Track / Mal Florence : Tully Aims for New Highlights in Pole Vault

Mike Tully has been one of the most consistent pole vaulters in the world for several years in an event in which consistency is uncommon. He was an NCAA champion at UCLA, a two-time World Cup winner, a former world indoor record-holder and, last summer, the silver medalist in the Los Angeles Olympics.

It was a season in which he also established an American outdoor record of 19 feet 1 inch.

Tully, 28, stayed away from vaulting for 18 months after the 1980 Olympics, the year of the U.S. boycott.

Then he planned his comeback carefully, peaking for the Olympic Games.

Tully, 28, says he can jump two, three or four inches inches higher than 19-1. But he would still fall just short of the world record of 19-5 3/4 held by Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union.

Asked at a track writers’ luncheon Monday if he’s capable of taking the record away from Bubka, Tully said:

“I’m capable of jumping that high, but it’s a timing job. I’d have to be in the best shape of my life, run the fastest I’ve ever run, have the bar at a certain height and have certain weather conditions. Everything would have to be super perfect for me to do it.”

Tully said that Bubka isn’t a better technician than he is--not many vaulters are--but he conceded that the Soviet athlete is faster, and speed converts to higher heights.

So Tully is constantly working on his speed. He is jumping so well now that he plans to continue to be active through the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Tully, who’ll compete in the Mt. San Antonio Relays April 28, was asked if he could pinpoint one reason for his consistency over the years.

“I think it is because I competed on the gymnastics team in junior high school--tumbling, high bar and long horse,” he said. “You get a spatial awareness that carries over to the vaulting pole. That’s a reason why I make a lot of my third attempts.”

Tully said he has gone back to gymnastics training as sort of a hunch. He now works out at Cal State Northridge with other gymnasts.

“I’m trying to square my body at the the top of the bar instead of being crooked,” he said. “That way you an grind out a few more inches at the top.”

Tully is his own coach. He said he hasn’t had a coach since Tom Tellez, a former UCLA assistant, became Houston’s coach in 1976.

The blond-haired Tully is a part-time actor. He has appeared in movies and in some television series. A future career?

“The acting business is so unpredictable,” he said. “It’s a flip of the coin. Who knows?”

Right now he’s still a career vaulter.

UCLA Coach Bob Larsen said at the outset of the season that he thought his team was capable of winning most of its dual meets while not being a factor in the Pac-10 or NCAA championship meets.

His Bruins have exceeded his expectations. UCLA is 8-0 in dual meets and routed Oregon, 100-63, last Saturday at Eugene. It was the most points ever scored against the Ducks.

UCLA will be favored to beat USC in a concluding dual meet May 4 at Westwood. So there’s a possibility that the Bruins could win the dual meet championship of the United States, a title conferred by Track & Field News. Washington State is also contending for that honor.

The Bruins figure to be even stronger next year. Several quality athletes were redshirted this season, and Larsen has recruited two outstanding athletes--Hawthorne High sprinter Henry Thomas and Capistrano Valley weightman Brian Blutreich--and have an chance to sign a third in San Marcos pole vaulter Brandon Richards.

“We’ll be an NCAA contender next year,” Larsen said. “Remember, I said contender.”

UCLA’s Jackie Joyner, silver medalist in the Olympic heptathlon, is now concentrating on track after performing as a key member of the women’s basketball team.

She won three events Saturday in a meet against Cal Poly (SLO) and she considered it a relatively easy day.

The versatile J.J., as she is known, predicts that she’ll long jump 23-5 or better this season, break 13 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and score more than 7,000 points in the heptathlon.

She was reminded that Carol Lewis, sister of Carl Lewis, is now a heptathlete as well as a world-class long jumper.

“Carol Lewis doesn’t bother me as a heptathlete or in the long jump,” Joyner said. “I’ll just concentrate on J.J. and not worry about others.”

Track Notes

UCLA will play host to alumni and track clubs in a Saturday meet starting at 1 p.m. . . . The USC men’s team will compete in the El Paso Invitational Sunday. USC’s women will be home for a Friday twilight meet starting at 5 p.m.; the nonscoring meet features athletes from local clubs and colleges. . . . USC sprinter Antonio Manning recorded a 20.58 in the 200 meters--fastest time in the nation this year--in a three-way meet with California and Arizona State Saturday at Berkeley. His teammate, Darwin Cook, won the 100 in 10.29 and was second to Manning in the 200 with a personal-best time of 20.63. USC freshman half-miler Eric Schermerhorn was a luncheon guest. He said his goal this season is to clock 1:48.1 in the 800 and qualify for the NCAA meet. His father, Fred, was a standout miler at Compton Colege and Oklahoma State in the ‘50s. . . . Pam Page, who was involved in the photo finish of the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the U.S. Olympic trials last June, was asked to describe her reaction immediately after the race. “I thought I had won it,” she said. Page finished third to qualify for the Olympic team. She is confident she can break 13 seconds in the event this year. . . . Georgia Tech’s Antonio McKay, the bronze medalist in the 400 meters in the 1984 Olympics, says he is “burned out” and won’t compete outdoors this season. McKay, who also got a gold medal on the 1,600-meter relay team, says he has suffered from the flu and bronchitis and will redshirt this season to concentrate on his studies. . . . The Metro Conference community college preliminaries are scheduled for Wednesday at Santa Monica City College, with finals Saturday night. . . . Fred LaPlante, USC women’s coach, announced that he will be married to Monica Joyce, Ireland’s national record-holder in the mile, on May 17.