PREP TRACK; JUMPING INTO IT WYGANT PLANS A FAST START.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

Lisa Wygant will open the season at full speed in the San Diego Invitational indoor track meet Saturday. The Camarillo High senior will compete in the high jump, 55-meter hurdles and the mile relay.

Multiple events are nothing new for Wygant, who won the triple jump, high jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter low hurdles in the Pacific View League finals last May. She also competed in four events - the maximum allowed by interscholastic rules - in the majority of the Scorpions' dual meets.

``I have no idea what I can do right now,'' Wygant said. ``I am just into doing track and where I ended last season.''

For the last two years in the high jump, the end has been at the state meet.

This season, Wygant will emphasize the high jump and triple jump over the hurdles. She believes her strengths lie in the jumps and has greater room for improvement than in the barriers.

Wygant has cleared 5-foot-6 in the high jump and holds the school triple-jump record at 35-8 3/4. In the high jump Saturday, Wygant will be looking to improve on her fifth-place finish of 5-2 in the 1999 San Diego meet.

``The approach is not too different,'' Wygant said. ``The difference is getting used to the wooden surface.''

In the mile relay, Wygant will team with Marianne Gerry, Angela Mejia and Rachelle Avery. Gerry will also run in the 880 yards.

Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa, who placed fourth in the 100 and eighth in the long jump in the state meet last season, will compete in the 55 meters and the long jump in San Diego.

In the 55 meters, Carroll will run against a field which includes Lashinda Demus of Long Beach Wilson, the national high school girls' athlete of the year, and Tracee Thomas of J.W. North, the third-place finisher in the 1999 state meet.

The long jump field will feature Dana Bethel of Mission Viejo and Tiffany Jones of Eisenhower, who finished second and fifth in last year's state championships.

Thousand Oaks resident Robert Kubler, a junior who finished 11th in the Southern Section Division IV cross country final in November, will compete in the boys' 2-mile. Kubler, who attends Crespi, is the twin of 1999 state Division V cross country champion Tom Kubler of Viewpoint.

Camarillo's Chad Smith, a Southern Section Divison I finalist in the high jump, and Nicole Richardson, the defending Pacific View League 3,200-meter champion who will run in the mile, are other area entrants.

ON TRACK

--What: San Diego Invitational

--Where: San Diego Sports Arena 

--When: Saturday, 11:30 a.m.

--The scoop: The high school competition will feature over 2,000 athletes. The invitational portion, which begins at 6:30 p.m., has produced 42 world and American records in 23 years, more than any other indoor track meet.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: (color) Camarillo's Lisa Wygant will compete in three events Saturday at the San Diego Invitational.

Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News

Box: ON TRACK (see text)