SPORTS DEATHS RAISE ISSUES OF KIDS' SAFETY : RECENT DEATHS.

Byline: Mary F. Pols Daily News Staff Writer

It almost seems as if there is a hex on Southern California's athletic fields.

A young baseball star dies trying to catch a pop fly, another athlete is felled by a flying discus and a pole-vaulter slips off the thick padding that was supposed to keep him safe, hits his head and never wakes up.

Although sports officials plan to investigate these deaths - three moments of athletic grace gone terribly awry, linked by a shockingly short period of 12 days from April 22 to Sunday - they say they are simply unfortunate coincidences.

But in what is developing into California high school sports' most dangerous year ever - two more students, one from Reseda, one from San Diego, died earlier in the season, both from head injuries on the football field - it's hard for some to not draw meaning from the fluke-like series of disasters.

``I think these are just accidents, and I think it is a coincidence,'' said Birmingham High School track coach Scott King. ``But it seems like they are like the warnings we get in life that maybe we need to take more caution.''

Because of 16-year-old Kriston Palomo, who suffered what proved to be a fatal injury Saturday while making a valiant attempt to catch a fly ball and colliding with the batter, baseball practice was a little different at Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills on Monday. Coach Scott Drootin sat his boys down for a chat about being careful and avoiding collisions with other players.

Because of Heath Taylor, 17, the Hart High School pole-vaulter who died from injuries suffered in practice at the Newhall school April 29 and was eulogized Monday in a tender memorial service, practice at Taft High School took on a whole new flavor.

Taft pole-vaulter Eric Gross, 16, was counting up the number of times he fell off the mat last week (five). Camron Shimy, captain of the seven-member Taft team, found himself being a little more solicitous of his teammates' safety. And Coach Mel Hein stood watching his athletes with a newfound fear.

``It's like a black cloud over my head,'' Hein said. ``I feel sorry for the parents, coaches and teams who have lost those kids. I don't think I could continue to coach at all if (a student athlete died).''

Sports-related deaths should be on the decline; new and improved equipment designed to protect athletes is in widespread use. Arguably, more caution is taken on athletic courts and fields in the litigious 1990s than ever before.

But officials grappling to explain the eerie coincidences rocking Southern California point to the increasing popularity of sports. An estimated 520,000 California kids are on school teams this year, according to the California Interscholastic Federation.

``I think one of the main reasons is that more kids are interested in sports these days,'' Drootin said. ``There are just more kids out there.''

In addition, seasons last longer and there are more varieties of sports to play.

``In baseball, instead of playing 20 games a year, they might play 60 or more,'' said King, head coach of Van Nuys' Birmingham High's track and field team. ``If you are playing that many more games, your chances of injury are much higher.''

Furthermore, there is a shortage of well-trained coaches.

``Principals almost have to beg and plead to get people to coach sports that they aren't even qualified to be coaching,'' King said.

Jack Hayes, CIF executive director, concedes that the shortage is a problem.

``There is a concern statewide about finding coaches for all the activities,'' Hayes said.

Could the young athletes who died in the past two weeks have been pushing too hard for personal achievement, lured by the enticing world of professional sports and the ever-growing urgency to excel at a young age in sports?

Hayes doesn't think so.

``I'd be surprised if there was a relationship there,'' Hayes said. ``Kids in athletics have played hard for generations.''

The CIF has asked for incident reports in all three cases. They will be reviewed by the local Athletic Injury Committee and the state CIF's Health and Safety Committee. They also will be forwarded to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Hayes said he wasn't ready to discuss whether high school pole-vaulting - one of the most dangerous sports - might be discontinued in California as it has in other states.

The message Hayes and others wanted to communicate Monday was that, despite the recent tragedies, high school sports are still quite safe. Dr. Fred Mueller of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, which traces sports-related deaths, said the number of kids who die on the playing field is still tiny in comparison to how many are participating.

``It is not low if you are that one kid or the one family or the community where it happened,'' Mueller said. ``They take these things hard. But playing sports is safer than going out and driving around town, definitely.''

Even as some kids admitted that the spate of recent incidents caused them to contemplate their own mortality, it is likely that it will be the sport - not the fear - that will continue to rule on the field.

``Every kid thinks he's invincible,'' said 15-year-old Ari Avishon as he watched his Taft teammates soar over a 13-foot-6-inch-high bar in the pole vault. ``Death doesn't cross my mind. I'm thinking about making the height.''

Here's a look at recent sports related deaths in the Southland:

SUNDAY: Kriston Palomo, 16, dies after being hit in the throat with the bill of a batting helmet while playing for St. Bernard Roman Catholic High School in Playa del Rey on Saturday.

TUESDAY: Heath Taylor, 17, dies after slipping off the mat at Hart High School in Newhall during pole-vaulting practice.

APRIL 22: Craig Kelford III is struck by a flying discus during a track-and-field meet in North Torrance. The Palos Verdes Peninsula High School student was a 15-year-old sophomore.

SEPTEMBER 12, 1996: Eric Hoggatt, 18, of Reseda High School went to bed after playing a hard football game and died of a massive brain hemorrhage in his sleep.

SEPTEMBER 20, 1996: Adrian Taufaasau, a Coronado High football player in San Diego County, died after sustaining a head injury in a game.

Sports-related deaths

The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at UNC-Chapel Hill tracks sports-related scholastic deaths nationally. The following breakdown shows deaths between 1982 and 1994 with the estimated number of students participating in each sport annually.

Football: 52 deaths. 1.5 million high school and junior high students play football nationwide every year.

Track and Field: 12 deaths, 9 of them in pole vaulting. 750,000 students (male and female) participate annually.

Baseball: 4 deaths. 400,000 males play baseball each year.

Soccer: 4 deaths. 325,000 males and females play soccer annually.

Basketball: 0 deaths. between the sexes, about 850,000 students play basketball every year.

Source: National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at UNC-Chapel Hill.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, chart, box

PHOTO (color) Two people embrace Monday at a funeral at Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary in Newhall for pole-vaulter Heath Taylor.

David R. Crane/Daily News

Box: Recent deaths (see text)

Chart: Sports related deaths (see text)