Using Buddy System of Higher Learning

Shane Hackett of Verdugo Hills High and John Pinson of Kennedy are expected to battle for the City Section title in the pole vault in May and could be among the leaders in the state championships in June.

But don’t expect them to treat one another like bitter rivals.

The 5-foot-8, 135-pound Hackett and the 5-11, 155-pound Pinson are close friends who train together twice a week.

“There’s no person I’d rather see win the City title than John if I don’t,” Hackett said. “And we want to go 1-2 at state. We’re always telling each other that we’re going to finish 1-2.”

Hackett and Pinson met at the 1998 City championships when Hackett won the freshman-sophomore title with a meet-record 13-8 clearance.

Pinson had a best of 11-7 at the time, but Hackett could see his potential and directed him to Anthony Curran, an assistant coach at UCLA who was training several high school vaulters, including Hackett.

Curran, a two-time state pole vault champion for Crespi in the late 1970s, worked on Pinson’s technique and helped him clear 14 feet last year and place third in the City final behind Hackett and Nicholas Demetrion of Monroe.

Pinson raised his career best to 15 feet in the L.A. Invitational at the Sports Arena in February and to 15-6 in a dual meet at Granada Hills last month.

Hackett, who tied for sixth in the state championships last year, cleared a career best of 16 feet to win the Santa Barbara Easter Relays at Santa Barbara City College last Saturday and move to first in the state this season.

Curran hasn’t worked with Hackett and Pinson since the fall because of his duties as a full-time assistant at UCLA, so the two seniors recently began bi-weekly training sessions at Verdugo Hills under the watchful eye of Hackett’s father, Paul.

“I love training with him,” Pinson said of Shane Hackett. “He’s like my coach out there and I’m like his.

“In meets, we coach each other, but at the same time we’re competitors.”

*

Canyon had the top-ranked boys’ cross-country team in the region last season and four members of the squad posted career bests in the 3,200 meters in the Pasadena Games at Pasadena City College on Saturday.

Sophomore Jameson Mora placed second in 9:36.95, sophomore Luke Llamas was fourth in 9:42.92, senior Mike Collins was seventh in 9:50.61 and freshman Ryan Morgan was 11th in 9:56.26.

Mora, Canyon’s little big man at 5-1 and 105 pounds, traded the lead with junior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint several times before succumbing to Kubler’s superior kick on the last lap.

“Jamie is one of those kids who eats, sleeps and drinks running,” cross-country Coach Dave DeLong of Canyon said. “He is extremely confident and a very, very strong runner mentally.”

*

Although Canyon’s distance runners have performed well, the last five weeks have been very trying for DeLong and his wife Lisa because their 14-year-old son, Justin, had a relapse of leukemia on Feb. 24.

Justin was first diagnosed with the disease when he was 5, but it had been in remission for more than nine years.

The DeLongs figured he was clinically cured when they celebrated his 13th birthday.

“If you go five years without a relapse, you’re usually considered cured,” DeLong said. “So this is a very, very rare case.”

Justin, who spent four days in the intensive care unit after being admitted to the City of Hope in Duarte, has undergone a series of chemotherapy treatments in the last month, but his father says he has remained upbeat.

“He’s never asked, ‘Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?,’ ” Dave said. “He’s just dealt with it.”

*

Oliver Jackson of Royal replaced a big name from the past when he set a meet record of 24-3 1/2 in the boys’ long jump in the Santa Barbara Easter Relays.

Jackson’s mark bettered the meet record of 24-2 1/4 set by George Brown of L.A. Jordan in 1949.

Brown was state champion in 1948 and ’49 and was favored to win the 1952 Olympic title, but fouled on all three of his jumps in the final.

*

Cleveland has two of the fastest boys’ relay teams in the state, but Coach Bill Paden won’t be taking part in sprint drills any time soon.

Paden, 47, ruptured his left Achilles’ tendon playing basketball March 19 and underwent surgery last week. He is expected to be in a cast for the next two months before wearing a brace for another two months.

If his rehabilitation goes well, he should be walking normally in six months.

*

Senior Jeff Arnold of St. Francis will make his season debut today when he runs the 3,200 in the Covina Relays at Azusa Pacific.

Arnold, a member of The Times’ all-region cross-country team last season, was sidelined with a stress fracture in his foot.

*

The Southern Section divisional championships will go to an enrollment-based format for a one-year trial period in 2001.

The current format groups leagues by the average enrollment of its member schools. For example, the Pacific View League competes at the Division I level because its schools have a higher average enrollment than those in the Division II Foothill League.

Under the new format, a school like Newbury Park will most likely compete in a different division than fellow--and larger--Marmonte League schools such as Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

A list of schools in each division will be finalized in late October.

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Track Top 10

Rankings of teams from the region

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Taft (West Valley) 2 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 3 3 Cleveland (West Valley) 4 4 Palmdale (Golden) 5 5 Notre Dame (Mission) 6 6 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 7 8 Littlerock (Golden) 8 NR Oak Park (Tri-Valley) 9 7 Newbury Park (Marmonte) 10 10 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte)

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* GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Birmingham (West Valley) 2 2 Taft (West Valley) 3 3 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 4 4 Cleveland (West Valley) 5 5 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 6 6 Camarillo (Pacific View) 7 7 Notre Dame (Mission) 8 8 Royal (Marmonte) 9 9 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 10 10 Littlerock (Golden)

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Fast Track

When Chris Morgan of Taft High ran 14.08 and Marcus Raines of Littlerock ran 14.10 to finish 1-2 in the 110-meter high hurdles in the Pasadena Games at Pasadena City College on Saturday, they moved to eighth and ninth on the all-time region list.

The following is a list of the 10 fastest hurdlers.

*--*

Time Name, School Yr. 13.6c Steve Caminiti, Crespi 1964 13.84 Shelton Boykin, San Fernando 1987 13.87 Drue Powell, Reseda 1993 13.7c Bill Persons, San Fernando 1965 13.7c John Cottier, Crespi 1968 13.7c Brian Fulton, Burbank 1974 14.02 Rodney Bradshaw, Saugus 1986 14.08 *Chris Morgan, Taft 2000 14.10 *Marcus Raines, Littlerock 2000 14.12 Jason Medearis, Hart 1994

*--*

Times in hundredths are fully automatic. To convert hand times to fully automatic times, add .24 to hand times. c--Mark converted from time in 120-yard high hurdles. *juniors. Others are seniors.