TRACK AND FIELD / JOHN ORTEGA : Drossin Hopes to Leg It Out This Year

One great year.

That’s what Deena Drossin is still shooting for as she approaches her junior cross-country season at Arkansas.

Drossin, a five-time state champion in cross-country and track at Agoura High, had completed two legs of a superb sophomore season, placing second in the NCAA cross-country championships in November and in the 5,000 meters in the Division I indoor track championships in March. But she fell short on the third leg, failing to advance to the final of the 5,000 in the NCAA outdoor track championships in June after she had been slowed by various leg injuries.

“I was really disappointed because I felt like I was on my way to completing a really great year,” Drossin said. “Cross-country and indoor track had gone so well.”

The 5-foot-5, 105-pound Drossin had lowered her personal best to 15 minutes 52.80 seconds in the 5,000 in the indoor championships, but sciatic nerve problems that arose in April led to pain and tightness in her calves during the Southeastern Conference championships in Knoxville in mid-May.

Drossin won her second consecutive SEC titles in the 3,000 and 5,000 despite those problems, but the pain was so severe afterward that she did not run again until her qualifying heat in the NCAA championships.

“I just didn’t feel prepared for (the NCAAs),” Drossin said. “I basically viewed my season as being over before it was and that’s not the best way to go into the NCAA meet.”

Drossin’s injury might not have become so severe if she had run only the 5,000 at the SEC meet, Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said.

“I told her that she didn’t have to run the 3,000 after she complained of some tightness in her calves after the 5,000,” Harter said. “But she wanted to give it a shot and see how it felt.”

Although Drossin’s legs felt fine during the race, they knotted up so badly afterward that she could not complete her warm-down.

Drossin and Harter learned from the experience. Drossin realized she has to “listen to my body more and run easy, or not run at all, if I’m tired or injured.”

Harter learned there are times when he needs to step in and prevent Drossin from racing even if she says she feels up to it.

“She is a very, very competitive person, which is what you want in any athlete,” Harter said. “But that competitiveness will not allow her to back down from a race even if she is injured or hurt.”

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Expanding his horizons: Charles Mansfield, known for his versatility on the track at Canyon High, might take up the decathlon as a freshman at Long Beach City College next season.

Excelling in the decathlon might seem like a particularly daunting task for an athlete with Mansfield’s slight build (6-feet, 145 pounds), but it should be noted that he posted personal bests of 49.5 seconds in the 400, 1:55.97 in the 800 and 6-8 in the high jump.

He also placed ninth in the 1992 state Division II cross-country championships and ran a 4:16 1,600-meter leg for Canyon’s distance medley relay team.

“The decathlon is not just something that I’m joking about,” Mansfield said. “It’s a possibility. I would definitely have to hit the weights hard to prepare for it, but I think it could be done.”

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Harsh critic: Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo High has described himself as his worst critic and it’s easy to see why.

Despite clearing 7 feet or higher--including a personal best of 7-2--in 10 meets this season and finishing second (7-1) in the state championships and third (7-1 1/2) in the USA Track & Field Junior (age 14-19) championships, Fischer was disappointed with his junior year.

“I didn’t jump 7-3, I didn’t win state and I didn’t (finish among the top two in the U.S. junior meet),” Fischer said. “I didn’t accomplish any of those things so I’m disappointed, to be honest.”

Fischer lists victories in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays (7-2) and Santa Barbara Easter Relays (7-1) as the highlights of the season, with the low point coming at the Arcadia Invitational, in which he finished third at 6-8.

“I was so pumped up for that meet,” Fischer said. “I couldn’t wait to get out there days ahead of time, but then when I finally did, I didn’t jump well.”

Fischer’s biggest goal for his senior year is to improve his consistency at 7-0.

“I want to be able to clear seven feet in every big meet,” he said. “I want to be able to pop over it in all the big meets.”

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One that got away: Morris Giddens, the runner-up in the boys’ 1,600 meters in the state championships from Gardena High, had committed to Cal State Northridge in May, but he is expected to attend El Camino College this fall.

Giddens told Northridge Coach Don Strametz that he planned to attend Northridge, but that statement was based on the assumption that he would score the NCAA-required 700 or more on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. When he failed, Northridge and other Division I schools were unable to offer Giddens a scholarship.

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Endangered species: Remember when the top high school runners in the country regularly ran under nine minutes for two miles?

It failed to happen even once this season; Webb Shelley of Westwood (Ariz.) High was the national leader with a time of 9 minutes 0.65 seconds for 3,200 meters, which is 20 yards short of two miles.

Compare that to 1977, when 17 individuals broke 9:00 in the two-mile and an additional 12 ran under 9:05.