NOTES: WILLIAMS GLIDES INTO FINAL.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

Eagle Rock junior Rhuben Williams knows his future in the shot put lies with the spin technique but for now the glide is paying dividends.

Williams, the nation's top sophomore shot putter last season, switched to the spin at the start of the season but two weeks ago he went back to the glide and has posted lifetime bests in his last two outings.

Friday night, the two-time City champion threw 61 feet, 4-3/4 inches in the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium for the No. 2 qualifying mark for today's final. In the City championships last Thursday, Williams won by nearly nine feet with a put of 60-9-1/4 to break 60 feet for the first time this season.

``Ultimately, I will need to switch to the spin, but I was just missing the positions,'' Williams said.

The 5-10, 216-pounder, a fullback on the Eagles' football team who has never been beaten by City competition in the shot put or discus, also qualified for the discus final with a lifetime best 170-7. It was the first time, Williams had reached the final in either event.

Desert storm: Lashinda Demus, a Palmdale resident who attends Long Beach Wilson, was the top qualifier in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

In the 100 hurdles, Demus edged Dana Bethel of Mission Viejo, 13.83 to 13.87, the Nos. 2 and 3 times in the nation this season. In the 300 hurdles, Demus, who became the No. 3 performer of all-time at 40.4 in the Southern Section Masters Meet, was a heat winner in 41.79.

Top of the class: Tracee Thomas of Riverside North set a freshman national 200 record with a heat victory of 23.28 but her team's team title hopes suffered a setback when it was disqualified in the 400 relay.

Jill Camarena of San Lorenzo posted a national-leading mark of 50-11-1/4 in the shot put and the San Lorenzo girls' clocked in the 400 relay for a yearly-leading national best. Both marks rank as 11th best on the all-time high school list.

Sophomore blues: Grant's Alexis Weatherspoon, the City 100 and 200 champion, ran lifetime bests and school-records of 11.93 and 24.24 but did not advance to the finals. The sophomore was the 10th fastest in the 100 with nine advancing to the final and 11th in the 200.

Cleveland sophomore Schquay Brignac, the two-time City high jump champion who finished fourth in last year's state meet and has cleared 5-10 as an eighth grader, was a nonqualifier at 5-2.