Top Competition Won’t Scare Poe

Senior Michael Poe of Etiwanda lacks the name recognition of a Chris Solinsky of Stevens Pt., Wis., or a Bobby Curtis of St. Xavier in Louisville, Ky., in national high school distance running circles, but he said he won’t be in awe of them today when he runs in the national cross-country championships at Morley Field in San Diego.

Solinsky placed third in last year’s meet and Curtis was among the pre-race contenders before finishing 21st, but Poe says he is looking forward to facing them and the other 29 runners in the national title meet, which was first run in 1979.

“I know I can run with most of those guys, if not all of them,” said Poe, who won the West region championships at Mt. San Antonio College last Saturday. “[Solinsky and Curtis] are great runners, but I’m not going to go in there all intimidated.”

Poe, the first Etiwanda runner to qualify for the national championships, finished a disappointing 13th in the individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 26. But he has won five consecutive races since, including the Southern Section Division I championship on Nov. 23 and the state title the following week.

Nick LaCapria, the cross-country coach at Duarte, said Falcon junior Mohamed Trafeh will run better in the national championships than he has the previous month because he has been eating and drinking fluids regularly since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ended last week.

Trafeh, who qualified for today’s race with an eighth-place finish in the West regional, did not eat or drink between sunrise and sunset from Nov. 6-Dec. 5 while participating in Ramadan.

He won Division IV titles in the Southern Section and state championships, but his times in those meets did not measure up to some of his efforts earlier in the season.

“I think [the fact that he’s eating regularly] is going to help him dramatically,” LaCapria said. “It’s hard to say how strong he’ll be, but he’ll definitely be stronger than he’s been in about six weeks.”

-- John Ortega

Bill Culpepper has resigned as football coach at West Hills Chaminade.

He spent three seasons as coach of the Eagles, who were 11-20 during his tenure.

-- Eric Sondheimer

The girls’ basketball game scheduled for tonight between Lynwood and Jacksonville (Fla.) Ribault has been postponed until Jan. 18. The game fell through after Jacksonville was unable to secure corporate sponsorship to cover airfare.

After Ribault bowed out, the local Times-Union newspaper stepped forward, allowing Ribault to make the trip at a later date. Ribault has a 99-game winning streak.

-- Martin Henderson

The Southern California Scholastic Fencing League’s foil championships are today at North Hills Monroe High. The boys’ competition begins at 2:30 p.m. and the girls’ at 4 p.m.