Katella’s Lozano Takes Step Forward, Finishes Fifth in 800

Tony Lozano won a Southern Section Division II title and finished third in state in the 800 meters last season, but the Katella senior has struggled to find his form through the first two months of this season.

Lozano finished 14th at the FloJo Memorial Arcadia Invitational on April 8, then placed 10th at the Orange County Championships a week later. Lozano blamed an early-season illness and alterations to his training program for the slow start, but predicted his times would eventually dip to their 1999 levels.

Lozano showed he’s getting closer at the Division II preliminaries Friday, qualifying fifth with a time of 1 minute 58.51 seconds at Mt. San Antonio College. Lozano, whose best time was 1:55.06 last season, hadn’t broken 1:59 this season until the Empire League finals last week.

Lozano also qualified fourth in the 1,600, running a career-best 4:23.10. Lozano said he was especially happy with that effort and may consider dropping the 800 before the finals next Saturday at Cerritos College.

“I was happy with my mile today,” Lozano said. “I’m going to talk about [which event to focus on] with my coach and then we’ll decide. I’ll have to drop one, so I wanted to treat both like they were my last race of the year.”

Tustin’s Alonso Smith, the state leader in the 800, was the second-fastest qualifier in the event, winning his heat in 1:55.28. Brian Anderson of Burbank Burroughs was the top qualifier (1:54.39) and Newport Harbor’s Jon Peschelt was third (1:57.63).

The Tillers’ 400 relay team ran a bad second leg and was a surprise non-qualifier in 12th.

Among the top qualifiers in the girls’ competition were Santa Ana Valley’s Crystal Davis in the 100 (12.26) and Woodbridge’s Michelle Sanford in the long jump (18-4 1/2).