Fullerton’s Carlson Still Seeking Right Approach

Kevin Carlson, a sophomore at Fullerton College, isn’t bothered too much by the fact that his best high jump came when he was in high school.

When he was a junior at Katella in 1991, Carlson became the first Orange County high school athlete to jump more than seven feet. He won the State title as a junior with a leap of seven feet. He got to 7-1 as a senior in the State meet, but Avery Anderson of Riverside North went 7-2 to win the title.

But Carlson has yet to get any higher than 6-10 3/4 at Fullerton College.

“I would like to get higher than 7-1,” Carlson said. “Just to improve on what I have done would be a great thrill for me.”

Carlson’s best jump at Fullerton came Friday when he cleared 6-10 3/4 to win the Mt. San Antonio Invitational.

He also had a couple of near misses at 7-1, according to Fullerton Coach Jim Kiefer.

“If we can get his approach grooved,” Kiefer said, “he could get over 7-2 or even 7-3.”

Fullerton is at the Azusa Pacific Invitational Saturday, then starts Orange Empire Conference preliminaries the following week.

Carlson said he hopes to advance to the May 20-21 State meet at Cerritos College. His jumps of 7 feet and 7-1 in high school were at Cerritos.

Kiefer said he has been impressed with Carlson’s progress, considering he came out the day after basketball season ended. Carlson, a 6-5 forward, averaged 14 points and was the co-most valuable player, with Bobby Natoya, of the Hornets’ basketball team. He averaged 17 points as a freshman and finished his career with 1,044, ninth-best in Fullerton history.

“I think it helped coming right from basketball,” Carlson said. “I certainly was in shape and my legs were ready because I’d been jumping all season.”

But Carlson’s current success is a marked difference from the way his jumping career started at Fullerton.

He graduated from Katella in 1991 and came to Fullerton. He decided to take a year off from basketball and work on his high jump. But he had trouble making the adjustment to college-level jumping and struggled.

By the end of the year, he couldn’t clear 6-6.

“I used to start at 6-6 in high school,” he said.

He took a year off from jumping and concentrated on basketball.

“I had some problems with technique changes,” Carlson said, “but now I have things going in the right direction.”

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Signings: Tes Whitlock of Saddleback and LeAnn Kazmer of Orange Coast, the most prominent male and female basketball players in Orange County last season, have signed with four-year colleges.

Whitlock, who averaged 21 points and four rebounds signed with Hawaii. He set the Saddleback single-season mark for three-pointers with 74. Whitlock came to Saddleback from Loara High School and Arizona State.

Kazmer, a 5-11 forward from Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wis., averaged 20 points and 10.8 rebounds, both tops in the Orange Empire Conference.

Kazmer had 649 points and 342 rebounds, both OCC single-season bests. Kazmer set the all-time OCC rebounding record (563) and is second in points (973).

Monique Sweet, a sophomore guard from Estancia, said she plans to play at Chapman next fall. Sweet, who was co-captain with Kazmer, averaged eight points, four rebounds and two assists.

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Unexpected title chase: When the season started, Cypress baseball Coach Scott Pickler had limited expectations for his team.

He said he figured his team to be a little better than average and contend for a playoff spot at best. But Pickler’s team is in the running for much more than a playoff spot with eight games left in the 24-game Orange Empire Conference schedule.

The Chargers (26-9) are tied with Riverside (25-7) for first place with 12-4 records.

“It’s chemistry,” Pickler said. “We have only 12 position players, which is fewer than we have ever had, but it seems to be working so far.”

Pitching is another major reason Cypress is in the race. Aaron France is 8-2, Josh Belovsky is 6-1, Matt Hendren is 7-2 and Rob Crabtree is 3-2. Crabtree has been bothered by a sore arm and missed his last two starts.

“Our main goal is to get into the playoffs,” Pickler said. “But I like the position we’re in. We could get on a roll and win a few. But we could also lose a few, that’s how it is in this conference.”