Agoura’s York Fails to Qualify Out of Strong Field in 3,200

How tough is the track and field competition in the Marmonte League?

Just ask Agoura High distance runner Tiffany York, one of the state’s best 3,200-meter runners who will miss the Southern Section 3-A Division preliminaries next Saturday because of a qualifying system that honors performances in the league finals instead of season-best times.

Competitors must place in the top three in their events in the league finals to advance to postseason competition.

York, a senior, finished a non-qualifying fourth in the 3,200 in the Marmonte League finals Friday at Camarillo High.

Her time Friday was 11 minutes 1.80 seconds, but York has run 10:47.13, a clocking that would have placed her third in the 3,200 in the state championships last year.

Agoura teammate Deena Drossin won in a Marmonte League championship-meet-record 10:34.83 and Jeannie Rothman of Westlake was second in a personal-best 10:36.89. Thousand Oaks sophomore Stacy Auer, who slipped past York for good with just under 2 1/2 laps remaining, finished third in 10:54.79.

“It’s a real sad situation, I think, but the rules are the rules,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “I hope the (Southern Section) looks at the situation and will create an at-large entry.”

The Marmonte League boasts five of the seven fastest girls’ 3,200 runners in the state and York would have been an easy qualifier out of the 3-A for the Southern Section Masters Meet, the section’s qualifier for the state championships.

Channel Islands junior Veronica Barajas, who has run a personal-best 10:51.47 this year, did not run Friday because of a stress fracture in her leg and will miss the remainder of the season.

Drossin’s effort in the 3,200 was her second meet-record performance of the day. In the 1,600, she took off at the start and never looked back en route to a winning 5:02.52 clocking, which barely beat the 5:02.7 standard run by Newbury Park’s Denise Ball in 1982.

Rothman finished second in a personal-best 5:07.33 and Agoura’s Laura Hayward was third in 5:16.11.

Tim Ross of Royal cleared 6 feet 10 1/2 inches in the high jump, eclipsing the meet record of 6-10 1/4 set in 1982 by Victor Nehring of Camarillo.

Ross grazed the bar and knocked it off with his backside on the first try. He also won the long jump (20-10 1/2) and triple jump (42-3).

Renee Sprowl of Thousand Oaks also won three individual events. Sprowl, who tripped and fell while tied for the lead in the 300 low hurdles in the Ventura County championships last week, won the event Friday in a personal-best 46.67. She outleaned teammate Heather Hanger to win the 100 low hurdles, 15.15 to 15.20, and bounded 36-8 1/2 in the triple jump.

Other meet-record efforts included Westlake’s Crystal Brownlee in the shotput (41-2) and Thousand Oaks’ Jeannine Shannon in the discus (126-6).

CHANNEL LEAGUE FINALS: Marion Jones and Alycia Burnham of Rio Mesa each won three events. C15