Quinn Wins by Header in the 800

Whether he’s playing football or running track, Darren Quinn of Notre Dame High is a rough-and-tumble guy.

Quinn, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior, has broken both wrists, sprained his right ankle and suffered a concussion during two seasons as a defensive back on the Notre Dame football team.

He sustained cuts and bruises on his right shoulder, hip, knee and ankle Saturday when he dived across the finish line to win the 800 meters in the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge.

“I’ve been talking about diving across the finish line in a race for a couple of years,” Quinn said. “But I always thought it would be at the end of the 1,600 relay against Loyola.”

Quinn’s dive came at the end of a thrilling homestretch duel against senior Tony Herr of L.A. Baptist, giving him a 1:56.27-1:56.32 victory in a race in which the first seven runners clocked career bests while breaking two minutes.

His time is third-fastest in the state this season.

“With 20 meters to go, I said, ‘Oh man, this is going to be close,’ ” Quinn said. “With 10 to go, I said, ‘I’m going to have to [dive].’ And with five left, I just said, ‘I’m going for it.’

“I didn’t really feel anything at first. But once I put the hydrogen peroxide on [the cuts], it didn’t feel very good.”

Joe McNab, the Notre Dame track coach and a football assistant, describes Quinn as a “great kid” who does whatever he’s asked.

That included running the 400 and 800 in a Mission League meet against rival Loyola last year. The 400-800 double is difficult because the races are only 20 minutes apart.

“He’s tough,” McNab said. “He wants to do well, win [the Southern Section Division III title] and advance to the state meet.”

Quinn ran a then-career best of 1:57.92 to win the Mission title last year, but placed fourth in the Division III final in 1:59.16 and failed to advance to the Southern Section Masters Meet, the qualifying meet for the state championships.

Quinn and third-place finisher Ontae Chaney of Cleveland stood out in the 800 at Northridge because they’re bigger than most runners in the event.

Chaney, who ran 1:56.93 at Northridge, is a 5-10 senior who was fourth in the City Section championships last year and caught seven touchdown passes for Cleveland last fall.

“He’s a big guy,” Quinn said of Chaney. “He’s thick.”

Said Coach Bill Paden of Cleveland: “Ontae weighs about 170 [pounds] and 150 of it is heart.”

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Junior Wes Felix of Valencia is a new face on the regional scene, but he has lots of experience.

Felix, whose 10.85 in the 100 is third-best in the state this year, ran 21.67 in the 200 as a sophomore at Overland High in Aurora, Colo., and was eighth in the 5-A Division final of the state championships.

His sister, Allyson, is a freshman at L.A. Baptist who had the second-fastest 100 time at Northridge in 12.40.

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Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa and Sierra Hauser-Price of Notre Dame will meet for the first time this year in the girls’ 100 and 200 in the Pasadena Games Saturday night.

Carroll, a junior, placed fourth in the 100 in the state championships last year. Hauser-Price, a junior, was eighth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.

Carroll is favored in the 100, but both are underdogs to sophomore Tracee Thomas of Riverside North in the 200.

Thomas, who isn’t entered in the 100, was second in the 200 in the state meet and has a career best of 23.28. Hauser-Price has run 23.99 and Carroll has clocked 24.33.

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Anita Siraki of Hoover will defend her 1,600 and 3,200 titles Saturday in the Meet of Champions Distance Carnival at Azusa Pacific.

Siraki, fourth in the national cross-country championships in December, ran 5:04.0 and 10:55.6 in the meet last year.

The junior ran 4:55.9 and 4:56.0 on 1,600 legs of the 6,400 and distance medley relays in the Eagle Rock Relays at Occidental.

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Senior Jerrick Holmes of Palmdale and juniors Chris Morgan of Taft and Marcus Raines of Littlerock recorded state-leading marks in the Northridge-Alemany Relays.

Holmes cleared 7 feet in the high jump, Morgan ran 14.12 in the 110 high hurdles and Raines clocked 37.63 in the 300 hurdles.

Oliver Jackson of Royal leaped 23 feet to win the long jump in the Channel Coast Invitational at Camarillo High last Saturday and tie for the state lead in that event.

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High Marks

When Jerrick Holmes of Palmdale High cleared 7 feet in the high jump to win the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge on Saturday, he moved into a tie for 10th on the all-time region list.

The following is a list of the 11 individuals who have cleared 7 feet.

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Ht Name, School Year 7-4 Jeremy Fischer, Camarillo 1994 7-3 1/4 Lee Balkin, Glendale 1979 7-3 Tim Poltl, Alemany 1979 7-2 1/4 Jeff Nadeau, Monroe 1993 7-2 *Ken Burke, Westlake 1984 7-2 Reggie Betton, Antelope Valley 1988 7-1 1/2 Dwight Stones, Glendale 1971 7-1 Rob Olson, El Camino Real 1977 7-0 1/2 Gary Lawrence, Thousand Oaks 1977 7-0 *Dave Swanson, Alemany 1986 7-0 Jerrick Holmes, Palmdale 2000

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* Junior. All others are seniors.

The Top 10

Rankings of track and field teams in the region

BOYS

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

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GIRLS

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

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