Irvine Invitational : Tully’s 19-2 Vault Is Best American Showing This Year

Mike Tully jumped 19-feet 2-inches in the pole vault, the best American mark this year at the men’s portion of the Irvine Invitational Sunday at UC Irvine.

With a strong tail wind at his back, Tully, of the Pacific Coast Club, cleared 19-2 on his third attempt. The mark was a half-inch higher than his previous best, 19-1 1/2, set last June at Irvine.

Tully, who was a UCLA All-American, missed three tries at 19-4 3/4.

Tully, 31, 1984 Olympic silver medalist, is the No. 2 all-time U.S. performer behind Joe Dial, the U.S. record holder at 19-6 1/2. Dial, formerly of Oklahoma State, has vaulted higher than 19-2 seven times. Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union is the world-record holder at 19-9.

“I’m still not 100% fit yet,” Tully said. “I got in some good jumps, but I need to work on getting my steps down. I want to build some consistency in my take off.

“My personal best is 19-4 in practice. My goal is to just go as high as in practice.”

Asked what he thought of the windy conditions, Tully, who lives in Encino, said: “It (the wind) was really too strong today.”

Doug Wicks of the Stars and Stripes Track Club was second at 18-3, equaling the qualifying mark for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

In final heat of the 100-meters, a star-studded field included Great Britain’s Daley Thompson, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon; Tonie Campbell, ranked second in the world last year in the 110-meter hurdles, and Ghana’s Rex Brobby, a 1984 Olympian in the 100-meters.

At the gun, Thompson got a good start but by 70 meters, Rex Brown of the San Diego Track Club took the lead, and eventually won in 10.36.

Oliver Daniels was second at 10.40; Campbell was third at 10.46; Brobby was fourth at 10.46 and Thompson was fifth at 10.61.

Brown, 24, and a former Ocean View High standout, said: “Well, it’s definitely a confidence booster. I pulled a hamstring about five or six weeks ago, so I’m just trying to work on smoothing things out. I’m happy.”

As was Campbell, who works out on the Irvine track twice weekly along with many other top athletes including Thompson.

“This was a ball, I just had a ball” said a grinning Campbell. His career best is 13.19 in the 110 hurdles. and 10.7 in the 100 meters.

“Speedwork like this is definitely what I needed. Though, I’ll tell you, this was a lot easier than the hurdles.

“I had fun. I guess I have the bragging rights for next week’s workout.”

Finnish javelin thrower Seppo Raty, winner of the event at the World Championships at Rome last year, won the event at 257-6. Raty’s career best is 274-1.

Finland’s Yki Laine was second at 246-5.

In the 110-meter hurdles, former UCLA and Mission Viejo High star Steve Kerho won in 13.57. The time surpassed the U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 13.81, but does not count because it was wind-aided.

Kerho, of the Los Angeles Track Club, barely outran Showtime’s James McRaney, who placed second in 13.61.

Alonzo Babers, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist at 400 meters, outran a strong field to win the event in 46.91. It was far from his best time of 44.27.

The U.S. Olympic Trial qualifying standard is 45.82.

“With the wind and stuff, I wanted to get a low 46,” said Babers, an Air Force pilot. “It’s only my second race of the year. Hopefully, it’ll come around.”

In the men’s steeplechase, former BYU standout Steve Shipman broke away from the pack after the first 200 meters and held a 10-second lead through most of the race.

The race for second was more heated as Irvine’s Pete Vicencio and Greg Houlgate battled for position with Peter Quint of Athletes in Action.

Shipman, of the Maccabi Track Club, won easily in 8:45.50. Vicencio put on final finishing kick to finish second at 9:04.57. Quint was third (9:10.41) and Kent White of Australia was fourth (9:15.81).

In the 1,500 meters, Mexico’s Hector Perez, a former standout at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, took a quick lead, bringing the pack through 400 meters in 59.2, and 800 meters in 2:06, before winning in 3:47.06.

Irvine’s Ricky Martinez was second at 3:51.57, and Mike Rogers, representing Athletes in Action, outkicked seven runners in the final lap to move from 10th to 3rd (3:52.46).

Irvine’s Richard Graves had hoped to meet the 13:57 NCAA qualifying standard in the 5,000-meters Saturday. Graves, who missed that mark by two seconds in an earlier 5,000 this season, ran the first 1,600 meters on pace (4:25).

But a strong wind down the backstretch proved too much for Graves, who won in 14:36.79.

Irvine sophomore Mike Morales, a former discus thrower at Garden Grove High School, placed fifth at 188-3. Morales’ former best was 182-2.

Jay Hilbert won the hammer at 205-8.