Inevitable Delayed, but Singbandith Wins Triple Jump

Phouphet Singbandith of Magnolia High School arrived at Mt. San Antonio College at 8 a.m. Saturday expecting to begin triple-jumping as scheduled at noon.

But the Turner Broadcasting System, the cable TV network that was televising the Mt. SAC Relays, had other ideas.

The network asked for, and got, a late scheduling change, which pushed back the start of the boys’ invitational triple jump to about 3 p.m.

So while the fans watched Larry Myricks win the open long jump, held at noon, in a wind-aided 28-feet 5-inches, Singbandith found himself with time on his hands. And, to make matters worse, Singbandith had injured his left knee slightly in a dual meet Thursday and wore a brace for support.

It was hardly the best of circumstances for Singbandith, who was intent on breaking the Orange County record of 50-3 1/2, set by Ken Williams of Troy in 1982. He came into the meet with a best of 50-3, the second-best jump by a county athlete ever.

As it turned out, Singbandith is as unflappable as he is good at hopping, skipping and jumping.

He didn’t get the record, but he won the event by jumping 49-10 1/2. Lenny McGill of Orange Glen was second with a mark of 49-2 1/2. Russell White of Crespi, the all-time state career rushing leader, was third with a 47-7 1/2 jump.

Singbandith said neither the time delay nor the sore knee bothered him.

“Waiting was probably better for me,” he said “I got a chance to rest my knee.”

And even if he did break Williams’ record, the wind would have been over the allowable 2.0 meters per second. It was 2.47 meters per second on his winning jump.

Singbandith said he was just happy to win.

He was the only Orange County athlete to win an event in the two-day high school portion of the meet.

Others came close, but none closer than Eddie Lavelle of Corona del Mar.

With 500 meters left in the boys’ invitational 1,500 meters, Lavelle began moving toward the front of the pack.

The leaders had gone through the 400 in a swift 61.1 seconds and the 800 in 2:06.4 and Lavelle, who had been running not-so-comfortably in the pack, figured it was time to head into the lead.

He was passed shortly thereafter by Louie Quintena of Arroyo Grande, but got back into the lead and looked strong going into the final 100 meters.

But Francis O’Neill of San Pasqual, who had led for the first half of the race, rocketed past in the final 60 meters for the victory.

O’Neill’s winning time of 3:53.78 is the best in the nation this season. Lavelle, who finished second, ran 3:54.27, the No. 2 time in the country this year.

“I tried to hold on as long as I could,” Lavelle said. “O’Neill had a good kick today.”

It was a personal best for Lavelle, who rebounded from a seventh-place finish in the 3,000 Friday.

“I didn’t run too well last night,” he said. “I’m more happy with how I reacted to the competition today.”

That didn’t include dodging other runners in the close pack early in the race, however. Lavelle had two spike wounds, one on each shin, to show for his time spent in the pack.

“War wounds,” he called them.

Doug Nichols of Edison found the going equally as difficult in the boys’ invitational 800.

He ran most of the first lap, covered in 54.96 by Mike McLean of Edmonton, Canada, out in the third lane.

He settled into position on the second lap and finished third behind McLean and Arturo Espejel of Mexico.

McLean ran 1:52.34 and Espejel and Nichols were each timed in 1:52.54.

Nichols’ time is the best in the state this season.

Not bad for a guy who ran just his fourth 800 on Saturday. Nichols had been a 400 runner until moving up in distance this season.

Mt. SAC Notes

Brent Noon of Fallbrook won the shotput with a throw of 66-feet-3 1/2 inches. Among those Noon--the national leader this season with a throw of 68-1 3/4--defeated was Greg Thurston of Edison, who threw 55-9 1/2 for fourth place. Jerry Gillespie of Westminster was fifth with a toss of 54-10. . . . Eric Whitcomb of Valencia, who had competed in a number of relay events Friday at Mt. SAC, took third in the pole vault Saturday with a leap of 14-6. Jason Henlon of Lynwood was the winner, going 15-0. . . . Walnut, aided by a strong 1,600-meter leg by Scott Hempel, won the distance medley relay in 10:19.3. San Pasqual, with Francis O’Neill anchoring, was second in 10:25.0. El Modena, with Joe Komarinski running the final leg, was third in 10:26.6. . . . Corona del Mar was third in its heat of the shuttle hurdles relay. . . . Dariel Whipple of Western was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20-11. Robert Anderson of L.A. Jordan won by jumping 22-0 3/4. . . . Edison finished fourth in the 4 x 800 relay in 8:00.69. Eisenhower won in a swift 7:49.37. . . . Canyon was third in the 4 x 200 relay with a time of 1:31.58.