Track and field: Double duty

Joseph Boo

NORWALK - Why settle for one race when you can run two? That’s

exactly what Newport Harbor High senior Trevor Jones and junior Amber

Steen plan to do in the CIF State meet this weekend at Cerritos College.

The preliminaries are today, with nine qualifiers for the finals going on

Saturday.

Jones is one of the few athletes to have a solid chance at two state

crowns. He is the definitive favorite in the boys 300-meter intermediate

hurdles and he has the only sub-37 second time in the state, a 36.89 when

he won the Southern Section Masters. His biggest threat, future UCLA

teammate Tony Golston of Point Loma, is not running at state.

Jones also won the Masters’ 110 high hurdles with a 14.22. Even though

Golston, Littlerock’s Marcus Raines and Katella’s Kenny Vinh are not in

the 110, Jones will have stiff competition from Taft’s Chris Morgan, who

has the top qualifying time of 14.07, Rancho Bernardo’s Bobby Salimi and

Cleveland’s Kenan Jackson.

Steen is the only Masters qualifier running both the girls 1,600 and

3,200. Steen’s school record of 4:50.75 is the third-fastest qualifying

time in the 1,600 behind Mira Costa’s outstanding freshman Lynn Dixon and

San Lorenzo Valley’s Alejandra Barrientos, the defending state champion.

Steen, who placed 10th in the 3,200 last year, is just one of the big

names in arguably the meet’s toughest race, Saturday’s 3,200 girls

finals. The field includes Barrientos, who has the nation’s fastest time

in this event, two-time Division I champ Anita Siraki of Hoover

(Glendale), Montgomery junior Sara Bei, who was second last year, Ukiah’s

Amber Trotter and Fountain Valley’s Julie Allen, the Division I

runner-up.

Newport senior Krista Dill surprised everyone by almost winning the girls

discus at the Masters. Her personal record of 137-4 led the meet until

the last round. Dill ended up in third place, and she has the ninth-best

qualifying throw for state.