Cramp Puts Crimp in Hernandez’s Plans to Run in State Meet

A recurring side cramp that hampered Camarillo High’s Eleazar Hernandez in the Southern Section Division I championships earlier this month proved fatal to his senior season in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College last week.

Hernandez, who finished fifth in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in December, was in the lead pack for the first half of the 3,200 meters but faded to seventh in 9 minutes 29.22 seconds after feeling a sharp pain in his right side during the last 2,000 meters.

Hernandez had felt a cramp during the Division I race yet finished fifth in 9:13.82. He wasn’t as fortunate Friday because he needed to finish among the top five to advance to this weekend’s state championships at Cerritos.

“He felt a definite sharp pain in his lower-right abdomen,” Camarillo Coach Mike Smith said. “But we’re not exactly sure what it was. He was sick during the [Marmonte League finals] and it’s possible that he’s got some type of infection down there that’s causing the pain, or he might have pulled something doing sit-ups.”

Whatever it was, the cramp contributed to the end of a superb high school career that included the 1994 Southern Section Division I cross-country title, a runner-up finish in last year’s state Division I cross-country championships and a personal best of 9:05.15 in the 3,200.

Happy birthday: Abel Ramirez, the junior varsity baseball coach at San Fernando High, received a 31st birthday present from the San Fernando American Legion District 20 team he coaches.

The team crushed Sepulveda, 13-4, in its opener Saturday.

“They told me before the game that they were going to win it for me as a birthday present,” Ramirez said.

What’s in a name?: A quick look at the field for Saturday night’s Super Late Model feature at Saugus Speedway would have given an indication of things to come.

Driver Bill Rex, living up to his name, was involved in a three-car pileup in the first lap that caused an hour delay.

La Crescenta’s Ken Sapper spun out coming out of Turn 4 and was hit by Edward Dazzo.

Rex, who was trailing, couldn’t avoid the pileup and plowed into Dazzo and Sapper.

It took an hour for maintenance to clean up an oil spill and the featured 50-lap race didn’t start until just before 11 p.m.

When it did, Rex was the only driver involved in the accident to continue. He finished seventh.

Add Saugus: Simi Valley’s Steve Nickolai figured drivers in the Super Late Model division were in for a long evening when several peeled out early in the trophy dash.

After the fifth lap of a six-lap dash, Sapper, Nickolai and Sean Woodside all slowed, thinking the race was over.

“Boy, I felt pretty stupid,” Nickolai said. “You’d think we were a bunch of rookies out there driving around.”

Honors

Pitcher Tina Kinney of the Hoover High softball team has been selected Pacific League player of the year. Kinney was 16-11 with 194 strikeouts and an 0.81 earned-run average in 181 innings.

Quotebook

“I don’t feel bad about losing. I ran as hard as I could and as fast as I could.”

--Agoura High’s Amy Skieresz, after running the second-fastest time in the country in the girls’ 3,200 meters (10 minutes 16.42 seconds) in the Southern Section Masters Meet on Friday but finishing second to Anaheim Esperanza’s Courtney Pugmire.

Stats

Pitcher Dan Harrison of St. Bonaventure High retired a school-record 25 batters in a row over two games in the Southern Section Division V playoffs. Harrison retired 18 in a 6-0 victory over Coast Union, then seven in an 8-2 loss to Village Christian.

Harrison also struck out seven consecutive Carpinteria batters this season, a school record.

Harrison finished the season 6-4 with a 2.53 earned-run average in 58 innings.

Keeping a tradition: When Ryan Jones of North Hollywood High won the 110-meter high hurdles in the City Section track championships Thursday, he became the fifth consecutive winner from the Valley in that event and the seventh in the last nine years.

Before that, the Valley had produced only one winner in 22 years.

Moving up: Senior Brian Marston and junior Akiem Brown of Cal State Northridge moved into the top five on the all-time Matador list in the pole vault and 400 meters during the American West Conference track championships earlier this month.

Marston cleared a personal best of 16 feet 7 1/2 inches during the decathlon competition to move to third in that event and Brown ran 47.26 to win the 400 and move to fifth.

Their previous bests were 15-11 3/4 and 48.27, respectively.

Things to Do

Harvard-Westlake High (20-2) will meet Palm Desert (24-0) today at 3:15 p.m. in the boys’ Division III tennis final at The Racquet Centre in Studio City.

Compiled by Irene Garcia. Contributing: Darin Esper, Vince Kowalick, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.