Prep Review / Barbie Ludovise : Magnolia’s Melting Pot Spills Over to Its Track and Field Team

Bob Mangan, coach of Magnolia High School’s track and field team, has a name for his team’s home track and field meets.

“I like to refer to them as our ‘Third World Woodstock,’ ” Mangan said.

Why? Well, take a look at Magnolia’s roster.

On this team of almost 100 girls and boys, 21 nationalities and/or ethnic affiliations are represented.

To name a few . . .

Zenib Hassan is a 400-meter runner from Saudi Arabia. Kam Hieu is a distance runner from China. Ali Baharloo is a half-miler from Iran.

Sprinters Areil Couvertier and Dada Morrisette are from Puerto Rico. Quarter-miler Maurice Dixon is from Jamaica. Robert Woo is a distance runner from Taiwan.

Long jumper Aram Kim is from South Korea. Sprinter Thuan Tran is from Vietnam. Luisa Tuimavave is a discus thrower from Samoa.

From Guam, there’s shotputter Vinny Crisotomo. From India, half-miler Viren Bhatt. From Greece, sprinter Manny Chondropolis.

Ricardo Pachon is a half-miler from Romania. Rafay Khan is a half-miler from Pakistan. Jorge Serna is a miler from Colombia and Jason Fox is the team’s Irish-born team manager.

There also are athletes from Mexico, the Virgin Islands, the Philippines and, of course, the United States.

Last year, Magnolia, located in Anaheim, had a Nicaraguan, a Palestinian, an El Salvadoran and a Brazilian on its roster.

Probably the team’s biggest name, (though not necessarily the longest), is that of Phouphet Singbandith, a junior triple jumper from Laos. In only his second year of triple jumping, Singbandith leads the county this season with a mark of 50 feet 3 inches, which he recorded Saturday at the Orange County Boys Track and Field Championships. The mark is a half-inch short of the county record set by Ken Williams of Troy in 1982.

“We’ve run against a lot of teams, but I’ve never seen another team anywhere with the ethnic variety we have,” Mangan said. “I don’t know why, but even compared to the other schools in Anaheim, we’re really the only team that is this way.”

The team’s mini-United Nations appearance isn’t just coincidence, though. Mangan said the team’s makeup is, in a way, partly by his design.

“I’ve always gone after large numbers of athletes, you know, strength in numbers,” Mangan said. “So because the campus happens to have this ethnic mixture, I just round them up and the result is that I get a lot of them to come out, and they bring their friends, and those friends bring their friends and so on.”

Mangan said that unlike some of the other sports, track and field is a sport for any athlete.

“Track is a great common denominator,” said Mangan. “There’s 16 athletic events and most of them take completely different skills and body types. Chances are each kid can find something he can do and get better at.”

And the Third World Woodstock? That happens every time Magnolia plays host to a meet.

“Most of these (ethnic) groups are very family-oriented, so when the kid goes home and says he has a meet, the entire family--brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, babies--they all come to watch,” he said. “And they always bring food.”

Pakistani eggplant, Indian potatoes, Vietnamese candies. . . . In the past few years, Mangan might have sampled more ethnic cuisines at his track meets than most restaurant critics do in a career.

“I don’t think anyone has home meets like it, “ he said.

After much debate, Orange County principals finally have agreed on a realignment proposal.

The proposal, if approved by the Southern Section general council, will go in effect for the 1990-91 season.

The five changes in the proposal: --Santa Ana would move from the Century League to the Sunset League.

--Orange would move from the Pacific Coast League to the Century League.

--Woodbridge would move from the Pacific Coast League to the Sea View League.

--Estancia would move from the Sea View League to the Pacific Coast League.

--Century High, opening in Santa Ana in the fall, would be added to the Pacific Coast League.

The proposal will be discussed at the Southern Section’s general council meeting on April 27, where a simple majority vote will be sufficient to pass.

It appears that Jerry Person will not be joining Larry Toner’s football staff at Servite after a meeting between the coaches several weeks ago. Toner was named to replace Person, who was the school’s interim coach after the firing of Leo Hand. Person led Servite to the Angelus League title and had hoped to become the team’s offensive coordinator.

Toner, who met with the returning players and coaches during Easter vacation, offered Person another assistant position, but Person declined, according to Athletic Director Tom Vitello.

Wrestling change: A proposal by the California Interscholastic Federation wrestling management advisory committee to guarantee all wrestlers at least two matches upon entering the state tournament has been approved by the CIF.

The change in format adds a consolation round, or “wrestle back,” to the existing 32-person championship bracket. Those wrestling in the consolation round can earn a medal as high as third place under the new format.

The change will take place starting in the 1989-90 season.

Prep Notes

Century High School, which will open with a freshman and sophomore class this fall, is looking for teams interested in scheduling frosh/soph games in all of the fall sports. . . . Dave Zirkle, Orange Holiday basketball tournament director, has openings for two teams in the tournament scheduled for Dec. 26-29 at the Hutton Sports Center.