Parker Sets Mark With Vault of 16-1

When Tom Parker of Notre Dame High placed a disappointing fifth in the pole vault at the Arcadia Invitational last week, many people thought he had succumbed to the pressure of a big meet.

“People were asking me what happened,” Parker said earlier this week. “A lot of the guys were saying, what’s going on? You jump a personal best in a dual meet and then you bomb at a big invitational.”

Parker, the runner-up in last year’s state championships, knew that a lack of training because of two serious injuries, not an overabundance of nervous energy, was responsible for his dismal 15-6 effort at Arcadia.

“I’m not consistent in my jumping right now,” he said. “My speed is off and I’m not as strong as I’d like to be.”

Parker went a long way toward regaining his form Saturday as he set a meet record of 16-1 to win the event at the Sundevil Invitational at Poway High.

“I’ve just got to be patient. It’s going to take two or three weeks of good training to get where I want to be,” he said.

The Knight senior struggled early in the competition. It took him three attempts to clear his opening height of 15-0 and two tries to make 15-7, but he soared over the winning height with several inches to spare.

“That was a big jump for me,” Parker said. “I figured I had to make that height on my first jump if I wanted to win.”

Parker, who has a personal best of 16-2 3/4, trailed Matt Warwick of Hesperia on the basis of fewer misses when the bar was raised to 16-1. Warwick had only missed once at 15-0 and Parker had missed twice.

After Warwick missed three times at 16-1, the bar was raised to 16-7 3/4 for Parker. He went under the bar on his first jump and knocked it off with his feet on his last two attempts.

“I wanted to use a stiffer pole at 16-7,” Parker said. “But my coach didn’t want me to. I felt like I was mushing out at 16-7.”

Parker, who has cleared 16 feet in five meets this season, was named male field athlete of the meet for his performance.

Sophomore Crissy Mills of Campbell Hall won honors as girls’ field athlete of the meet with a winning effort of 5-8 in the high jump.

It was the third time this season that Mills, the defending Southern Section 1-A Division champion, has cleared 5-8.

Morgan Bateman of Crescenta Valley and Mark Senior of Mt. Miguel High in San Diego staged a superb dual in the 800 meters.

Senior, who won the 800 (1:53.09) in the open division at the Arcadia Invitational, led at the 400- (53.2) and 600-meter marks (1:22.7). Bateman, who placed third in last year’s Southern Section 4-A championships as a sophomore, tried to surge past Senior with 100 meters remaining but faded instead.

Senior won with a 1:53.17 effort and Bateman placed second in 1:53.99. Joe Devine of Saugus, who ran a personal best of 4:15.9 for 1,600 meters at Arcadia, lowered his 800 best to 1:55.89 and finished third.

Ian Alsen of Granada Hills, the national leader in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, was scheduled to run the 800, but instead opted for the 1,600-meter leg of the Highlander distance medley relay.

Although he was suffering from soreness in his legs, Alsen brought Granada Hills from 13th to fourth with a 4:10.2 anchor leg. Russell White of Crespi and the Thousand Oaks boys’ 4 x 800-meter relay team were also victorious.

White, the runner-up in the triple jump in last year’s state championships, won his specialty with a 47-4 1/2 effort and added a victory in the Division II 100 meters. His time of 11.07 was deceiving because it was run into a 1.89 meter per second headwind.

Thousand Oaks, the national leader in the distance medley relay, ran 7:59.61 to win the 3,200-meter event. The Lancers’ foursome consisted of Mike Bogeyavac (2:01.9), Mike Williamson (2:01.2), Dave Patterson (2:00.6) and Paul McCarter (1:55.4).