The other day, I spent five minutes in a mall parking lot waiting for a close spot to open up.

This occurs to me as I read about the week put in by Del Mar resident Nadine O'Connor. While I was burning gasoline rather than calories, she was busy setting three age-group records at the national indoor Masters track and field meet in Boston. In the women's 65 age group, that is.

For her efforts, O'Connor was named the USA Track and Field athlete of the week.

O'Connor set records on three consecutive days. On Friday, she 9 feet, 5 3/4 inches in the pole vault. on Saturday, she turned in a long jump of 13 feet, 6 3/4 inches. And on Sunday, she ran 200 meters in 30.63 seconds.

And I'm still working off that Cinnabon.

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Pro football

Oceanside High alumnus Se'e Poumele is on the training camp roster of the Katy Ruff Riders of a venture called the Intense Football League. The Texas team, which plays a brand of arena ball, starts training Tuesday. Poumele, a receiver at the University of Hawaii but a quarterback at Southwestern College, is listed as a receiver/quarterback.

This is not the same indoor league that includes the San Diego Shockwave. …

The Buffalo Bills' team Web site is the forum for general manager Marv Levy to push offensive lineman Duke Preston a bit. Levy says of the Mt. Carmel High graduate, who will fight to start at right guard: "It's time to find out."

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Spring training tour

Outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. is down to one obstacle in his formerly long-shot bid to break camp with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Gwynn, a Poway High/San Diego State product, or versatile Vinny Rottino will get the last roster spot. …

Wes Littleton's mechanical problems this spring cost him a spot. The right-hander out of Vista High was optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday after posting a 15.00 spring ERA. One wonders if the news Eric Gagne will start the season on the disabled list just might give Littleton a reprieve. …

Ramon Vazquez, once the Padres' starting shortstop, failed to make the Rangers as a backup and was reassigned to minor-league camp. …

Looks like the Padres won't be getting 22-year-old pitcher Joakim Soria back. He was snatched away in the Rule 5 draft, and the Kansas City Royals intend to keep him in their bullpen. …

It's not spring training in Japan anymore, and former Padre Greg LaRocca already has three regular-season home runs.

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College basketball

The Rocky Mountain News reports former San Diego State athletic director Mike Bohn is looking to his old Mountain West Conference stomping grounds for a new men's basketball coach at Colorado. Bohn is expected to hire Jeff Bzdelik away from Air Force. …

Mallorie Winn, who grew up in Oceanside but attended The Bishop's School, has been granted a sixth season of eligibility. A star at Pittsburgh, she missed the 2006-07 season because of a torn ACL. …

Stanford's Candice Wiggins, who grew up in Poway, was named a second-team All-American by The Associated Press.

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Links links

Cathedral Catholic High alumna Lucy McGovern gets some props in the student paper at Loyola-Chicago. McGovern has finished in the top five of a women's golf tournament six times this season. …

Encintas' MacKinzie Kline played in the pro-am events of the Kraft Nabisco Championship this week, which gave the Desert Sun newspaper reason to catch up with her story. Kline, who has overcome a congenital heart defect and other health problems to be a top junior golfer, will get to play in an actual LPGA event later this summer. …

San Diego State's Aaron Goldberg, a La Costa Canyon High alumnus, was named Mountain West Conference golfer of the month for March.

Contact staff writer Shaun O'Neill at (760) 740-3546 or soneill@nctimes.com.