Bethel Makes Way Back Into Competition : Track: After a two-month layoff because of a freak injury to her eye, the teen-age star is in action.

Two months after losing her right eye in a freak accident while jogging, 14-year-old track standout Ashley Bethel of Lake Forest returned Saturday to what she enjoys most: competing and winning.

Though her times and marks were not her best, Bethel still won the 200-meter hurdles and the high jump at a USA Track and Field-sanctioned meet at Cal State Long Beach.

The eighth-grader from Los Alisos Intermediate School also finished second in the long jump, but fell well short of her personal best of 19 feet 7 1/4 inches.

Bethel, who lost her eye Feb. 23 when she was struck by a golf ball shot from an adjacent driving range while jogging at Saddleback College, showed little sign of being affected by her injury, but was plagued by rustiness.

In her first event, the 200 hurdles, she got off to a slow start but used a late surge to win. Bethel’s time of 28.47 was about a second and a half slower than her personal best of 27.00.

“It was a relief to see her go over the hurdles,” said Skip Bethel, her father and coach. “Her legs are really not there yet. (But) if she went out and finished last, I would have been just as proud as her, given the conditions.”

Bethel, competing for the El Toro-based Silver Wings Track Club, admitted she was a bit anxious returning to competition.

“I was nervous going over all of (the hurdles),” she said. “I was high on some of the hurdles, but the (speed) burst was still there.”

Bethel has been training for less than three weeks, and that was evident in her long jump performance, Skip Bethel said. She leaped 15-7 1/4, four feet less than her best, which he chalked up to inactivity, not her injury.

“It looked like she was hitting the board OK, but she just didn’t have the speed,” he said. “She’s not in shape for a long all-day meet like this.”

Earlier, she won the high jump with a leap of 5-4, an inch off her personal best.

An interested observer at Saturday’s meet was Billy Ivey, who lost his left eye when he was 13, yet went on to set a Southern Section 2-A record in the triple jump at West Covina Edgewood High.

Ivey, who will play football for Montana next year, has grown close to Bethel since learning of her plight. Ivey says Bethel shouldn’t have any problems proceeding with her career.

“(The injury) won’t have any effects at all,” he said. “Mentally, that’s the only way it could stop her, but as you can see, she hasn’t missed a beat.”

For her part, Bethel was glad to be participating again.

“It felt good to be back,” she said. “I missed competing against my friends.”