High School Track & Field / State Championships : Neipp Sees Enemy in the Mirror

Andrea Neipp’s times indicate she’s capable of running with Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa High.

Neipp, of Highland, must convince herself of that in order to win the girls’ 3,200 meters on Saturday in the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium.

The meet starts today at 2 p.m. with qualifying rounds in all events except for the boys’ and girls’ 3,200. The finals will be held Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

The Brigham Young-bound Neipp has the third-fastest high school time in the nation this season in the 3,200 at 10 minutes 19.55 seconds, but she is in awe of Stamps, who ran a state-leading 10:19.50 to defeat the 10:20.91 of Kristen Gordon of Concord Carondelet in last week’s North Coast Section Meet of Champions.

“Julia intimidates me,” Neipp said. “But I hope I can get past that.”

Neipp has idolized Stamps since her freshman season at Highland, making it difficult for her to view the 1994 and ’95 state 3,200 champion as just another competitor.

“Ever since I was a freshman, I’ve looked up to her accomplishments,” Neipp said. “It’s hard for me to believe that I’m in her class because I never thought I would be.”

Although Stamps, and to a lesser extent, Gordon, appear to have a psychological edge over Neipp, they’re expected to double in the 1,600 and the 3,200 while Neipp will run only the 3,200.

Stamps, the 1994 national cross-country champion, and Gordon, the 1996 winner, will run in qualifying heats of the 1,600 today and in the final of the 1,600 on Saturday two hours before the 3,200.

“That’s definitely an advantage to me if they do that,” Neipp said.

Whether Neipp wins or not, racing Stamps and Gordon should give her a chance to lower the career best she set in winning the Pasadena Games on March 29.

She ran a national-leading time of 9:28.25 in the 3,000 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays three weeks after Pasadena, but Neipp has been frustrated by her inability to lower her 3,200 best while winning the Division I title in the Southern Section championships on May 24 and in the Southern Section Masters Meet last Friday.

“I haven’t felt like I wanted to the past couple of races,” Neipp said. “I felt like I was in a slump for a while. But I’m looking forward to [the state championships]. I’m nervous, but I’m also excited.”

Junior Heather Sickler of Camarillo ranks second on the state list in the girls’ pole vault behind junior Brooke Lankard of Visalia Golden West, but no one has been hotter than Sickler in recent meets.

Lankard cleared a career-best 12 feet 4 inches earlier this season but Sickler set a region record of 12-1 1/2 to win the Division I title in the Southern Section championships and raised it to 12-3 1/2 to win the Masters Meet.

Michelle Perry of Quartz Hill, who has signed a letter of intent with UCLA, could finish among the top five in the girls’ 100 and the long jump, but the 100 high hurdles is the event in which she defeated defending state champion Nicole Hoxie of Riverside North in the Arcadia Invitational on April 12.

Although Hoxie avenged that defeat by winning the Masters Meet in a wind-aided 13.43 with Perry third in 13.82, Perry could be an upset winner Saturday if she beats Hoxie out of the blocks the way she did at Arcadia.

Liz Giltner of Chaminade, headed for Arizona in the fall, might be the most overlooked of nine defending champions because she has cleared 5-8 in the high jump only once this season after winning last year at 5-10. She is in the state championships for the fourth time and that experience combined with a training regimen that has made her faster and stronger could make her a threat.

Junior Elaine Canchola of Nordhoff, 1995 state Division III cross-country champion, qualified for the state meet in the 1,600 and 3,200, but will run only the 1,600, an event in which she holds the school record at 4:55.07.

Juniors Justin Fargas of Notre Dame and Miguel Fletcher of Alemany are expected to meet for the eighth time this season in the final of the 100. Fletcher defeated Fargas the first four times but Fargas has won the last three, including the Mission League final May 9, when he ran a personal-best of 10.58 to Fletcher’s 10.65.

Fletcher will run in 200, where he has a season-best of 21.14.

Sophomore Bridget Pearson of Hoover is ranked third in the girls’ pole vault after clearing a national sophomore record of 12 feet to place second in the Masters Meet.

Sophomore Lauren Fleshman of Canyon ran a school-record 10:38.13 in the 3,200 to finish behind Neipp in the Masters Meet.