CITY SECTION TRACK & FIELD PRELIMS: MONROE'S RUIZ HAS REASON TO RUN COACH RETURNS AFTER HAVING HEART PROCEDURE.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

Manuel Ruiz, a teen-ager who has gone through so much himself, wanted to do something special for his coach.

Monroe of North Hills coach Dean Balzarett sat in the stands during the City Section preliminaries Thursday, one week after he was hospitalized to have a metal tube inserted into an artery of his heart that was 90 percent clogged.

Balzarett had the surgery during the Valley Mission League finals. He wasn't about to miss another meet, nor a chance to see his talented distance runner.

Ruiz rewarded his coach with a personal record 4 minutes, 24.34 seconds in the 1,600 meters and another first-place finish in the 3,200 at Birmingham High of Lake Balboa.

``It seems different with coach here,'' said Ruiz, who never has had it easy after immigrating to the United States from Mexico with his brother, leaving his parents behind. ``I'm happy because I wanted to give him something worth watching.''

Balzarett, who found out about the ailment after failing a treadmill test during a routine physical last week, plans to go back to work Monday. On Thursday, he let his assistant coaches do the work while he enjoyed the meet.

``I love the month of May,'' Balzarett said. ``The month of May in high school track is wonderful.''

Ruiz qualified for the City finals, next Thursday at Birmingham, as did the top 12 finishers in the two long distance races and top eight competitors in all other events. But, on the recommendation of his coaches, Ruiz plans to scratch from the 1,600 next week to focus on the 3,200.

Brynne Steward from Cleveland of Reseda (100 hurdles and 300 hurdles), Belen Mendoza from Poly of Sun Valley (1,600 and 3,200) and Noah Smith from Taft of Woodland Hills (100 and 200) were other top finishers in multiple events.

Smith ran cautiously because of a slightly strained hamstring suffered in practice on Tuesday. He won the 100 with a season-best 10.72 but ran a 21.85 in the 200, nearly half a second off his top time.

``Coach said to be careful so I just cruised in the 200,'' Smith said. ``It's never felt this tight before, but I should be at full speed next week.''

As a precaution, Smith didn't run in the 1,600 relay. It was expected to be the first time since last month that the relay team of Justin Tryon, Mike Pratt, Paul Pratt and Smith - which has run the nation's fastest time - would be together.

Arthur Sulcer of Monroe nearly caught Smith in the 100. Sulcer, who is beginning to establish himself as one of the area's top sprinters, ran his best electronic time at 10.76. But he doesn't feel he has peaked.

``I got out to a shaky start off the blocks,'' Sulcer said. ``If I get a good start, I could break 10.7.''

Michelle Stinnette of Cleveland proved that last week's second-place finishes to Birmingham's Vonnie Fulford at the West Valley League finals, in which Stinnette wasn't even close to her main rival, was an anomaly.

Though they were in different heats, Stinnette ran 12.22 in the 100 to Fulford's 12.41 and a 24.99 in the 200 to Fulford's 25.17.

``I was throwing up before last week's races,'' Stinnette said. ``I think I had a bad lunch. That's why I didn't run as good as usual. Now I'm feeling a whole lot better.''