Is Moorpark’s Hernandez Prepared to Run Double?

NORWALK —  Eleazar Hernandez of Moorpark College will run in the men’s 10,000 meters tonight in the State junior college track and field championships at Cerritos College.

That much is known.

Whether he’ll run in the 5,000 on Saturday remains to be seen.

“We’ll see how he feels after the 10,000 before we make a decision on the 5,000,” Moorpark Coach Manny Trevino said. “If he feels OK, then he’ll run. But if he’s hurting, I don’t want him to run the 5,000. It’s not worth it.”

Good luck convincing Hernandez of that.

The freshman from Camarillo High is known for his bulldog-like determination.

Trevino tried to persuade Hernandez not to run the 5,000 in last week’s Southern California championships--after he had won the 10,000 the previous week--but Hernandez finished fifth in sauna-like conditions.

Hernandez is one of four Southern California champions from the region who will compete in the two-day meet.

The others--Pete Magill of Glendale, Kristine Bostick of Antelope Valley and Dolores Tuimoloau of Ventura--will compete Saturday.

Magill, a 34-year-old sophomore, and Bostick, a freshman from Palmdale High, came from behind to win the men’s 5,000 and women’s 400 low hurdles, respectively, last week. Tuimoloau won the women’s shotput by nearly 5 1/2 feet.

Bostick set an Antelope Valley record of 1 minute 4.68 seconds in the 400 hurdles, but she’ll have to run significantly faster to win Saturday. Four competitors ran faster than that in the Northern California championships last week.

“We’ve got to get her to run more aggressively for the first 200,” Antelope Valley Coach Mark Covert said.

Kris McLucas of Ventura, George Daniels of Antelope Valley and Ramon Serratos of Glendale are some of the other top local entrants in the meet.

McLucas missed the Western State Conference meet with a tender hamstring, but finished third in the 400 intermediate hurdles in the Southern California championships. His strong finish there indicated that he could be capable of winning his second consecutive state title.

Daniels, fourth in the 400 in last year’s State championships, will compete in that event and also run legs on the Marauders’ 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

Serratos finished a disappointing fifth in the 3,000 steeplechase last week, but if his badly bruised left knee has healed, he could top his third-place finish of a year ago.

The meet starts at 12:30 p.m. today with the heptathlon 100 hurdles.