Perry Keeps CSUN Men a Jump Ahead of the Field : Track: Freshman leaps 25 feet 6 1/4 inches to win a title as Matadors lead Division II championships.

Under the circumstances, it was not an unreasonable question.

Chris Perry of Cal State Northridge was leading the men’s long jump after three rounds in the NCAA Division II track and field championships at Armstrong Field on Thursday. And people wanted to know, “Is he a true freshman?”

The answer is yes and no.

Yes, this is the first year of collegiate competition for Perry, who graduated from Muir High in Pasadena last year. But no, he did not jump like a freshman Thursday.

Freshman are supposed to wilt in the heat of national championship competition, but Perry came from behind--not once but twice--to win the long jump and help Northridge take the lead after the first day of the three-day meet.

Powered by Perry and hammer throwers Paul Albers (third) and Dave Youngberg (fifth), the Matadors scored 20 points. Defending champion and favorite St. Augustine’s (N.C.) was second with 18, followed by UC Davis (15), Edinboro (Pa.) University (13), and Angelo State (Tex.) and Humboldt State (8 each).

In the women’s meet, defending champion Cal Poly San Luis Obispo leads with 16 points, followed by Northeast Missouri State (8), St. Cloud State (Minn.) (6), Southeast Missouri State (4), South Dakota State (3) and Northridge (2).

Perry beat a seasoned group to become the first Northridge male to win a national title in the long jump.

Leading after the first three rounds with a jump of 24-4 1/2, Perry was passed by Terrell Carpenter of St. Augustine’s (24-9 1/4) and tied by James Browne of Abilene Christian before taking back the lead with a jump of 25-0 3/4 as the last jumper in the fourth round.

That stood up until Browne unloaded a 25-2 3/4 effort--jumping before Perry--in the fifth round.

Unfazed, Perry responded with a wind-aided 25-6 1/4.

“I knew when the other guys had passed me, but I wasn’t worried about it,” Perry said. “I figured everybody was within my range. If someone else had jumped farther, I felt like I could have jumped farther.”

He almost had to. Carpenter, the two-time defending indoor champion, improved to 25-4 3/4 in the sixth and final round and Browne, the defending outdoor triple jump champion, improved his best to 25-3 1/2.

With victory secured, Perry fouled on his last attempt.

A 23-7 jumper in high school, Perry has been on a tear this month.

On May 5 at the Northridge Open, he raised his personal best from 24-5 3/4 to a Northridge-record 25-10 1/4.

Two weeks later, he won the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title at UC Riverside with a jump of 25-3 1/2.

“I’m just peaking at the right time,” said Perry, who will compete in the triple jump Saturday. “I really improved my steps to the (takeoff) board in the last month. I’m hitting the board well every jump.”

Albers, a senior, and Youngberg, a junior, improved on last year’s finishes in the high jump, but they were hoping to do better.

“I wanted to get second,” said Albers, who was sixth last year. “To lose second place by four centimeters is very frustrating.”

Albers led the first flight of throwers with a first-round toss of 180-6 and was in second overall after the fourth round, but Angelo State’s Eric Cole threw 180-8 on his fifth attempt to claim second. Steve Adelman of UC Davis had the four longest throws of the competition and won with an Armstrong Field record of 200-4.

Youngberg threw 172-0 on his final effort but fell one place short of his pre-meet goal.

“I was seeded fifth coming in, so I wanted to finish fourth,” said Youngberg, who placed ninth last year. “I didn’t feel like I choked, but my marks said I did.”

Albers and Youngberg both threw well below their bests of 186-10 and 181-8, respectively.

In the only women’s final held Thursday, CSUN’s Heather Young ran 36 minutes 31.31 seconds to finish seventh in the 10,000 meters.

After the first day of the decathlon, John Burton of Northridge was fourth with 3,598 points, and Lisa Gill was sixth in the heptathlon with 3,005 points after the first day.

Burton, who has a personal best of 6,811 points, had marks of 11.51 seconds in the 100 meters, 21-9 1/2 in the long jump, 40-4 1/4 in the shotput, 6-2 1/4 in the high jump and 50.55 in the 400.

Gill, who totaled a personal best of 4,936 points to win the CCAA title, ran 15.23 in the 100 low hurdles, cleared 5-7 3/4 in the high jump, put the shot 34-7 1/2, and timed 26.42 in the 200.

In qualifying races, Northridge record-holder Erick McBride won the first heat of the men’s 800 in 1:51.14.

Kevin Hendrix and Charlotte Vines also qualified for the finals of the men’s and women’s 200, to be held Saturday.

Hendrix finished second in the first heat in 21.31, but teammate Chris Pippins (21.53) finished a non-qualifying fifth in heat two.

Vines and teammate Laural Isles ran identical 24.79s, but Vines advanced to the eight-woman final because she finished fourth in the first heat and Isles placed fifth in the second.