TRACK AND FIELD / JOHN ORTEGA : Lipkis Dials Long Distance for Sprinters

Roger Lipkis, a coach for the West Valley Eagles Track Club, has again assembled a superb group of sprinters for the summer track season.

Although the club is based in Canoga Park, the Eagles’ roster includes athletes from around the Southland who accounted for four individual state championships earlier this month.

Mike Russell of Rowland High, Pat Johnson of Redlands, Tyree Washington of La Sierra in Riverside and Bryan Howard of Canyon Springs in Moreno Valley teamed up to win the 400-meter relay in 40.55 seconds in the National Scholastic Outdoor championships at North Carolina State on Sunday.

Washington, Johnson, Russell and Michael Granville of Bell Gardens timed a victorious 3 minutes 7.67 seconds in the 1,600 relay.

As scintillating as those times are, Lipkis says West Valley is capable of running faster, and it’s hard to doubt him.

Johnson, who is headed to Oregon, won the 100 and 200 in the state championships earlier this month, and Russell, a junior, finished second in the 400.

Washington won the long jump in the state meet, Howard finished second in the 200--he was disqualified from the 100 for a false start--and sophomore Granville was the state champion in the 800. Washington and Howard are between their junior and senior years.

Granville, the team’s top 400 sprinter, is not expected to race any more this summer, but with Howard (personal best of 48.44 in the 400) and Lamar Reed (47.88) of Morningside at his disposal, Lipkis is not worried about a significant drop-off in performance.

“Our goal for the year is to go (mid-39s) in the 400 relay and 3:06 in the 1,600,” Lipkis said. “I think that’s possible based on what I saw the other day.”

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Add relays: The 3:07.67 clocking in the 1,600 relay is a club record for West Valley, but the 40.55 effort in the 400 trails the mark of 40.08 set in 1987.

That team consisted of Quincy Watts and David Feinstein of Taft High, Bryan Bridgewater of Washington and Percy Knox of Antelope Valley. Watts won the 400 in the 1992 Olympic Games, and Bridgewater (200) and Knox (long jump) were high school state champions.

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Trivia question: What local high school coach placed second in the 440-yard dash in the 1957 state high school championships?

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Triple crown: Jeremy Fischer’s victory in the high jump in the National Scholastic championships made the Camarillo High senior one of only three athletes this year to win titles in that meet as well as the California state championships and the Golden West Invitational.

The others are Pat Johnson, who won the 200 in each meet, and Mebrathom Keflezighi of San Diego, who was victorious in the 1,600 meters or mile in each competition.

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Medical report: Kristin Dunn of Cal State Northridge, who finished third in the women’s javelin in the NCAA championships earlier this month, underwent surgery last week to remove bone chips from her left knee and to repair a torn patella tendon.

Dunn, second on the all-time Northridge list with a personal best of 174-9 in the javelin, is expected to resume training in three weeks.

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Bypassing surgery: Mike Esparza, runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for Moorpark College in last month’s Southern California championships, has decided against surgery on a torn tendon in the second toe of his left foot.

Esparza severed the tendon when he hit his foot on a steeplechase barrier in the Southern California preliminaries May 7. He expected to have it operated on after the season, but questions about the surgery’s effectiveness and financial considerations prompted his decision.

“The doctors told me that there was only about a 50-50 chance that it would be totally successful,” he said. “I’m happy with the decision.”

The only time he doubts his decision is when he’s surfing. He occasionally bangs his toe--which points downward because of the injury--on the edge of the board as he stands up.

“You hear some pretty loud screams out in the waves every now and then, but other than that it’s fine,” he said.

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Running on empty: John Frazier said he didn’t want to resign from his assistant coaching position at Cal State Northridge earlier this month, but felt that circumstances forced his hand.

Although Frazier was paid a full-time salary during his three years at Northridge, three-quarters of it was for his position with the university recruitment program.

Consequently, a typical work day would find Frazier recruiting students for the university during the morning and early afternoon before heading directly to practice.

“With the set-up the way it was, I just felt like I was spreading myself too thin,” Frazier said. “That’s why I resigned.”

Although Frazier’s position with the university recruitment program could become full-time in the fall, he ultimately wants to become a full-time athletic administrator or coach.

“My goal is to gain full-time employment within an athletic department, and I just didn’t see that happening at Northridge,” he said.

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Trivia answer: Monroe Coach Dean Balzarett ran 48.1 as an Eagle Rock senior to finish second behind Fred Dewitt (47.9) of Berkeley.