RUNNING / JOHN ORTEGA : Jones’ Actions Produce More Questions Than Answers

Why did Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks High pass up a chance to compete in the Olympic Games in Barcelona this summer?

That is the question members of the track and field community no doubt are asking one another after Jones said Tuesday that she would not take part in a training camp in Narbonne, France, from July 11-23. Six members--including two alternates--of the U.S. Olympic 400-meter relay team will be chosen at the camp.

Jones, 16, gave only vague reasons for the decision, which Jones said she made with her mother after finishing fourth in the 200 meters in the U.S. Olympic trials on Sunday in New Orleans.

“The time wasn’t right,” Jones said Tuesday.

Thousand Oaks track Coach Art Green offered no insights into the decision, and Elliott Mason, Jones’ personal coach, could not be reached for comment. But the move is as surprising as it is mysterious.

Competing in the Olympic Games is a rare opportunity for any athlete, especially for a 16-year-old who just finished her junior year in high school.

In addition, Jones and Mason said all year that making the Olympic team was their No. 1 goal.

So why did she decide to forgo the training camp in France? Here are some possible reasons: * Perhaps Jones and/or her mother, Marion Toler, believed she should have been guaranteed one of the six berths on the 400-meter relay because she finished fifth in the 100 in the trials. Perhaps they believed she should have been guaranteed a berth on the team.

Even if Jones earned one of the six berths during the tryouts in France, there is no guarantee she would actually run in the Olympics if she is an alternate.

Perhaps Jones wants a break from the pressure of competing at a world-class level, although she said she felt little at the trials.

* She also might believe she will have more fun, and endure less pressure, running in the 100, 200 and 400 relay in the World Junior championships in September in Seoul rather than running a leg on the 400 relay team in the qualifying rounds in the Olympics.

* And finally, perhaps Mason believes that Jones was fatigued after a long season--which included her third consecutive state high school titles in the 100 and 200--and that she needed a break from top-level competition.

Whatever the reasons for Jones’ decision, the secrecy surrounding it remains puzzling. But it is characteristic. When Jones transferred from Rio Mesa to Thousand Oaks in November, she and her mother refused to discuss why they made the move. And when Thousand Oaks’ 1,600-meter relay team failed to run in its qualifying heat in the state meet last month--primarily to help keep Jones fresh for the trials--Jones deflected queries to her coaches.

Fall from grace: Darcy Arreola of Nike Coast Athletics is learning that it is easier to be an up-and-coming runner than one of the favorites.

Arreola, the 1991 NCAA Division I champion in the 1,500 meters for Cal State Northridge, surprised people--including herself--at The Athletics Congress meet last year when she finished third in a personal best of 4 minutes 9.32 seconds to qualify for the U.S. team that competed in the World Championships in Tokyo.

Based on those performances, Arreola was regarded as a potential Olympian. But she failed to advance to the final of the 1,500 in the Olympic trials, finishing eighth in her semifinal in 4:17.86.

“I think a lot of it was mental,” Arreola said. “I just wanted to get (the trials) over with instead of looking forward to it like last year.

“Last year, I wasn’t even thinking about finishing in the top three at TAC and running in the World Championships. But this year, everything I did was geared to making the Olympic team. You make so many sacrifices to try and make the team that by the time the trials came around, I just wanted to get them over with.”

Arreola, who has a season best of 4:11.67, said she might race in Europe after the conclusion of the Olympic Games in August.

Day-tripper: Christian Cushing-murray of the Santa Monica Track Club had a pretty good idea how Joe Falcon felt after he crashed to the track during the men’s 1,500 final in the trials Sunday.

Falcon, the U.S. leader in the event this season, never recovered from the fall, finishing last in the 14-man field.

Cushing-murray, 24, a former standout at North Hollywood High and UCLA, finished a disappointing 11th in his semifinal Friday in 3:56.78 after hitting the deck with 500 meters left in the race.

“I was cruising along fine,” Cushing-murray said. “Then all of a sudden, I was eating track.”

Although Cushing-murray regained his feet quickly, he never had a chance of finishing in the top six and advancing to the final.

However, Santa Monica Track Club Coach Joe Douglas filed a protest with TAC officials saying that Cushing-murray was tripped. The protest was upheld and Cushing-murray was added to the field for final, where he finished sixth in a personal-best 3:38.22.

“I was devastated when it first happened,” Cushing-murray said of the fall. “The whole last lap, all I could think about was, ‘God, it’s going to be another four years before I can do this again.’ ”

The final must have seemed frighteningly familiar for Cushing-murray as Falcon fell 220 meters into the race and Mike Morin of Arkansas hit the deck 300 meters later, forcing Cushing-murray to hurdle him.

“My strategy at the start of the race was to hang in the back and then gradually move up to the front,” Cushing-murray said. “But after seeing two guys fall, I was wary of having anyone running behind me so I stayed near the back longer than I should have.”

In 10th place with 400 meters left, Cushing-murray moved up to fifth entering the homestretch before fading.

“I’m a little disappointed in my race,” Cushing-murray said. “Even though I did get a (personal record). I kind of chickened out, really. . . . I need to learn that it is better to take a chance in a race and either make it or break it, than to not take a chance at all.”

Grounded: The most productive season of Crissy Mills’ career came to a crashing halt in the trials when she failed to clear a height during the qualifying round of the high jump.

Mills, the state high school champion at Campbell Hall High in 1988 and ‘89, cleared a personal best of 6 feet 1 1/2 inches in May to qualify for the trials but missed three attempts at the opening height of 5-10 3/4 in New Orleans. As it turned out, Mills would have qualified for Saturday’s final by clearing 5-10 3/4.

“She was way above the bar on all three of her attempts,” said Mills’ coach, Charlie DiMarco. “But she kept hitting it off with her heels. She had the height, but she was rushing to get over the bar instead of letting it happen.”

Mills’ no-height was particularly shocking because she has a history of producing top performances in big meets. As a sophomore at Campbell Hall, she won the 1988 state meet with a personal best of 5-10.

In 1989, she successfully defended her state title with a personal best of 6-0. She did not compete as a senior after tearing ligaments in her knee while playing for the school’s volleyball team.

Home front: Melanie Clarke, the 1990 and ’91 state junior college heptathlon champion for Valley College, gave birth Sunday to a girl. Reshae Melnique weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.