TRACK AND FIELD / DIVISION III PRELIMS : Peare Does What He Has to Do

Chad Peare of Trabuco Hills got exactly what he wanted at the Southern Section Division III track and field preliminaries Friday at Trabuco Hills.

No section record. No personal record. No life-changing experience.

Peare simply got a qualifying mark for next week’s section finals.

And when you get right down to it, that’s all that mattered in Friday’s meet.

Peare threw the discus 172 feet 6 inches on his third and final attempt and goes into next week’s final as the one to beat.

In the end, it didn’t matter that his best effort Friday was almost 20 feet short of his state-leading best of 191-11. He still managed to beat the top qualifier by almost 20 feet, and figures to be a mortal lock to win next week.

The top nine qualifiers in each event advanced to the section finals next Saturday at Cerritos College.

“I wanted to get 180 (feet),” said Peare, a senior who is weighing scholarship offers from Idaho and Kentucky. “I was told one of my throws was close to 180, but when they measured it it was only 172.”

No matter. The closest competition came from Ryan Fessler of Twentynine Palms, who was a distant second with a throw of 153-10.

“I wanted to be conservative and not foul,” Peare said. “The finals are a lot different. Here, the attitude is ‘Do it and go on.’ In this meet, you get a mark and go home.”

Things might not get much tougher next week, however.

The fact is, the division--which was known as the 3-A before this season--isn’t what it used to be.

There were five Orange County leagues--Angelus, Freeway, Garden Grove, Orange and Pacific Coast--in the division last season. But the Angelus League disbanded and the Freeway, Garden Grove and Orange moved up to Division II, which holds its preliminaries today at UC Riverside.

The Pacific Coast is the lone holdover, and it hardly dominates.

Peare, teammate Peggie Hall and Heidi Sickler of Laguna Hills were the most noteworthy qualifiers.

Hall, a freshman, finished second in her heat of the girls’ 800 meters, running a personal-best 2 minutes, 18.81 seconds. Simone Ferrara of South Torrance won the heat in 2:18.67.

Shalynn Carr of La Verne Bonita was the fastest qualifier, running 2:17.93.

Sickler, a senior, had the fastest qualifying time in the girls’ 1,600 meters, winning her heat in 5:12.10. Karen Bockel of Ojai Nordhoff had the second-fastest time, a heat-winning 5:12.57.

Sickler, who was the Hawks’ No. 2 runner on their State Division III runner-up in cross-country, was just off her season best of 5:08.17. Kim Nelson of Canyon has the county’s fastest 1,600 time this season, 5:06.17.