anderson and Marquita Knight in the long and triple jumps and had a dramatic victory over Morningside in the 1,600-meter relay.

“Because we didn’t have the short relay in there, we had to make up some points somewhere and we got some help in the jumps,” said Norford, whose Jackrabbits won their first girls’ title to go with five boys’ championships.

Twila Sims of Lompoc joined Jones as the meet’s only other two-event winner by capturing titles in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles. Sims, who won the state title in the 300 hurdles two years ago as a sophomore, won the 100 hurdles in a personal best of 13.83 and the 300 hurdles in 42.75.

Behind the efforts of Jeff Buckey, Bakersfield won the boys’ team title with 25 points, ahead of Morningside (24) and Hawthorne (22).

Buckey won the the discus with a toss of 186 feet 10 inches and finished second in the shotput with a mark of 60-9 1/2.

Demond Smith was the key scorer for Hawthorne in winning the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 37.34 and finishing second behind Charlie Davidson of Santa Ana Saddleback in the 110-meter high hurdles, 14.10 to 13.94.

In the sprints, Gentry Bradley of Downey Pius X and Riley Washington of San Diego Southwest exchanged victories. Bradley won the 200 in 20.97 and Washington set a state record in the 100 in 10.30.

Angel Martinez of San Gabriel completed a perfect outdoor season by winning the 3,200 meters in 8:56.34, ahead of Cruz Gallegos of Corona Centennial and Jacques Sallberg of Pasadena Muir.

Track Notes

Derek Shephard of San Francisco Lincoln outlasted James Redd of Fontana in the 400 to win in 46.95 to 47.25. . . . Eugene Dreher of Antelope Valley won the long jump with a leap of 24-1 1/2. . . . Janice Nichols of Bakersfield won the girls’ 400 for the third consecutive year in 54.4. . . . Shelley Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison outsprinted Nikki Shaw of Fillmore to win the girls’ 1,600 in 4:48.52. . . . Suzy Powell of Downey won the girls’ discus with a toss of 169-8. . . . Kristy Kierulff of Anaheim Esperanza won the girls’ high jump at 5-10. . . . Morningside swept both 400-meter relays by winning the girls’ final in 46.34 and the boys’ in 42.04.