TRACK AND FIELD / JOHN ORTEGA : Fully Heeled, Haag Turns to Junior Olympics

A bruised heel, limiting Danny Haag’s training during much of his senior season at Granada Hills High, turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he gears up for the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic Championships this month.

Haag, who graduated from Granada Hills last month, will compete in three events in the national meet after winning the 110-meter high hurdles (14.4 seconds) and finishing second in the long jump (22 feet 5 3/4 inches) in the young men’s division of the Region 15 championship at Cal State Long Beach over the weekend.

The top three finishers in each event advanced to the national championship, to be held July 26-31 at the University of Florida.

Haag already had qualified in the decathlon by winning last month’s Region 15 championship with a personal best of 6,476 points.

“I’m mostly going to be concentrating on the decathlon back there,” Haag said. “I want to do well in the hurdles and the long jump, but the decathlon is going to be my main focus.”

Haag finished fourth in the long jump and seventh in the 110 highs in last month’s State championships, although he was not 100% fit because of the injury he suffered in April. It limited his training for several weeks.

Haag returned from the injury in early June, and says he is in the best shape of his life after training hard under Allan Hanckel, a decathlete of note in the early 1980s.

Of greater importance, he feels mentally fresh at a stage of the year when many high school athletes are feeling the effects of a long track season.

“I’m stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in workouts, so I’m hoping for a good performance in Florida,” Haag said. “I think 7,000 points is definitely possible.”

A 7,000-point total would move Haag into 10th on the all-time national high school list and break the state high school record of 6,970 set by Tom Richards of Santa Barbara San Marcos High in 1988. Haag is matter-of-fact when explaining why he figures he can eclipse the mark.

“I only had a personal best in one event when I scored 6,476 and a couple of the other events were pretty bad,” he said. “So if I don’t do bad in any one event and have a couple of good events, I should be right there.”

*

Lucky call: Jamaal Chase, a recent graduate of Quartz Hill High, won the young men’s long jump and triple jump in the Region 15 meet with marks of 23-1 and 49-3, but a pair of sympathetic officials appeared to have contributed to his long jump victory.

Chase, who fouled on his first two attempts, appeared to have fouled on his third jump as well.

A third foul would have eliminated him because he would not have been among the top eight competitors after three rounds. But officials ruled it a fair jump after taking several seconds to make a decision, according to a source at the meet.

The decision produced boos from several spectators, who apparently felt the officials took pity on Chase because he fouled out of the long jump finals in the State championships last month.

*

Trivia question: Name the local high school track coach who tied for second in the pole vault in the 1958 State high school championships.

Hint: He later set a world indoor record for the Southern California Striders.

*

History lesson: Did you know that the 880-yard relay was the only relay race contested in the State high school championships from 1915-67?

When the 880 relay was dropped in 1968, it was replaced by the 440-yard and mile relays, which were replaced by the 400- and 1,600-meter events in 1980.

*

Fast times ahead: If this year’s results are any indication, the boys’ 3,200 meters and the girls’ 300-meter low hurdles could be the events stocked with the region’s best overall talent in 1995.

Eight of the top 10 performers on this year’s region regional list in the 3,200 were juniors, led by Palmdale’s Antonio Arce (9 minutes 3.19 seconds), Thousand Oaks’ Jeff Fischer (9:10.42) and Camarillo’s Eleazar Hernandez (9:10.96).

Agoura’s Cathy Prater, who moved to sixth on the all-time regional list in the 300 lows with a time of 43.62, graduated in June, but Buena sophomore Stacy Hebert (44.39), Rio Mesa junior Andrea Wasden (44.5), Nordhoff freshman Bridie Hatch (44.89) and Rio Mesa junior Susyn Heidenrich (45.61) are expected to return.

*

Back to the diamond: Kate Stoll would appear to have a promising future in the javelin after finishing second for College of the Canyons in the State junior college championships in May, but she intends to focus her attention on softball for the next two years.

Stoll, a catcher on Canyons’ softball team and a guard on the Cougars’ basketball team during the 1991-93 school years, took up the javelin this season because she wanted to stay in shape while she finished work on her Associate of Arts degree.

Her only goal entering the season was to “have fun and stay in shape,” yet she progressed quickly enough to win the Western State Conference title with a throw of 131-9 and improved that mark to 139-10 in the State meet.

“I never expected to finish second in the State championships,” Stoll said. “Overwhelmed would be the right word to describe my feelings about the season.”

Despite her success, Stoll hopes to play softball at either Fresno State, San Diego State or Cal State Fullerton for the next two years.

“I want to play (at the NCAA Division I level in) softball,” Stoll said. “If there’s a chance for me to throw the javelin after my college softball days are over, maybe I will, but for now, softball is my sport.”

*

Trivia answer: Taft Coach Mel Hein Jr. cleared 13-6 1/2 for Pasadena in the 1958 State meet to tie for second with Don Schaeffer of Oakland and Henry Aguirre of Belmont.

Hein cleared a world indoor record of 16-5 3/4 in the 1965 San Francisco Examiner Games.

MATADOR MARKS: Top performances by Cal State Northridge track and field athletes. C14