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By Phillip Brents

May 25, 2001 -- The moment of truth has arrived for a select group of South County athletes who will compete at today’s combined San Diego Section divisional finals/state qualifying meet at Poway High. At stake will be points earned toward team championship titles and the right to advance to next Friday’s state prelim meet in Sacramento.

Competition begins at 4 p.m. in field events, with running events to start at 5 p.m. (The pole vault competition starts at noon.)

The top three finishers in each event qualify for the state prelims. Athletes competing in A-flight events are eligible to advance to the state meet while those participating in B-flight events can only score team points. Leading the local field in A-flight events are Sweetwater’s Trandon Harvey and Aigamarie Taumua and Morse’s Monique Henderson.

Taumua set a new section record in the girls shot put with an effort of 46 feet, 101/4 inches in last Saturday’s prelim meet at Escon-dido High. The distance broke the old record of 45-03/4, set by Southwest graduate Tracy Crawford in 1986. Taumua ranks first in the section in the event.

Harvey, one of the section’s elite multi-purpose athletes, will compete in three individual events tonight: the boys triple and long jumps and 110-meter high hurdles. He ranks second in the state in the triple jump (48-3) and recorded the third-best mark in qualifying at last Friday’s prelims in the long jump (22-61/4) while turning in the fourth-fastest time (a personal best 14.5) in the high hurdles.

Henderson, a Bonita resident and member of last summer’s United States Sydney Olympic Games contingent, blazed to the top qualifying marks in the girls 100-, 200- and 400-meter running events while also running a leg on the Tigers’ top-ranked 4x400 relay team.

The UCLA-bound senior is seeking a fourth consecutive state title in the 400 — an event in which she is the national record-holder. She is a threat to break Olympian Gail Devers’ 100-meter section record of 10.51 (set in 1984). Henderson clocked 11.69 in the 100, 23.85 in the 200 and 54.52 in the 400 in last week’s prelims. She holds the section record in both the 200 (23.16) and 400 (51.31) events.

Hilltop’s Desiree Davila has qualified for the girls 1,600 and 3,200 runs. She owns the top qualifying time in the 3,200 (11:09.15) and is second with a 5:00.05 to San Dieguito’s Jenna Timinsky (4:59.35) in the 1,600.

Two other Metro Conference athletes have qualified in two events for today’s meet: Eastlake’s Moses Rangel (boys shot put, discus) and Bonita Vista’s Austin Neudecker (boys triple jump, high jump).

Rangel posted the third-best qualifying mark in the discus (166-6) and is one of four South County athletes entered in the shot put, joining Sweetwater’s Jeremy Driggs (50-01/2, fifth), Bonita Vista’s Jensen Cayas (50-0, sixth) and Sweetwater’s Wesley Charles (48-71/2, eighth). Rangel is entered with the seventh-best prelim mark of 49-11/2.

Neudecker, among the section leaders in the triple jump, qualified for today’s finals in the event with the sixth-best prelim mark in the event at 44-71/4 (trailing Harvey in fourth place at 45-33/4). The Baron jumper cleared 6-2 in the high jump to trail Eastlake qualifier Wade Curry (6-4).

Eastlake’s Devon Aleman, this year’s South Bay League champion in the boys pole vault, rounds out the area’s qualifiers in boys field events. Aleman cleared a then personal record 14-0 at the league finals meet and soared to a new career best at 14-4 in the CIF prelims.

Sweetwater’s Allen Thompson, the Mesa League’s Co-Athlete of the Year with teammate Harvey, owns the fifth-best prelim mark in the boys 100 meters (a personal record 10.97) while Bonita Vista’s Angelo Vargas clocked the fourth-best prelim time of 39.62 in the boys 300 intermediate hurdles. Mar Vista’s Blake Swier qualified eighth in the boys 1,600 (4:27.06) while Eastlake’s Ryan Bartsch was involved in a run-off with two other athletes for the final qualifying berth in the boys 110 A-flight hurdles.

The Sweetwater boys 4x100 relay recorded the eighth-best time in 42.63.

The local girls field is no less jammed with talent.

Joining Hilltop’s Davila in two events is Castle Park’s Hilaria Mateo (shot put, discus). Mateo finished sixth in qualifying in both the shot put (35-7) and discus (113-5).

The Metro’s depth chart is evident in four events in which local teams recorded multiple qualifiers, led by the shot put event in which Sweetwater’s Cynthia Concha (seventh, 35-4) joins both Mateo and Red Devil teammate Taumua.

Eastlake’s Megan Wilkinson and Sweetwater’s Erin Asay, both of whom cleared 10-0 in prelim competition, are entered in the pole vault. Eastlake’s Shannon Young (fourth, 120-0) joins Mateo in the discus. Bonita Vista’s Joy Hannibal (fifth, 35-91/2) and Hilltop’s Nadiyah Salahuddin (sixth, 35-61/4) are both entered in the triple jump.

Rounding out the Metro’s contingent in the girls individual A-flight field are Chula Vista’s Camille Robinson (sixth, 800 meters, 2:20.84), Merla Mason (seventh, 100 meters, 12.53) and Kate Bartkiewiecz (high jump, 5-2) and Hilltop’s Nadia Sanders (ninth, 400 meters, 59.12).

Chula Vista is entered in the girls 4x100 relay (fourth, 49.03).

Athletes who advance to the state prelims next Friday will then compete for berths in the following day’s finals.

The top-seeded Eastlake High boys volleyball team will play third-seeded Valhalla for the right to raise the San Diego Section Division II championship banner tonight, beginning at 5 p.m. at Mira Mesa High School.

The Titans advanced to their third division title match in three years after downing fourth-seeded San Pasqual in three games — 15-1, 15-10, 15-10 — in Tuesday’s semifinals. Josiah Clark led Eastlake with 11 kills while Carlo Arvizu and Brandon Crowley both added eight kills to the balanced team attack. Josh Moreno had four blocks for the Titans, who carry an overall 31-5 record into the division finals.

The Norsemen are 22-6 after eliminating Ramona (22-7).