KEEPING EVERYONE ON TRACK ALL IN THE FAMILY DESPITE NUMEROUS BUDGET CUTS, ALL-COMERS MEET KEEPS GOING.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer

Jeremiah Coleman started off in the middle of the pack, but began picking up steam around the turn, just as he passed his family.

``Look at him go!'' his mother, Ruby, shouted as the 7-year-old sprinted by another young runner.

Jeremiah gave a push for first before tiring at the end of the 200 meters and taking second. He skipped across the grass infield, back to his family, with a big smile on his face and a red ribbon in his hand.

When he got close, his 3-year-old sister Tatiana started running to him, yelling her congratulations. Earlier in the day, she had run her first ever race in the 50 meters.

Later that night, the kids were just as excited to watch their mother participate in the 1,600-meter race/walk.

That sort of family experience is what has kept the All-Comers Track and Field Meets -- free to participants and paid for fully by the Los Angeles Unified School district -- going for 45 years, surviving one district budget cut after another.

``It's been around so long that it has become a standard that the community has come to expect,'' said Tim Bower, a field coordinator of youth services for the LAUSD. ``It not only allows kids to be a part of it, but allows the whole family. So it supports a family's connection to their school.''

The track meets take place over six weeks at three high schools: Tuesday nights at San Pedro, Wednesdays at Birmingham of Lake Balboa and Thursdays at Santee Education Complex in downtown Los Angeles.

Tonight is the fourth of six meets at Birmingham.

The meets truly are for all comers. On any given Wednesday, Olympic champions such as Maurice Greene, budding high school stars like Westlake's 800-meter champion Cory Primm, seniors trying to stay in shape and socialize such as 77-year-old Patrick Devine and families such as the Colemans intermingle at Birmingham.

``The school district used to do a lot more of these things,'' said Annette Flores, a recreation director of student auxiliary services at the LAUSD. ``This is kind of the last holdover item. There used to be golf lessons and swimming lessons. This is one of the last community events I know that we continue to sponsor.''

Birmingham track coach Scott King has run the meets for the past 15 years, and been involved with them for 30. He wasn't around, but has heard the stories, of how the meets began at Pierce College in 1961.

``When it first started, it was mainly a white male activity,'' King said. ``There were high school boys and open men. Now, things have changed so that there's as many kids as there are adults. I think that is what kept it going.''

King also deserves much of the credit for that. The event got the axe from the school board during cuts in 1995. King put on the meets that year, though he was forced to charge fees to provide the staffing.

Upset members of the community called their school board representatives and got All-Comers reinstated for the next year.

``I kept it going myself and we were able to restore it,'' King said. ``That's unusual because, in the school district, once you lose something, it's usually gone forever.''

It costs $43,000 a year to put on 17 meets, according to Flores.

Not that many of the participants know anything about the expense or number of years it has been going on. They just see it as a productive, and cheap, way to spend their evening.

``There's not really many places to run during the summer in our area,'' said Primm, who used the meet to practice his speed work by running the 400. ``It's so laid back here. There's no screaming adolescent girls here, no guys yelling at each other. Everyone is calm. It feels completely different than any other meet I've ever been to.''

Someday, Primm might join the long list of professionals who have used All-Comers for training, usually stopping in unannounced. In addition to Greene, that list includes Olympic medalists Marion Jones, Allyson Felix, Johnny Gray, Felix Sanchez and John Godina.

Devine, a San Pedro resident who began doing the meets 28 years ago as a way to run with people his own age, has seen many of those top athletes drop by.

But it is families like the Colemans, from Granada Hills, that remain at the heart of the meets. Ruby and her husband, Damian, got Jeremiah into youth track this year, when they heard about All-Comers. They saw it as something they could all do together. Damian was a spectator on this day, though he plans to run as soon as he gets over a minor injury.

``It's good role modeling for a kid to see the parents run, to see the adults get out there and exercise,'' Ruby Coleman said. ``It brings the whole family out to support each other.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Coach Joan Brdam, far left, trains children on how to warm up before an All-Comers track meet at Birmingham High School.

(2 -- color) The Coleman family, with, from left, father Damian, Jeremiah, Tatiana and mother Ruby, is one of many families that run in the All-Comers meets.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News