Track : Parker Hit His Peak a Day Late

There was no more shocking performance than Tom Parker’s at the CIF state track championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk last Friday.

The Notre Dame senior, runner-up in last year’s state meet, was a co-favorite with Tom Richards of San Marcos for this year’s crown, but did not clear a height in the qualifying round, missing three attempts at 14 feet, 8 inches. He rebounded, however, with a personal-best 16-9 1/2 in an all-comers meet at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

“I’m not going to blame it on the wind or anything like that,” Parker said of his disastrous results in the state meet. “I just blew it.”

Parker planned to start jumping at 15 feet but entered the competition at 14-8 when it became apparent that that height would qualify for the final.

“You hear that number, 14-8, and you figure, I can make this easy,” said Parker, who has cleared 16 feet in 10 meets this season.

After missing twice at 14-8, the usually unflappable Parker said the pressure got to him on his third attempt.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” he said. “I was really nervous and it seemed like I forgot everything I had learned.”

But Parker vaulted like a seasoned veteran at Northridge, improving his previous best by a half-inch and soothing some of the pain from Friday.

“Everything is fine,” he said. “I’m still disappointed in myself, but I think I can go higher. My 16-9 1/2 was a crappy jump technically, but I still had six or seven inches on the bar.

Sacramento-bound: Parker and Ian Alsen of Granada Hills High will compete in the Golden West Invitational at Cal State Sacramento on Saturday. The meet showcases many of the nation’s top high school seniors.

Parker will compete against Matt Warwick of Hesperia (17-0 3/4 personal best), Todd Lehman (16-6) of Phoenix and Walter Mooneyhan (16-4) of Heber Springs, Ark.

Alsen will run in the 3,000 meters against a field that includes Reggie Williams of River City High in West Sacramento, winner of the 1,600 and 3,200 meters at the state championships.

Alsen did not compete in the state meet because he was academically ineligible. He has run well in invitationals, though, winning the 1,500 in a state-leading 3:50.0 at the Great Southwest Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., two weeks ago.

Alsen defeated Williams in the 3,200 at the Arcadia Invitational in April, running a personal-best 8:59.54, which led the nation at the time.

Pepsi aftermath: Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge and Alsen both ran in the Pepsi Invitational at UCLA on Sunday.

Arreola placed fourth in the women’s 1,500 meters in 4:15.39 and Alsen placed eighth in the men’s mile in 4:12.1.

Neither time was a personal best, but Northridge Coach Don Strametz and Granada Hills assistant Bob Augello were not complaining about their proteges’ performances.

“Darcy didn’t get her proper warm-up and it showed during the race,” Strametz said of Arreola, who missed her personal best by .04 seconds. “She was tighter than a drum, especially in the last lap. She was OK through the 1,100 (3:21), but the last 300 took her 54 seconds instead of the 50 we hoped for.”

Alsen, too, faded in the last lap after a sizzling early pace. After running the first 800 in 1:59.7, the Highlander senior completed the 1,200 in 3:05.1 and struggled through a 67-second last lap.

Long summer: Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa High won state titles in the 100 and 200 meters Saturday, but her season is far from finished.

The Spartan junior will run in The Athletics Congress Junior championships in Tallahassee, Fla., June 24-25; the national age-group championships at Mt. San Antonio College, July 2-3 and the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, July 15-23.

Rio Mesa Coach Brian FitzGerald concedes that Burnham has little chance of qualifying for the U. S. Olympic team but says she has a good shot at making the national junior team that will compete in the 2nd World Junior Track Championships in Sudbury, Canada, July 26-31.

Burnham, 16, must place in the top two in either the 100 or 200 at the junior nationals to make the national team. She could qualify for the 400 relay with a top-four finish in the 100.