For Marion Jones, Gain Follows Rain : Track and field: Two weeks after premature cancellation of state meet, rested sprinter prepares assault on record book.

The finals of the state high school track and field championships, Take 2, are scheduled for this afternoon at Cerritos College.

That much is certain about the meet, which was canceled in a controversial decision June 5 because “unsafe conditions” existed on the track after it rained. After a flurry of protests from outraged coaches and athletes, state officials rescheduled the meet last week.

With that resolved, two major questions remain: How many of the finalists who advanced through the qualifying rounds June 4 will come back for the return engagement? And will the athletes’ performances be helped, hampered or unaffected by the two-week delay?

Hal Harkness, the City Section commissioner and a member of the California Interscholastic Federation’s eight-member track and field advisory committee, estimates that 85%-90% of the finalists will compete today.

Area coaches such as Bill Duley of Agoura and Scott King of Birmingham expect that performances will suffer because of the delay. Most athletes had trained to peak two weeks ago and were mentally prepared for their top efforts then.

But others, such as Art Green of Thousand Oaks, figure that this might be the “greatest state meet in history,” because the athletes will be rested. They will not be fatigued from the previous day’s qualifying rounds, as is usually the case.

“Despite everything that has happened, I think the kids are going to be ready to go,” Green said. “I’ve heard some coaches say that their athletes won’t be sharp because they stopped training for a few days after the state meet was canceled, but at this stage of the season, most athletes could use a day or two off. I don’t think that is going to hurt them.”

Some of Green’s optimism probably stems from the fact that he is the coach of senior Marion Jones, who is expected to become the most-decorated female athlete in the history of the state meet.

Jones, the three-time defending state champion in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters, is a heavy favorite to win an unprecedented seventh, eighth and ninth individual titles in the 100, 200 and long jump in her final high school meet.

“She’s really looking forward to it,” Green said. “As it turns out, this will be a great way to end her high school career.”

Jones is one of eight athletes from the region who appear to have a shot at winning a state title.

The others are Margarito Casillas of Hoover in the boys’ 3,200, Drue Powell of Reseda in the boys’ 110 high hurdles, Jeff Nadeau of Monroe and Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo in the boys’ high jump, and Ty Gaines of Palmdale in the boys’ triple jump. Cheaza Figueroa of Quartz Hill and Vanitta Kinard of El Camino Real are potential winners in the girls’ triple jump.

Figueroa also has qualified for the finals of the 100 high hurdles and long jump.

Hart junior Jason Medearis, the leading qualifier in the boys’ 110 highs and the No. 4 qualifier in the 300 intermediates, will not compete because he suffered a stress fracture in his left foot during a passing-league football game Sunday.

Kinard and Medearis had produced the biggest surprises among region athletes in the state preliminaries.

Kinard bounded a wind-aided 40 feet 2 3/4 inches in the triple jump after entering the meet as the No. 17 entry with a wind-aided mark of 36-10.

Medearis had the No. 8 entry time (14.53 seconds) in the boys’ 110 highs before running a wind-aided 14.11 in the preliminaries to lead all qualifiers.