DIVISION II TRACK AND FIELD : Mitchell, Martinez Come Up With Strong Performances

When Cavetra Mitchell of Los Alamitos finally stopped running Saturday, she plopped her weary bones onto a comfortable-looking patch of grass and rested. Enough was enough.

She felt good, though fatigue had clearly consumed her. All things considered, it was a very good day of running for Mitchell, a senior sprinter.

She had the fastest qualifying marks in the 100 and 200 meters and the second-fastest time in the 100-meter high hurdles at the Southern Section Division II track and field preliminaries at UC Riverside.

Mitchell and Jaime Martinez, a junior distance runner from Orange, were the only Orange County athletes to have the top qualifying marks in two events, and each figures to be a double winner at this week’s finals.

Martinez had the fastest times of the day in winning his heats of the 1,600 and 3,200. Like Mitchell, Martinez stormed away from the pack in the final meters of each race and left little doubt as to the best. Unlike Mitchell, Martinez walked away looking comfortable and composed.

“Tired?” someone asked Mitchell after she capped her day with a victory in the 200 in 24.90 seconds.

“Very,” she gasped. “It’s too hot.”

Asked if she was simply trying to qualify for this week’s section finals, she said, “No. Uh-uh.”

That much seemed clear.

Her day started with a leg on Los Alamitos’ 400 relay team, but the Griffins’ time of 50.04 was not fast enough to advance.

Next was the 100, which she won in commanding fashion in 12.20.

Then, she won her heat in the high hurdles in 15.24, the second-best time of the day behind a 15.14 by Andrea Wasden of Oxnard Rio Mesa.

Finally, she rocketed away in the final 80 meters to win the 200 in a rout. Mitchell was the only runner to better 25 seconds.

For Martinez, the meet started with a county-leading time of 4:17.15 in winning his heat in the 1,600. Some four hours later, he returned to win the 3,200 with a strong kick in the final 50 meters. His winning time of 9:23.09 was off his section-leading best of 9:08.3 but still his second-best time ever.

“I just wanted to win to make sure I qualified,” Martinez said. “I’m looking forward to finals and to State.”

It’s difficult to tell which is Martinez’s better race, although he believes it’s the 3,200.

“I want to stick with what works for me,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll double next week.”

Other noteworthy qualifiers included:

--Kelly Campbell, a freshman from Corona del Mar who is running track for the first time, in the girls’ 1,600 (5:09.46) and 3,200 (11.23.88).

“She’s a natural,” Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said. “We’re bringing her along slowly. We don’t want to push her to her limit yet. She has the talent to go sub-five (minutes in the 1,600), but her body isn’t ready for that.”

--Esperanza’s Kristy Kierulff, the defending state champion in the girls’ high jump, advanced by clearing 5-2. She tried and missed three times at 5-10 1/2.

Meet notes

The top nine finishers in each event advanced to the section finals Saturday at Cerritos College. . . . For the record, the old designation of the Division III was misidentified in Saturday’s editions. Here are the correct designations for all four divisions: Division I was the 4-A, Division II was the 3-A, Division III was the 2-A and Division IV was the 1-A.