Final Hurdle for Jones

Win your qualifying heat while expending as little energy as possible and then start looking forward to the final.

That’s what Marquis Jones of Cal State Northridge was thinking Saturday on the first day of the California-Nevada state track and field championships at CSUN.

Jones, a senior from Hawthorne High, posted the fastest qualifying time in the 110-meter high hurdles when he won the second of three heats in a time of 14.11 seconds.

The time was shy of the 13.99 school record Jones set while finishing sixth in the Fresno Relays on April 5, but the fact that it came into a 1.1 meter-per-second head wind and without any strong competition bodes well for his chances today.

“Nobody was in my race so I didn’t run as hard as I should have,” Jones said. “But I’ll be better [today] because I’ll have plenty of guys to push me.”

Keith Moten of California and Gerimi Burleigh of UCLA are expected to be Jones’ biggest challengers, but their wind-aided qualifying times of 14.34 and 14.40 were well back of Jones’ 14.11.

Jones hit several hurdles in his heat, including the last four, but didn’t seem overly concerned about it.

“I’m trying to get away from that but it happens so often that I don’t worry about it,” he said.

“As long as I skim them with my lead leg, I’m OK. If I hit them with my trail leg, then it can cause problems if I stumble.”

He must not be planning on doing any stumbling today because he’s shooting for a time of 13.74.

“That or even faster,” he said.

Jones was one of seven Northridge athletes who won qualifying heats and one of two who posted the fastest times of the meet in his event. Junior Joe Criner clocked 21.20 in the 200 despite running into a head wind of 1.9 meters-per-second.

Criner also qualified for the final in the 100 and helped the 400 relay team qualify. He placed third in his heat of the 100 with a time of 10.75 and ran a leg on the Matadors’ 400 relay team that finished second in its heat in 40.97.

Clinton Lane, a redshirt freshman, clocked 47.98 in the 400 after building a big lead early, and Jeff Nasternak ran 1:52.80 in the 800 by storming from behind in the homestretch.

Sophomore Erika Bowling won her women’s 400 heat in 57.30 and sophomore Nancy James took her 800 heat in 2:12.30. Senior Elinor Tolson clocked 14.14 in the 100 highs.

James, a 400 specialist at Hart High, eased off in the final 20 meters and the energy she conserved might come in handy when she faces Brenda Stewart of Fresno State, Elissa Riedy of California and Sabrina Kaplis of UC Santa Barbara in the final.

Junior Jeff Beam, who ranks second on the all-time Northridge list in the pole vault at 17-3, cleared 16-1 3/4 despite windy conditions.

Freshman Cheree Hicks, CSUN record-holder in the discus at 178-4, qualified fifth in that event at 164-2 and was fourth in the shotput at 47-6 1/4.

Senior Cherice Ellison clocked a wind-aided 12.09 in the 100 and a legal 25.20 in the 200 to place second in both her heats.

Kortney Dunscombe of Stanford won the women’s 3,000 meters in 9:54.91 and Trent Bryson of UC Santa Barbara took the men’s 3,000 steeplechase at 9:03.70 in the only two finals of the day.

Fresno State’s women, paced by the 2-3-4 finish of Danielle Nelson, Kelly Jacobson and Nicole Kulikov in the 3,000, have a 21-11 lead over second-place UC Santa Barbara entering today’s competition, but UCLA seems poised to win its fourth consecutive title.

Bruin Coach Jeanette Bolden chose not to run Joanna Hayes and Bisa Grant in the meet, but UCLA still has plenty of firepower.

Seilala Sua hurled the discus 186 feet one inch to lead qualifying, followed by her UCLA teammates Suzy Powell, who went 178-9, and Nada Kawar at 176-4.

Kawar (54-4) and Sua (54-1 1/4) qualified 1-2 in the shotput.

Powell led qualifying in the javelin at 150-5 and teammate Rachelle Noble did likewise in the hammer throw at 183-11.

The Bruins are favored to win their second consecutive title in the men’s meet, although former champions Fresno State and California also appear to be capable of winning.