SOME TOUGH TEENS; CADETS VIE FOR TITLE OF DURABILITY.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

Christine Nakano was gulping air.

Just seconds earlier she had completed a difficult obstacle course Friday at Monroe High School during the first-ever Toughest Cadet Alive competition among 15 boys and 15 girls from the Los Angeles Unified School District's five Police Academy magnet schools.

Christine scaled a 6-foot wooden fence, climbed over a smaller wire fence, scrambled over a bar, ran through a maze, clambered through a window-like gap in a wall, hopped over several short obstacles, rounded two posts, pulled herself up a rope, maneuvered a descending set of monkey bars and dragged a heavy sack dummy 25 feet before sprinting to the finish.

``It was intense,'' said the 16-year-old girl as she recovered her breath.

Other girls and boys failed to finish the obstacle course, finding it impossible to get up the rope.

Was she the toughest cadet alive? ``We won't know till the end of the day,'' said Christine, a North Hills resident who is a junior at Monroe.

The announcement of a winner would come only after other physical tests - the 50-yard dash, push-ups, two minutes of jumping rope, a stretching test and a one-mile run.

For 45 minutes in the morning, the 30 students also had to write persuasive essays on one of six statements about the American justice system.

And at the end of the day, Christine knew: She won the trophy for the toughest female cadet.

Mario Flores of San Pedro High School was toughest male cadet and Monroe took the trophy for the toughest team.

Friday's event was meant ``to promote excellence in academics and physical ability and to set up a competing environment for the best'' students in the program, said Roberta Weintraub, executive director of the 3-year-old Los Angeles Police Academy Magnet Schools.

``We figure 40 percent from the neck up, 60 percent from the neck down,'' said Joan Martin, a consultant to the program.

``Wonderful opportunity,'' said Capt. Earl Paysinger, Commanding Officer of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education division of the Los Angeles Police Department. ``Helps build character, teamwork and responsibility.''

Each of the five high schools in the program - Monroe, Reseda, San Pedro, Dorsey and Wilson - sent three girls and three boys.

The competition invigorated Angel Yanez, 14, of Reseda. ``I feel like doing it again,'' he said after it ended.

A few parents came to encourage their children. ``They're so hard on themselves,'' said Maggie Baccarini of Reseda, watching her daughter, Heather.

The competition was one more good experience in a program that has given her daughter renewed drive, she said. ``She's definitely got that since she joined,'' Baccarini said.

``It's made her more of a leader,'' said the girl's father, Tony Baccarini.

Heather is in her first year in the program, which only started at Reseda High this school year. ``I want to be a homicide detective,'' she said.

Christine Nakano looks forward to working in forensics, either gathering clues at crime scenes or examining corpses. ``It's interesting how a dead body can conceal so much evidence,'' she said.

Her mother also came to cheer her on. ``She was nervous'' in the morning, Cathy Nakano said of Christine. ``I was nervous for her, too.''

But the nerves turned to determination and the determination paid off.

Before being named toughest female cadet, Nakano won third place in the essay competition and a medallion for being the top female cadet from Monroe High.

But she seemed just as pleased to have met a new group of fellow cadets.

``It's not about killing the other team, it's about making friends,'' she said.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1) LAPD Officer Manuel Valladres gives Wilson High cadet Natividad Gonzalez a reassuring hug after she was unable to complete the grueling obstacle course.

(2) Janet Beltran of San Pedro High gives every ounce of effort climbing a 6-foot wall.

(3) Monroe High School cadet Christian Hurtado zips through the obstacle course's tires.

John Lazar/Daily News