It Doesn’t Look Better Second Time Around

The Orange County track and field championships will give it another go today at Trabuco Hills High. Most of the county’s top teams plan to attend the meet, which was rained out April 7, but some key athletes have other commitments.

Denny Flanagan is one of the county’s top hurdlers--he has the fastest time in the 110 meters and the second fastest over 300 meters--but the Edison High junior won’t have a chance to prove it today.

He’ll be trying to solve some of Malaysia’s domestic issues.

Flanagan is a member of his school’s Model United Nations team, part of a group of approximately 1,600 student delegates from across the West who simulate activities of the U.N. and related organizations. The group’s next meeting is today at UC Irvine.

“M.U.N. is the reason I came to Edison,” said Flanagan, who lives in Fountain Valley. “It’s something I’ve been involved with since my freshman year.”

Edison Coach Erich Moreno supports Flanagan’s decision, even though his absence should put the Chargers out of contention for the team title. Edison wasn’t even scheduled to compete at the county meet three weeks ago, when it chose to compete at the Oakland Relays.

Moreno said Edison’s main goal today is to win the 400-meter relay, which begins at approximately 10:30 a.m., then try to score some additional points in the sprints from Darryl Poston and Chuckie Linman, in the distance events from Scott Brandos and in the pole vault from Aaron Corbett.

With Edison at less than full strength, the boys’ team race should come down to Tustin and Santa Margarita.

The Tillers have the county’s leading high jumper in Alex Marbley, the leading long jumper in Denny Casupanan and the leading 800 and 1,600 runner in Alonso Smith.

Santa Margarita is strong where Tustin is weak. The Tillers don’t field a pole vault team, while Santa Margarita has one of the county’s best vaulters in Brad Slinkard. Tustin is also not very fast in the relays, while the Eagles have the county’s fastest 1,600 relay team by 11 seconds and the second-fastest 400 relay team behind Edison.

The girls’ competition is expected to come down to Esperanza, Woodbridge and Mission Viejo. Depending on how many events Amber Steen chooses to run, Newport Harbor could also be in the hunt, and defending champion Mater Dei is an outside threat.

Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner, who led the Sea Kings to the Southern Section Division III title last season, will not bring his team to the county championships, opting to rest for the Pacific Coast League preliminaries Monday.

“I guess I’m from the old school,” Sumner said. “We still have to put in the work [to prepare for league and section finals].”

The featured race is expected to be the 100-meter dash, with San Clemente junior Marquita Taylor, the county leader in the event, trying to defeat 1999 winner Crystal Davis of Santa Ana Valley and last year’s winner, sophomore Michelle Sanford of Woodbridge.

The county record of 11.99 could be in jeopardy, as Taylor was hand-timed in 11.9 seconds last week on San Clemente’s dirt track. A few days earlier, she ran 12.33 at the Arcadia Invitational.

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Track and Field

* What: Orange County Championships

* When: Today. Varsity running events begin at 8:46 a.m. with girls’ rated 1,600 meters. Varsity field events begin at 9 a.m. with boys’ and girls’ long jump, shotput and boys’ pole vault.

* Where: Trabuco Hills High

* Participants: Most of the county’s top teams and athletes.

* Defending champions: Esperanza (boys); Mater Dei (girls).

* Tickets: $5 for adults, $3 for students.