Boys and Girls to Chase Muir in 4-A Meet

Based on last week’s Southern Section divisional preliminaries, Pasadena Muir High School is the clear favorite to win both the boys’ and girls’ Southern Section 4-A Division track and field championships Friday at Cerritos College. Team champions will also be decided in the 3-A, 2-A and 1-A divisions.

Behind sprinter Michael Sulcer, who qualified in the 200 and 400 meters, Muir is expected to unseat defending boys’ team champion Hawthorne, which has been affected by injuries.

The Mustangs could score big in eight events, from the 100 meters with Marquette Ennis, who won his heat in 11.09 seconds, to the 1,600-meter relay, where Muir won its heat in 3:16.57.

In the girls’ competition, Muir is the defending 4-A Division and state champion, and with senior sprinter Inger Miller, the Mustangs are again the team to beat.

Miller won her heats in the 100 and 200 meters with times of 12.05 and 24.48 seconds, respectively into the wind, and also anchored the Mustangs’ winning 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams.

Muir is also expected to receive points from sprinters Deanna Knowles and Tamanika Terry, middle-distance runner Rhonda Robinson and hurdler-triple jumper Akua Sutherland.

Challenging Muir for the team title will be Hawthorne, which features a fine group of runners headed by senior Kee-sha Adams and freshman Jalauna Gilford. Other qualifiers for the Cougars include Meshauna Mayes in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles; Kendra Ossey in the 800; and freshman Portia King in 100 and 200.

In the girls’ 3-A Division, freshman sprinter Marion Jones of Oxnard Rio Mesa is expected to lead the Spartans to their third consecutive team title.

Jones, who will also run in Sunday’s Jack-in-the-Box Invitational track meet at UCLA, breezed through her competition last Saturday with victories in the 100 and 200 meters.

Jones broke the 3-A Division record in the 100 with a time of 11.66 seconds, breaking an eight-year-old mark of 11.96 set by Kim Grant of Hawthorne. Jones won the 200 with a wind-aided time of 23.86 seconds and also ran legs on the Spartans’ winning 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

In the boys’ 1-A Division, two of the top middle distance runners in the nation, Coley Candaele of Carpinteria and Brian Dameworth of Agoura, will renew their rivalry in the 1,600, both qualifying with impressive wins Saturday. Candaele, who won his 800-meter heat in a nation-leading 1:51.05 and anchored the Warriors’ winning 1,600-meter relay team, ran 4.22.42. to qualify in the 1,600. Dameworth, who also qualified in the 3,200, won his 1,600 heat in 4:22.57.

Nevada Las Vegas-bound Ed O’Bannon of Artesia and Shon Tarver of Oxnard Santa Clara will be teammates in the Fabulous 44 All-Star basketball game at UC Irvine June 24, when 44 boys’ and girls’ all-stars from Southern and Northern California meet.

It will California’s first state boys’ all-star game since 1971, and first ever for the girls. Proceeds will go to Orange County’s Boys Clubs.

Joining O’Bannon and Tarver on the Southern California team will be Arizona-bound Tony Clark of El Cajon Christian; Iowa-bound Marcell Capers of Los Angeles Manual Arts; Pepperdine-bound Dana Jones of North Hollywood and Syracuse-bound Scott McKorkle of Capistrano Valley. Coaching the Southern California team will be Tim Sweeney of Lakewood.

Heading the Northern California team will be Northern California player of the year Dwayne Fontana of San Francisco Riordan, who will attend Arizona State next fall. Joining Fontana will be Loyola Marymount-bound Rahim Harris of Oakland Skyline; Washington-bound James French of Riordan and Oregon State-bound Kareem Anderson of Merced. Oakland Skyline’s Don Lippi will coach the Northern California team.

Chino’s Joe Murrillo will coach the Southern California girls’ all-star team, which will be led by USC-bound Lisa Leslie of Inglewood Morningside and Linda Watson of Lynwood; UCLA-bound Detra Lockhart of Los Angeles Washington and Amy Jalewalia of La Quinta; UNLV-bound Tyeast Brown of San Diego Point Loma; and Pepperdine-bound Aimee McDaniel of Brea-Olinda.

Tom Campbell of Chico Pleasant Valley will coach the Northern California team, which will be headed by UC Santa Barbara-bound Krista Gannon of Auburn Placer; USC-bound Jualeah Woods of Berkeley and Tracy Adams of Oakland Fremont and Princeton-bound Sharon Spooler of Fresno Clovis West.

City high school football rivals Los Angeles Wilson and Franklin made coaching moves last week resembling musical chairs.

Ed Elias, an assistant at Alhambra last season, will replace Armando Gonzales, now at East Los Angeles College, as head coach for Franklin, the reigning 3-A Division champion. Assisting Elias will be former Wilson coach Ray Avesian, who directed the Mules to a 6-5 record last season.

Replacing Avesian at Wilson will be assistant Tom Lunetta, who will be assisted by Vic Cuccia and Eddie Martinez. Cuccia, who coached several City championship teams at Wilson in the 1970s, will coach the junior varsity.

Prep Notes

In a effort to encourage youth baseball associations to provide safer equipment, clinics will be offered for parents at three locations this week: Thursday at the Glendale McCambridge Park Community Center, Friday at Norwalk Recreation Center on Friday and Saturday at the Irvine Harvard Park multipurpose building. For information, contact Teri Stein at (818) 953-9566. . . . Long jumper Jerome Price of San Diego University City and shotputter Brent Noon of Fallbrook will compete unattached in the Jack-in-the-Box Invitational.