Each throw brings more attention to Whiteside
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Steve Fryer column: The Newport Harbor sophomore shows a lot of potential in discus, shot put.
The technique is raw, the potential is considerable.
Newport Harbor sophomore track and field athlete Cecil Whiteside goes into the Arcadia Invitational as someone to watch, this week and in years to come. His throw of 175 feet, 9 inches that won the discus competition in the Trabuco Hills Invitational this season is thought to be the best mark by a sophomore in Orange County history. His 56-1 in the shot put was good enough for third in the event at Trabuco.
Newport Harbor throws coach Tony Ciarelli has coached some of the county's top shot put and discuss athletes, including county discus record holder Scott Moser at Huntington Beach, and Newport Harbor's Bo Taylor, who is No. 2 all-time in the discus and No. 13 in the shot put (Moser is No. 16 in the shot put).
How does Whiteside compare to Moser and Taylor when they were sophomores?
“He's in front of everybody, in the discus,” Ciarelli said. “Athletically and physically, he's got all that stuff going on. He's spatially aware, he knows where his hands and his feet are, and that's what all the great throwers have.”
Whiteside is a three-sport athlete. He also is an outstanding football player, at linebacker on defense and slot receiver on offense (see Whiteside's football record), and he played basketball (see Whiteside's basketball record) this past winter at Harbor, too. So he lacks the offseason training opportunities that many of his rivals enjoy.
Ciarelli said football is Whiteside's strongest sport, and compares him to future NFL Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who also was a great linebacker at Huntington Beach in the early 1990s.
Whiteside has a long way to go to get close to the county records, Moser's 213-11 in the discus, in 1997, and the 69-6.5 shot put of San Clemente's Brian Blutreich in '85. But Whiteside, with the prestigious Arcadia Invitational this weekend at Arcadia High and the rest of this season, plus his junior and senior years, has plenty of time to make up ground.
“Technically,” Ciarelli said, “Cecil's very raw. But he's got that knack and that feel to throw it far.”
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• The county and the Sunset League, will be well-represented in the girls 800 at Arcadia. Anja Disiena of Fountain Valley and Meaghan Foley of Edison are among the top competitors in that event. The girls distance events have the county's elite runners: Christine Babcock of Woodbridge, Shelby Buckley of Corona del Mar and Alexandra Dunne of San Clemente. And JSerra sophomore Harrison Steed, who high jumped 7-feet already this season, faces a talented field in his event.
• The Arcadia Invitational begins with field prelims Friday, and qualifying continues Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Field event finals start at 4p.m. on Saturday. Running event finals start at 5:25 p.m. Saturday.
• Ticket information for the Arcadia Invitational: Friday, $7 for adults and students with student identification, and $5 for children 12 and younger; Saturday, $15 adults, $10 for students with student ID, and $5 for children 12 and younger. A capacity crowd of 7,200 is typical for Saturday night, when records fall and stars emerge.
• The Savanna baseball team continued its fine play Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep of El Segundo as senior pitchers Mitch Sianez and Garrett Wilson pitched complete games and senior Dylan Roberson homered in each of the Rebels' 5-2 and 4-2 victories at El Segundo. Savanna (14-5 overall, 7-0 in the Orange League) is ranked No. 6 and El Segundo is No. 8 in Division IV. The Rebels play second-place Anaheim (6-1 in league) twice next week — a Wednesday night game at Glover Stadium and a Friday afternoon game at Savanna.
• Look at the North (click here) and South (click here) nominations for the Orange County all-star football game and notice that several schools had “no response,” which means the school did not submit nominees because of coaches' neglect, forgetfulness or an error somewhere in the nominating process that might not be the coaches' fault. Look at Tustin in the South nominees list, and it reads “no nominees.” Some coaches will nominate players they know have no chance of making an all-star roster, but Tustin coach Myron Miller, with honesty, integrity and respect for the game, does not nominate a player, no matter how much he likes the player personally, whom he knows is not all-star caliber.
• Mater Dei football coach Bruce Rollinson confirmed Thursday that Justin Martinez, a 6-foot-3, 164-pound receiver, transferred to Mater Dei from St. John Bosco of Bellflower during the semester break. Martinez was Bosco's leading receiver last season as a junior, with 22 receptions for 348 yards and one touchdown.
• Hysteria ensues when an athlete transfers to a private or parochial school, even if the transfer is moving from one private school to another. But according to the CIF-Southern Section data, 85 percent of all transfers in the section this school year have been transfers to a public school. Hysteria vs. fact — a mismatch.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
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