Turpin Finds Relief From Her Emotions

You can’t set a career best in every competition.

That realization has helped senior Annmarie Turpin of Simi Valley High become one of the most versatile track and field performers in the region this season.

Turpin, who will compete in the b400 meters, 300 low hurdles, high jump and long jump in the Ventura County championships at Royal High tonight, often became upset in previous seasons if she didn’t set a career best in a meet.

“She’s always had the physical abilities,” said Linda Haverlation, Simi Valley girls’ coach. “But her intensity was out of control. If she performed poorly in one event, she’d let it carry over to the next. Now her intensity is under control.”

Turpin’s performance in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 17 proved Haverlation’s point.

Turpin placed a disappointing 17th in the open long jump with a poor 14-9 1/2 jump, but she bounced back to win the invitational high jump at 5-8.

“That was big,” Haverlation said. “She couldn’t have done that last year.”

Turpin, runner-up in the high jump in the 1998 Southern Section Division I championships, agreed.

“I’ve learned that you have to forget about a bad performance in one event or it’ll hurt you in the next,” she said. “I’ve learned to put bad performances behind me.”

Turpin hasn’t had many subpar efforts this season and will enter today’s meet with the leading marks among participants in the high jump (5-10), 300 hurdles (45.59) and 400 (hand-timed 58.9). She has the second-best mark in the long jump (17-2 1/4).

Turpin is tied for first on the yearly state list in the high jump and tied for fifth on the all-time region list in the event, but she wants to clear 6 feet this season.

“But first I’d like to get the school [and Ventura County record of 5-10 1/4 set by Nancy Redican in 1978] and put that pressure behind me,” Turpin said.

A 6-foot clearance would tie the region record set by Crissy Mills of Campbell Hall in 1989 and would be six inches better than Turpin’s career best before the season, but she expects it to happen.

“I’m not surprised with anything I’ve done,” said the 5-foot-8 1/2 Turpin, a second-team selection on The Times’ All-Ventura County basketball team. “I put in so much hard work over the summer and fall.”

Sophomore Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa, junior Oliver Jackson of Royal and senior Tim Adrian of Moorpark also could be multiple winners in the invitational portion of the meet, which starts with the field events at 5 p.m. and running events at 7.

Carroll, the state leader in the 100 at 11.70, is favored to win her second consecutive county title in that event and the 200, and her first championship in the long jump.

She will run the first leg on the Spartans’ 400 relay team.

Jackson, the national outdoor leader in the boys’ long jump at 24-4 3/4, is favored to win his second consecutive title in that event. He could also contend in the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediates, and he will run on Royal’s 400 relay team.

Syracuse-bound Adrian will be shooting for his second consecutive title in the discus and his first in the shotput.

Adrian and senior Jerome Stevens of Rio Mesa are expected to battle for the discus title, with Adrian and junior Will Svitek of Newbury Park contending in the shotput.

Junior Josh Spiker of Ventura, who earned third-team All-American honors by placing 14th in the national cross-country championships in December, is favored in the 3,200.