Saddleback’s Davidson Is First Across Line at Start and Finish

WALNUT — Charlie Davidson of Saddleback High School caught a flyer Friday at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

Good thing for him the officials weren’t too picky. Rolling starts are certainly OK for cross-country meets or marathons where hundredths of seconds aren’t at stake, but in the sprints and hurdles, they usually draw a second gunshot from a starter signaling a false start.

After his 14.22-second victory in the 110-meter high hurdles, Davidson acknowledged his quicker-than-it-should-have-been start with a smile and a sheepish, “yeah.”

Nevertheless, Davidson’s time goes into the books as the fastest in the Southern Section this year and is an improvement on his Orange County-leading 14.37, set in winning the Arcadia Invitational last Saturday.

Desmond Smith of Hawthorne was second in 14.46, Marlon Stewart of Las Vegas Eldorado was third in 14.48 and Keith Moten of Los Angeles Loyola was fourth in 14.48.

Suffice to say, none of them came close to matching Davidson’s blazing start. By the time he reached the first hurdle, Davidson was well clear of the rest of the field. He maintained that advantage throughout the race, although he did not appear as smooth over the hurdles as he did at Arcadia.

“I felt a little choppy,” he said. “I’ve been trying to work on a faster trail leg, snapping it over the hurdles quicker. It’s hard to break old habits, though.”

If he can make those subtle adjustments, Davidson figures he can reach his goal of a sub-14-second clocking.

“If I can get everything right, I can drop my time just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.

About two hours later, Davidson finished third in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in a hand-timed 38.5. It was only the second time he had run the intermediate hurdles, and his inexperience showed when he got out to a slow start. Moten won in 37.9 with Smith second, also in 37.9.

Christie Engesser of Ocean View, sticking with the event she knows best, set a personal best of 2:12.45 in winning the girls’ 800 meters. It had been two years since she set her previous best, 2:12.79 while finishing second at Arcadia.

Engesser passed Nikki Shaw of Fillmore with about 80 meters to go, then held off hard-charging Monica Medina of Mexico, who finished second in 2:12.48. Shaw was third in 2:12.77. Barbara Boisvert of Orange Lutheran did not finish after falling near the 600-meter mark.

The finish was so close that Engesser later said she didn’t know if she had won.

“I just wanted to keep contact this time and not get caught in the back of the pack,” she said. “Last week, I got boxed in at the start and never really was in reach of the leaders.”

Last week at Arcadia, Engesser finished a distant fourth in 2:14.53.

Other county highlights included:

--Elinor Tolson of Fountain Valley running a personal best of 14.23 in placing second in the girls’ 100-meter low hurdles. Kim Warner of West Bakersfield won in 14.16.

--Tony Mancuso of Newport Harbor throwing the shotput a county-leading 58 feet 4 1/2 inches to place second behind Jeff Buckey of Bakersfield, who won with a throw of 60-2 1/2.

--Kevin Alexander of Valencia finishing second in the 100 meters with a time of 10.90. Bryan Howard, a sophomore from West Bakersfield, won the race in 10.79.

--Terry Mann of Sunny Hills clearing 6-8 to place second in the high jump behind Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo, who cleared 6-10.

Meet notes

Most of the high school events were contested Friday, but there are a few invitational events scheduled today. Orange County athletes expected to compete include Aaron Taub of Foothill and Anthoni Davis of Santa Ana Valley in the boys’ 400 meters; Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills, Kristina Dahlberg of El Modena and Barbara Boisvert of Orange Lutheran in the girls’ 1,500, and Foothill and Santa Ana Valley in the boys’ 1,600 relay.

Edison’s Shelley Taylor, who ran the fastest 1,600 meters in the nation this season when she ran 4:51.98 at the Arcadia Invitational last Saturday, skipped Mt. SAC to prepare for next week’s Orange County Championships.