SOUTHERN SECTION TRACK AND FIELD PRELIMS : Taylor Finds It Impossible to Catch This Sprinting Star

Talk about your oddball matchups.

Marion Jones, the nation’s fastest high school girls’ sprinter, and Shelley Taylor, its fastest middle-distance runner, stood side by side, awaiting their batons for the third leg of the girls’ 1,600-meter relay at the Southern Section 3-A preliminaries Saturday at Trabuco Hills.

Jones, a junior at Thousand Oaks, got the baton with a five-meter lead over Edison’s Taylor. Predictably, it didn’t stay that way for long.

Jones zoomed into a gear most prep sprinters can’t match, leaving Taylor trailing in her wake as Thousand Oaks went on to win in 3 minutes 56.24 seconds. Edison was second in 4:03.21.

“No one in their right mind would expect to pass her,” Taylor said later. “I’m just glad Thousand Oaks was ahead, so she didn’t pass me and people would say, ‘Look, she’s killing Taylor.’

“I didn’t mind attempting to catch her.”

Earlier, Jones provided the highlight of the meet, breaking her national record in the 200 meters by running 22.67. Jones’ old record of 22.76 was set last year.

Despite being overmatched against Jones--and who wouldn’t be?--Taylor still turned in strong efforts in winning her 800 and 1,600 heats.

Taylor, a senior who will run at Arkansas next fall, ran 2:19.75 in the 800, setting up what promises to be an excellent duel with Ocean View’s Christie Engesser in the 3-A final next week at Cerritos College. Engesser ran 2:19.08 to win her heat.

Taylor’s 5:03.96 was the fastest qualifying time in the 1,600.

“I’m going to run all three next week,” said Taylor, whose 4:51.98 is the nation’s fastest outdoors this year. “I want to run 2:10 for the 800. Hopefully, the 1,600 won’t be too fast and I can recover for the 800.”

Other noteworthy qualifiers included:

--Tony Mancuso of Newport Harbor won the shotput with a mark of 58 feet 9 1/2 inches, his second best this season. He also qualified for the finals in the discus, placing sixth with a toss of 154-10.

Mancuso’s teammate, Gina Heads, improved her county-leading best in the shotput to 41-6 3/4, placing second. She also was second in the discus (130-5).

--Charlie Davidson of Saddleback had the fastest qualifying times in the 110-meter high hurdles (a wind-aided 14.45) and the 300 intermediate hurdles (38.31).

--University’s Holiday Molway, who won her heats of the 400 (58.88) and the 800 (2:18.40), and teammate Tanja Brix, who was the fastest qualifier in the girls’ 3,200 (11:08.95).

4-A prelims--Mission Viejo ran the county’s fastest time in the girls’ 1,600-meter relay (3:59.92) and advanced to next week’s 4-A final at Cerritos College.

Heather Sterlin, the county’s top long jumper and Mission Viejo’s school-record holder, qualified with a leap of 18-5. Sterlin jumped 19-6 in a dual meet against Dana Hills earlier this season. She also qualified in the 100-meter low hurdles, running 14.76.

El Toro’s Julie Focht was the leading qualifier in the 800, lowering her season-best to 2:17.58. Focht’s previous best was 2:17.7, set in winning the South Coast League final last week.