Stokke, Blue Sailor leaders

Chris Yemma

There are two different ways to look at this season’s Newport Harbor

High girls track and field team.

Individually: There are two athletes that will probably go to the

CIF State meet in their events, with the potential of winning.

As a team: There is someone in nearly every event who has the

potential of winning any given dual meet or tri-meet.

“I say, cautiously, I think we’re going to contend for a [Sea

View] League title,” Sailors Coach Eric Tweit said. “We definitely

have some good people so we’ll see how it plays out. We have

basically somebody in every event who will contend.”

Two individual athletes will likely draw the most attention.

Sophomore pole vaulter Allison Stokke and junior distance runner

Whitney Blue are the extreme standouts on a team packed with talent.

Stokke is coming off a state championship last season with a

clearance of 12 feet, 8 inches in Sacramento. In her first meet this

year -- at the Eagle invite at Santa Margarita March 5 -- she

bettered that with a 13-4 clearance, tying a national sophomore

outdoor record. She attempted 13-9, which would have broken a

national high school record, but came up short.

“I think she will go higher than the national record,” Tweit said.

“But there’s a couple of other good vaulters in the nation who will

be attempting the same. Our first goal is for her to stay healthy and

her main goal this year is 14 feet.”

Stokke is only 16 months into her pole vaulting career. She turned

to pole vaulting after growing tired of gymnastics. In October of

2003, she came to Tweit looking for information, and, at the end of

her first season, she was the best in the state.

In the perspective of team points, Stokke will be more valuable

later on.

“She will be more important in big meets,” Tweit said. “When we

get to finals and stuff like that, it obviously helps to have a state

champ.”

Blue is the other extreme standout. She is fresh off a

second-place finish at the CIF State Division II cross country

championships this past fall in Fresno, a three-mile event.

Tweit thinks Blue will excel in the 3,200 meters just as much, if

not more, than in cross country. But the State track and field

championships are not broken up into divisions as in cross country.

So Blue, if she makes it, will truly be up against the toughest

competition in the state.

Blue’s time of 17 minutes, 58 seconds was fourth best at the state

cross country meet, in all divisions.

Blue was second at league finals last spring in the 1,600 and was

third in the 3,200. She went on to finish fifth in CIF Division IV in

the 1,600 in 5:05.15.

Blue, like Stokke, is also relatively new to the competitive track

scene.

“A year ago at this time, she was thinking of herself as striving

to be a decent high school runner,” Tweit said. “But now things have

materialized. I tell you what, nothing surprises me. Now my

expectations are set with what she did in cross country, and I expect

her to do the equivalent in track.”

The rest of the team will be looking to feed off Stokke and Blue.

“With both of them,” Tweit said, “we have a good 1-2 punch.”

As far as scoring mass points for the good of the team, sophomore

Jessica Robson enters the picture. A high jump, long jump and hurdles

expert, Robson could win four events during head-to-head meets.

At a tri-meet March 9 involving Corona del Mar and Marina, Robson

finished second in the 100 hurdles and second in the high jump. She

was third in the 100 hurdles at the Eagle invite, involving eight

different schools.

“We haven’t had anybody work any harder,” Tweit said. “She’s,

potentially, probably going to score the most points for us.”

The rest of the Newport headliners include senior Megan Randall

(800), senior Jennifer Ryder (high and long jumps) and junior

Stephanie Lambrakis (100, 200, 400 and both the 400 and 1,600

relays).

Ryder won the Sea View League title in the high jump last season

with a 5-2 clearance, while Robson was second at 5-0.

Randall was second in the 800 in 2:20.04.

The throwing events will feature Ciara Lawrence, league runner-up

last year, Jessica Bodkin, Amber Munnelly and Lauren Celek.

Bodkin and Munnelly were first and second in the shot put March 9,

while Munnelly, Bodkin and Celek swept the top three places in the

discus.

“We are definitely stronger this year,” Tweit said. “This is one

of the best teams we’ve had. We’ve got people in every event who can

do some things. There is so much depth, which is pretty exciting.”