TRACK AND FIELD / SOUTHERN SECTION MASTERS MEET : Perry Getting Over Her Doubts About Hurdles

You can either be a very good high school sprinter or a great high school hurdler.

Casey Jones, a co-coach at Quartz Hill High, told Michelle Perry that at the end of the 1994 track season, and entering tonight’s Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College, Perry appears to have decided on the hurdles.

The transition hasn’t been easy for Perry, a standout age-group sprinter who placed fifth in the 100 and 200 meters in last year’s Southern Section Division I championships as a freshman.

But after Perry timed a school record of 14.48 seconds to place second in the 100 high hurdles in last week’s Southern Section Division I meet, Jones says she is a convert.

“We talked about it last year, but she was very anti-hurdle then,” Jones said. “After being as dominant as she had been at the age-group level, she didn’t want to give up the sprints. It was very push and shove for a while, but we proposed it to her that [the hurdles] are something that she has unlimited potential in. She couldn’t say that about the 100.”

That three of the nation’s top returning sprinters were going to compete at the Division I level this season also factored into the proposed switch, and Jones wanted to increase Perry’s chances of advancing to the State championships.

But it doesn’t mean the 5-foot-9 Perry has junked the sprints or the long jump. She placed eighth in the 100 (12.11) and seventh in the long jump (18 feet 1 inch) in last week’s Division I championships, but the 100 hurdles is the event in which she qualified for tonight’s meet.

Although Perry is seeded seventh in the field of nine, and only the top five finishers advance to the State championships at Cerritos on June 2-3, Jones is confident she can make it.

He points out that Perry has trimmed nearly a second off her personal best in the last two weeks and figures she’s ready to run close to 14.20 tonight, a time that should put her among the top five.

Perry is one of 36 athletes from the region scheduled to compete in tonight’s meet.

The boys’ 1,600 and 3,200 meters will each include five runners from the region, led by Palmdale’s Antonio Arce, who ran 4 minutes 12.05 seconds in the 1,600 and 9:09.73 in the 3,200 to win Division I titles last week.

In the girls’ meet, Amy Skieresz of Agoura is one of three area qualifiers in the 3,200, as is Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa in the 300 low hurdles.

Skieresz ranks second in the state in the 3,200 at 10:31.60. Wasden is seeded fourth in both the 100 high hurdles (wind-aided 14.38) and the 300 lows (43.89).

Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme, Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo and Dawn Anderson of Newbury Park are some of the other regional leaders who will compete.

Jenkins has leaped 24-1 in the long jump and Hernandez has run 9:05.15 in the 3,200.

Anderson has bests of 40-3 3/4 and 132-4 in the shotput and discus.

The meet will start with the field events at 6:30 p.m., followed by the running events at 7.