Versatile Perry Will Have Opponents Seeing Quadruple

She has not run the fastest outdoor high school times in the nation this season like Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks or Miguel Fletcher of Alemany.

Nor has she posted a state-leading mark like Bridget Pearson of Hoover.

But Michelle Perry of Quartz Hill just might be the region’s most versatile track and field performer, Liz Giltner of Chaminade, the National Scholastic Indoor champion in the pentathlon, notwithstanding.

Perry, a junior, leads the region in the 100-meter high hurdles at 14.56 seconds and the 300 lows at 44.17. She ranks second in the 200 at 24.94 and in the long jump at 18 feet 6 inches and will compete in all four of the aforementioned events today in the Southern Section divisional championships at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Perry placed second in the 100 hurdles, seventh in long jump and eighth in the 100 in the Division I championships last year before taking up the 300 hurdles this season.

A sprinter and long-jumper as a freshman, Perry began the transition to the hurdles last year when she added the 100 highs to her repertoire.

She ran fewer open 100s this season and by the time she won an invitational heat of the 300 hurdles in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays last month, she was hooked on the event. This despite the many cuts, bumps and bruises she suffered in the race.

“I’m not sure her mom is going to be real happy about that,” Quartz Hill Coach Kelly Marsh joked after Perry stated her preference for the 300 lows at Mt. SAC. “She wasn’t too happy about [the Arcadia Invitational.]”

At Arcadia, Perry crashed to the track after hitting a hurdle midway through the 300 lows. But she gained valuable experience in that race.

“I wasn’t used to going over hurdles with all these people next to me,” Perry said.

Perry is among 18 region leaders who will compete in the meet today, starting with field events at 11:30 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m.

Mortensen, Fletcher and Pearson top the list of region leaders. The UCLA-bound Mortensen will run in the Division I 1,600 and 3,200, races. She has the nation’s fastest times in those events, 4 minutes 44.9 seconds and 10:07.1, respectively. She is favored in both races, although Annie Ebiner of Glendora St. Lucy’s has run 4:47.5 in the 1,600 and could challenge her in that event.

Fletcher, a sophomore, leads the nation in the 200 at 21.06 and ranks second in the 100 at 10.47. He is favored to win both races in the Division III meet and will anchor Alemany’s 1,600 relay team that has clocked a region-leading 3:19.34.

Pearson, a freshman, leads the state in the girls’ pole vault with a best of 11-8 and will compete in the Division I meet.

Seniors DaJuan Hawkins of Newbury Park and Cheree Hicks of Littlerock and sophomore Kadrina Coffee of Palmdale also will compete at the Division I level.

Hawkins, the Marmonte League boys’ champion in the long jump, triple jump and high jump, will compete in those events.

Hicks had the top qualifying marks in last week’s preliminaries in the girls’ shotput and discus.

Coffee, the runner-up in the 400 in the USA Track & Field junior championships last year, will run in that event as well as legs on the Falcons’ 400 and 1,600 relay teams.