A Sea King hat trick

NORWALK— Shelby Buckley is not slow.

Certainly not on a track, and not in the academic sense either.

Buckley, who qualified for the CIF Southern Section Masters meet and helped Corona del Mar win its third straight CIF title, is a bit of an anomaly these days.

Newspapers such as the New York Times have documented the increased pressure that has been put on the shoulders of modern high school girls to do it all: earn a four-point-something grade point average, be the best in a sport or activity, even have a perfect relationship, if they can find the time to have one at all.

And when that’s all over, there’s still the matter of getting into a top-tier institution as the Ivy Leagues are mailing more and more rejection letters.

But Buckley, a junior, is making her own path off the track by doing something that would mortify many parents: this year she didn’t sign up for any Advanced Placement courses.

Not one.

She’s not a slacker, and she’s not an underachiever. Buckley took first place and set a record in the Division III 1,600 meters, with a time of four minutes and 48.69 seconds, nearly four seconds (4:52.38) quicker than the previous record that had stood for 17 years. And, She won the 800 in 2:09.66 Saturday at Cerritos College. Sarah Cummings, the Princeton-bound senior, was also a CIF champ, winning the 3,200 in 10:45.16.

Their performances advanced them to next week’s Masters Meet, also at Cerritos College.

Instead of turning into a frenzied, college-admission-obsessed teen, Buckley is simply herself.

“I’m taking an honors class,” Buckley said, shrugging. “But yeah, no AP’s, just ‘cause.”

At finals, she sat underneath the CdM tent reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden for English class.

She wants to study English or history. Fashion design is a possibility if she can find a school that allows her to run track and study fashion. That leaves Parsons the New School for Design out of the question, but so far Buckley has her eye on UCLA.

Corona del Mar has multiple students accepted to Princeton and Harvard during the course of a school year. Hilary May, who finished third in the 1,600 meters (4:54.95), will study world history at Harvard this fall.

“I’m smart, but I’m not brilliant like all these other girls,” Buckley demurred.

Track coach Bill Sumner had a slightly different opinion.

“She is brilliant,” Sumner said. “She’s brilliant in her own little way. Her confidence doesn’t match her ability.”

Once again, Corona del Mar finished the 1,600 meters with four girls under the five-minute mark. Buckley led, followed by Allison Damon (4:53.84) in second, May in third, and Cummings (4:59.83) in fifth.

Buckley, Damon, and May qualified for next week’s Masters and Cummings is a first alternate. Damon finished fifth in the 800 (2:12.56) and is an alternate for Masters.

Tiffany Liu finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet, 4 3/4 inches and qualified seventh overall for Masters. She was also fifth in the long jump (17-8 1/2 ) for Division III, and ninth in the 100 hurdles (15.99).

May was sixth in the 800 (2:14.98), Cummings was eighth (2:16.93), Kim Condino was ninth (2:17.62). Damon was sixth in the 3,200 in 11:06.85.

The Sea Kings’ 1,600 relay team of Sarah Keddington, Claire Schmidt, Damon and Shelby Buckley took third place (3:57.25). Schmidt was sixth in the 400 in 58.20 seconds.

All that helped Corona del Mar clinch its third straight title. The Sea Kings shared the title with John Muir in 2005 and won it outright last year.

“Distance people aren’t supposed to win meets,” Sumner said. “When we first did it, they said ‘distance people don’t win track meets.’ We’re a fluke. Well, we’re a fluke three years in a row now. That’s not a bad fluke.”

Over the past three years, Sumner’s girls teams have been champions in cross country and track and field. The CdM girls cross country teams won CIF titles in 2004, ’05 and ’06.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or [email protected].