There are trials, and then there are trials, for Beijing-bound high-jumpers

EUGENE, Ore. – All three female high jumpers who made the Beijing Olympic team Friday have California connections – and unusual twists to their triumphs.

Trials winner Chaunte Howard, a 2002 graduate of North High in Riverside, gave birth to a daughter less than a year ago and almost retired. She cleared 6 feet, 5 1/2 inches.

Runner-up Amy Acuff, a 1997 UCLA graduate, qualified for her fourth Olympic team and called it her most stressful. She cleared 6-4.

Third-place finisher Sharon Day, who recently finished her senior year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, had to wait for another competitor to miss before she clinched an Olympic berth. Day cleared 6 feet, 3 1/4 inches, short of the 6 feet, 4 3/4 inches she cleared at the Big West meet in May but good enough – thanks to fewer misses than Deirdre Mullen – for her first trip to the Olympics.

Howard returned to training eight weeks after having her baby and her comeback was anything but smooth.

“This is the first year I’ve really had to rely on the people around me to encourage me, because I kept wanting to quit,” said Howard, who lives in Decatur, Ga.

“The hardest part was getting my body back in shape. One day it all started to click again and it has all gone well from there.”

Acuff, who will be 33 on July 14, is a six-time U.S. champion. She finished tied for 20th in qualifying at the 1996 Games, tied for 17th in qualifying at the 2000 Games and fourth at Athens.

“I don’t know if I will make it to 2012. I am going to put all my eggs in this basket,” said Acuff, who lives in Isleton, in Sacramento County.

“I just am so happy and relieved. Now I can relax and focus on the Olympics, which is always less stressful than the Olympic trials.”

Day, a 2002 graduate of Costa Mesa High, was a seven-time all-America for the Mustangs. Her Beijing hopes came down to tiebreakers after she missed three times at 6 feet, 4 inches and Mullen missed once, passed twice and then tried to clear 6 feet, 4 3/4 inches.

Mullen missed twice at that height and because she had missed once more than Day at two lower heights, Day got third place.

“I was definitely crying a little bit,” Day said. “I was sitting next to a friend of mine and was like, ‘Please hold my hand on Deirdre’s last jump.’ ”

Day described her success as “kind of like a dream. I knew all the other great competitors were out there working hard. I had to keep that in the back of my mind and try to get that third spot.”

 helene.elliott@latimes.com