Blazing Bussey Sets Sights on Indoor Fireworks

Senior Blaine Bussey of Taft High, who ran 47.0 seconds in the 400 meters in an all-comers meet at Cal State Northridge last Saturday, will compete in the boys’ 500-yard run in the San Diego Indoor Games at the San Diego Sports Arena today.

The San Diego Sports Arena was the site of numerous world indoor records--including Eamonn Coghlan’s 3:50.6 mile in 1981--from 1967-87, but no meets have been held there since 1988 because of a lack of financial sponsorship.

Bussey, junior Josh Spiker of Ventura, sophomore Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa and senior Tiffany Burgess of Birmingham are the region’s top entrants in the high school portion of the meet that starts with the girls’ pole vault at noon.

The 6-foot-3 Bussey finished third in the 400 in the state championships and had the fastest time in California last year with a fully-automatic clocking of 47.20. He has run hand-held times of 47.0 and 47.3 in all-comers meets this season.

“He’s going to run a lot faster,” said Kenny Mitchell, a Taft assistant. “Forty-six flat or [46.1] is possible based on the kind of shape he’s in right now.”

Bussey will be shooting for a time in the 58.5-59.0 range in the 500-yard race that will be run on a 160-yard banked wood oval.

Spiker will run in the mile after earning third-team All-American honors with a 14th-place finish in the national cross-country championships on Dec. 12.

Junior Brian Turner of Millard North in Omaha is favored in the mile after clocking 4:09.29 to finish second in the National Scholastic outdoor championships last June.

Carroll will compete in the girls’ 55-meter dash and long jump after producing bests of 11.98 in the 100 meters, 24.70 in the 200 and 18 feet 7 inches in the long jump last year.

Burgess, three-time defending City Section champion at 1,600 meters, will run in the girls’ mile.

Taft, which finished second in the boys’ 1,600 relay in the state championships, won’t run in the mile relay today, but is expected to in the L.A. Invitational at the Sports Arena on Feb. 13.