Mission Viejo’s Bethel Flying High

A special day became even more memorable for Mission Viejo sophomore Dana Bethel Friday night. Bethel advanced to today’s state track and field finals in the long jump and 100-meter high hurdles after recording personal bests in both events at Hughes Stadium.

“Today’s my mom’s birthday and her anniversary,” Bethel said. “So I’m going to go find her and celebrate.”

Bethel flew a wind-aided 19 feet 4 3/4 inches on her second attempt in the long jump, which was the top qualifying mark in the event. Bethel passed on her third attempt to allow more time to stretch for the hurdles, which paid off with Bethel posting the second-fastest time in Orange County history (13.87).

The mark, which was the second-fastest qualifying time behind Lashinda Demus of Long Beach Wilson (13.83), was just .05 seconds behind the county record set by Dana’s sister, Ashley, in 1997.

“I’m really excited about doing two events [today],” said Bethel, who placed sixth in state in the hurdles last season. “Last year I only made it in one and I was really disappointed because I did horrible.”

In addition to Bethel, four girls and eight boys from the county qualified by winning their heat or placing among the top nine. There were no preliminaries in the 3,200, where three boys and two girls from the county also will compete.

The other top qualifier from Orange County was Katella’s Antonio Lozano in the boys’ 800 (1:55.03).

Among the county schools, Esperanza had a strong showing with three athletes advancing to finals.

Esperanza junior Ryan Bousquet qualified with a third-place finish in his heat in the 1,600 (4:16.90), junior Travis Pendleton qualified fifth in the boys’ discus (174-10), and junior Kristen Thompson qualified seventh in the girls’ discus (136-9), improving her personal best by 4 1/2 feet.

Huntington Beach has a good chance to score well in the boys’ team standings after Sam Lightbody qualified in the shotput and discus, and Jeff Ryan advanced in the pole vault. Lightbody, who qualified sixth in the discus (174-0) and seventh in the shotput (58-7 3/4), is one of only two athletes to qualify in both throwing events.

Ryan was one of 11 vaulters who cleared 15 feet and one of six to go over 15-4. The marks were impressive considering only three vaulters cleared 15 feet in the state finals last season. Two athletes who cleared 15 feet on Friday did not advance.

Other boys’ qualifiers were Kennedy senior Ahmad Wright in the 110 hurdles (14.24), Newport Harbor junior Trevor Jones in the 300 hurdles (37.79), and Costa Mesa senior Bruce Hancock in the 1,600 (4:18.13).

Other girls’ qualifiers were Corona del Mar junior Liz Morse in the 800 (2:14.66), and Edison freshman twins Bianca and Rachael Ziemann in the high jump (5-6).

Among the nonqualifiers, Marina junior Logan Odden was one of the bigger surprises. Odden missed all three attempts at 14-8 in the pole vault and failed to advance. Odden, who had the second-best qualifying mark coming into the meet (15-6), didn’t make any excuses for his performance.

“It was just a bad day,” he said. “There’s nothing I can put a finger on.”

Notes

Other nonqualifiers in the boys’ competition included Buena Park senior Joe Thomas, who came up three inches short of qualifying in the triple jump, and Brea Olinda junior Claude Melvin, who had 11th-fastest time in the 100 (10.70). . . . Newport Harbor sophomore Amber Steen was fourth in her heat in the 1,600 (5:03.64) and missed qualifying by one position, Santa Ana Valley senior Raven Hebert was sixth in her heat in the 400 (58.01), Foothill senior Tynisia Edwards had the sixth-best qualifying mark in the triple jump coming into the meet, but failed to advance after jumping 37-6 1/2, which was nearly a foot shorter than her personal best this season; and Esperanza sophomore Maribeth Buche missed qualifying in the 800 by one position (2:15.56).