Birmingham’s Chances Hinge on Trio : Track and field: Serpas, Mejia, Lincoln qualify in 10 events as Braves seek repeat of City Section championship.

Superior depth, not standout individuals, propelled the Birmingham High boys’ track team to its first City Section title last season, but the Braves’ chance of repeating this season will fall squarely on the shoulders of seniors Tony Serpas and Alvaro Mejia and junior James Lincoln.

That much was obvious in the City semifinals at Birmingham on Thursday as the Brave trio combined to qualify for 10 events in next week’s championships.

Serpas qualified in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and also as a member of the Braves’ 1,600 relay team.

Mejia, the defending City champion in the 1,600, qualified in that event as well as the 3,200.

Lincoln, the defending City champion in the high jump, advanced in that event along with the long jump, triple jump and 110 high hurdles.

Dorsey, which self-destructed in last year’s City meet after entering the finals as a co-favorite with Birmingham, moved into the favorite role by qualifying at least one athlete in 12 of the 13 individual events, and the Dons also qualified teams in the 400 and 1,600 relays.

“It looks like James, Alvaro and myself are going to have to take it on ourselves to do a lot next week,” Serpas said. “We have one or two other guys, like Joseph Robinson in the pole vault, who can score some points for us, but our 800 guys just didn’t have a good day and that hurt.”

Adam Naftalin, who finished fifth in the 800 in last year’s City meet, and Ismael Castellanos ran run 1 minute 58.6 seconds and 1:58.7 in finishing second and third in the 800 in last week’s Valley Pac-8 Conference finals, but they posted non-qualifying times of 2:01.64 and 2:01.84 in their heats.

Serpas timed a personal best of 10.75 seconds to win Heat 2 of the 100 and he won the third heat of the 200 in a wind-aided 21.44.

He also timed 50.03 in the 400 to place second in his heat behind Andre DeSaussure of Taft (47.29), but he’s not sure if he will run in that event next week.

“We’ll just have to see where I stand in the 400,” Serpas said. “I might not run in it if it looks like I’m not going to finish higher than fifth or sixth.”

Lincoln tied for the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the 110 highs (15.3), and he was the No. 3 qualifier in the long jump (21-8 1/4) and the triple jump (44-2 1/2). He was also one of 12 qualifiers to clear 6-0 in the high jump.

Mejia ran 4:28.17 in the 1,600 and 9:39.8 in the 3,200.

Taft, led by DeSaussure, appears capable of winning the title if Dorsey and Birmingham falter.

DeSaussure won his heats in the 100 (personal best of 10.74), 200 (wind- aided 21.54) and 400, and he also ran a storming anchor leg on the Toreadors’ 400 relay team, which won its heat with a season best of 42.81.

DeSaussure is favored to win titles in all three sprints next week and the Toreadors should be in the thick of the title hunt in the 400 relay.

Jeff Nadeau of Monroe advanced to the finals in three events.

Nadeau, who cleared a City record of 7-2 1/4 in the high jump in last week’s Valley Pac-8 Conference meet, qualified in that event at 6-0.

He was also the top qualifier in the triple jump with a personal best of 46-7 1/2 and the No. 2 qualifier in the long jump at 22-1 1/2.

Granada Hills junior Danny Haag will also be competing in four events next week as he won his heat of the 300 intermediate hurdles in 39.61 and placed second in his heat of the 110 highs in a personal best of 14.8. He also cleared 6-0 in the high jump and was the No. 6 qualifier in the long jump at 21-2 3/4.

Oshonda Posey of North Hollywood had the leading qualifying times in both the 100 (12.41) and 200 (wind-aided 25.31) in the girls’ meet.