Parish Makes Leap Forward in Triple Jump

It did not take long for Don Parish to make an impression as a triple jumper after joining the Cal Poly Pomona men’s track team in early March.

Only three weeks later, the transfer from the University of Houston shattered the school record with a leap of 52 feet 3 inches in a meet at UC Irvine.

Parish, 24, has improved on his record twice since then, and his mark of 54-1 3/4 at the Azusa Invitational on April 13 is one of the best in the United States this season.

The senior also broke the school record in the long jump with a leap of 24-7 1/4 May 11 at the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet.

That makes Parish one of the leading contenders in each event at the NCAA Division II meet from Thursday through Saturday in San Angelo, Tex.

The rapid success has caught Parish by surprise.

“I didn’t know what to expect, so I’m just as surprised as anyone else,” he said.

Parish could not train with the Broncos until he became eligible to compete under NCAA transfer rules in March. He also suffered a slight hamstring injury while training on his own in December.

“I strained it, and I just backed off from training for a couple of weeks,” Parish said.

But he says he has noticed a major difference in his development since he started training under an outside instructor, Charles Yendork, toward the end of last year. Yendork is a former world-class triple jumper, and his daughter, Juliana, is the all-time national prep leader in the event as a senior at Walnut High.

“I wasn’t eligible to compete with Cal Poly until March, so I was training on my own at Mt. San Antonio College (in Walnut), and I just kind of met (Yendork) there one day and started training with him,” he said.

Parish said he has learned a lot about the event since.

“We just have great communication and he’s taken me where I haven’t gone before in the triple jump,” he said of Yendork. “He’s got the event broken down, and the fact that he was a jumper really helps. Not only can he tell you something, he can actually show you.”

Parish said he was a senior at Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Va., when he tried the triple jump for the first time. Before then, he focused mostly on other sports in high school.

It wasn’t until he saw the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki that he became more interested in track and field.

“I guess after I saw Carl Lewis and those other guys competing in the (400-meter) relay, that was when I got real motivated,” he said.

Parish expects to graduate in a year and has his sights set on competing in the triple jump at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

“This year is going to be my turning point,” he said. “I feel my first two phases (of the triple jump) are as good as anyone in the world. If I can get that last phase down a little better, I feel I can be as good as anyone in the world. I hope to be in the top three in the world by the end of next year and hopefully make the Olympics.”

For the first time since 1982, when it won the national championship, UC Riverside has advanced to NCAA Division II baseball finals, Saturday through June 1 in Montgomery, Ala.

The Highlanders (35-23-1), seeded No. 3 in the tournament, will meet sixth-seeded Southern Illinois Edwardsville in their tournament opener Sunday night. Florida Southern is seeded first.

Riverside advanced to the eight-team, double-elimination tournament by winning the NCAA West Regional title Saturday in San Luis Obispo. The Highlanders scored 40 runs in three games.

They defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the title game, 6-5, after earlier outscoring the Mustangs, 16-15, and Sonoma State, 18-12.

Riverside has been sparked by outfielder Stephen Bishop, who has a .360 batting average, followed by second baseman Jim Radler at .353, shortstop Mark Saugstad at .339 and third baseman Ruben Ayala at .319. Ayala, most valuable player in the West Regional, also has 49 runs batted in.

College Division Notes

The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team will make its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III World Series starting Thursday in Battle Creek, Mich. It will also mark the school’s final appearance in Division III; the Coyotes will move up to Division II next season. San Bernardino (27-11) was ranked No. 7 in Division III by Collegiate Baseball magazine before sweeping a best-of-five series from Redlands in the West Regional last week. The Coyotes outscored Redlands in the regional, 52-10, winning by scores of 11-0, 31-5 and 10-5. In its 31-5 victory, San Bernardino scored 18 runs in the first inning, the most runs in an inning in NCAA playoff history. The Coyotes, who finished fourth last year, will play either North Carolina Wesleyan or Methodist of North Carolina on Thursday. Coyote firstbaseman David Rex is batting .411 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs.

After finishing in a three-way tie for the CCAA baseball title, John Scolinos of Cal Poly Pomona, Steve McFarland of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Jack Smitheran of UC Riverside shared coach-of-the-year honors. Cal Poly Pomona outfielder Ramiro Garcia and Cal State Dominguez Hills first baseman Darrell Conner were voted co-most valuable players and San Luis Obispo’s Dan Chergey was voted most valuable pitcher. . . . Chapman, which won its first CCAA title in women’s softball, led the way in all-conference honors. Third baseman Sandy Olivas was selected most valuable player, Jacki Blake was chosen most valuable pitcher and Lisle Loyd was chosen coach of the year.

The Whittier College men’s lacrosse team completed its regular season ranked No. 17 in the NCAA Division III at 20-0--the most victories in school history and the most in Division III this season. But the Poets, who have won five Western Collegiate Lacrosse League titles in the past seven years, were passed up for a Division III playoff berth. . . . Cal State San Bernardino put three women on the Division III All-West Regional softball team. Pitcher Marnie LaFleur made the first team and third baseman Felicia Harral and outfielder Sandy Sturlaugson made the second team.