Rain Forces State Track Cancellation : High schools: Safety concerns at Cerritos College cited. Baseball and softball title games rescheduled.

Citing health and safety concerns for athletes, CIF officials canceled the State track and field finals Saturday at Cerritos College after a morning of heavy rains.

It was the first time the State meet has been canceled because of weather in its 75-year history.

The preliminaries were held Friday. But it began raining early Saturday and continued until the afternoon. At 1:15 p.m., the eight-member track advisory committee assembled to inspect conditions.

An hour later, the committee unanimously recommended to CIF Commissioner Thomas Byrnes that the adverse conditions would put athletes in jeopardy. Byrnes then decided to cancel the event, which was to start at 3 p.m.

Because of travel logistics, there was no discussion of postponement or rescheduling.

“The only factor that the committee considered was the health and safety of the athletes,” said Hal Harkness, City Section commissioner and a member of the track advisory committee. “We didn’t think about the fans or coaches or anyone else but the athletes.”

Harkness said it was still raining when the committee assembled and that all of the weather forecasts called for continued rain. He said the inside lanes of the track were flooded, as was the pole vault pit.

The rain stopped at 2 p.m. and the sun came out shortly thereafter. Hundreds of coaches, athletes and fans showed up at Cerritos College, unaware the meet had been canceled. The gates to the stadium were locked and no CIF officials were there. A few workers passed out a statement from Byrnes.

“Everybody was just standing outside in shock,” said Therese Butler, girls’ coach at Long Beach Wilson. “Athletes were crying and coaches were in disbelief. I can understand calling off the meet if the rain had persisted throughout the day, but why cancel it a couple of hours before it was supposed to start?”

Thousand Oaks’ Marion Jones, a standout senior sprinter who had qualified in the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump, said officials should have consulted with more than only themselves before canceling a meet of such importance.

“When we left Thousand Oaks, the weather was clearing up,” Jones said. “I’ve run in rain before. If they say athletes are at risk, they have to take into consideration every meet. They at least could wait a few hours.

“This is an all-weather track. It’s hard to understand. I haven’t seen anybody officially come and talk to athletes and coaches. They are hearing it from the media. That’s what I don’t understand, (why) they can play it off as if it is just any meet.”

Hart Coach Dan Houghton agreed.

“I think they made a hasty decision and didn’t really think about the impact it would have on the athletes,” he said. “They should have waited a few more hours before making a decision. They always could have postponed the meet for a few hours to see if the rain was going to let up.”

The cancellation represents a big money loss for the CIF, because the finals usually draw about 12,000. Officials still are unsure what to do with medals and trophies. The track advisory committee will meet this week to discuss if any winners will be declared.

Neither the athletes nor coaches felt much like winners Saturday.

“I have been involved in some form of athletics for more than 30 years and I’ve never been this disappointed in my life,” said Camarillo Coach Dennis Riedmiller. “This meet is for the kids and the people who are in charge seemed to have lost track of that.”

The Southern Section baseball and softball finals were postponed until this week.

Times staff writers Wendy Witherspoon, John Ortega and Kim Kutcher contributed to this story.