Singbandith Is Happy to Be Back Home--for Now : Track and field: Injured and missing his family, triple jumper transferred from Nebraska to Long Beach College.

The weather never bothered him, he says. His coaches and teammates were great. So was the campus, the community, the weight room, the track, the training table . . . even those marathon bus rides across the seemingly endless plains.

Actually, Phouphet Singbandith says, there really wasn’t anything he didn’t like about Nebraska. And now, six months after leaving the Cornhuskers’ track and field program and transferring to Long Beach College, the former Magnolia High triple jumper says sometimes even he wonders why he left Nebraska after his first year.

“It went great there, really,” says Singbandith, who was second in the Big Eight Conference outdoor championships, third indoors.

“I liked Nebraska--a lot. I had no complaint about it. But it was . . . one of those sudden bail-out things, I don’t know. When people ask me why I left, I don’t really have a reason for them.”

Some say Singbandith, a native of Laos, returned to Southern California because his family--especially his mother, Pany--missed him. Although he had a full athletic scholarship, that didn’t pay for his flights to and from Lincoln, Neb., and he flew home often. The financial strain was too much.

Others say it had more to do with Singbandith’s recurring knee injuries, made worse by the fact that Nebraska expected him to take all six jumps during competition--not only in the triple jump but the long jump, too. At Magnolia, where Singbandith won a State championship and set the Orange County record in the triple jump, Coach Bob Mangan only allowed his injury-prone star to jump as much as he needed to win--usually one or two jumps per meet.

Singbandith says both theories probably are true to an extent. But mostly it was an impulse decision, made just before he was to return to Nebraska last fall. He says he feels bad that he couldn’t have let Nebraska Coach Gary Pepin know sooner that he wasn’t returning, as the delay left open a scholarship that could’ve been used for another recruit.

“I called Coach Pepin at the end of the summer,” Singbandith said. “He was shocked. He asked why I wasn’t coming back. I just told him nonsense, I guess. I was being selfish. They could’ve used my scholarship. I knew about it, but it was a selfish thing . . . I felt really, really bad.”

Pepin says he holds no grudges, only that he wished Singbandith would’ve communicated better, not only about leaving but about his sore knees.

“If someone communicates with you, there’s a lot of things you can do to alleviate those things,” said Pepin, who added he would like to talk to Singbandith about returning to the Cornhusker program.

For now, Singbandith seems happy where he is. Going to school, living at home and gaining some fresh insight from his new jump coach, 70-year-old Baruch Elias.

Elias, a former Olympic and national coach from Romania, has spent 43 years coaching high, long and triple jumpers. Upon their first meeting, Elias put Singbandith on a strict program--hours of physical therapy and plenty of positive thinking.

And no jumping for the first month. “My thinking for him is not too much work,” says Elias, an energetic sort who last year won six events in his age group at a masters track and field meet in Long Beach. “We don’t need heroes, yes? Now, Phouphet and I have great cooperation with our trainer, Mary (Aja). I destroy, she repair.”

So far, the cautious approach has worked well. Friday, Singbandith won a four-way meet at Cerritos College with a leap of 48 feet 9 inches. Not quite his 51-7 3/4 mark that set the county high school record two years ago, but an impressive start nonetheless. His best jump at Nebraska was 49-9 3/4 at the Nebraska Indoor Open.

How far will Singbandith jump this year--or in the future? Elias pales at the question.

“Ack!” Elias says playfully, putting his hands over his eyes. “I don’t like promises! I am not a killer!”

He pauses, then drops his voice to a whisper: “I hope before the State meet, he’ll be ready to be a . . . SUPER CHAMPION!”

Singbandith smiles. It’s obvious he gets a kick out of Elias’ entertaining ways, as does anyone within hearing distance. It seems a good partnership. Singbandith, once so shy he could barely answer reporters’ questions, seems more at ease.

Twelve years ago, when he and his family came to the United States, Singbandith had a tough time learning English and an even tougher time making friends.

When Mangan finally convinced him to come out for track, Singbandith’s confidence grew by leaps and bounds. He was undefeated in the triple jump his senior year, and had the second-best jump in the nation. Sports Illustrated included his mug shot in its “Faces In The Crowd” section--Singbandith said he never heard of the magazine until they came to take his picture.

Told that Pepin says he’d like him back at Nebraska--and that the Cornhusker athletes have been writing him letters hoping he’d return--Singbandith says he’s not counting it out.

He just wants to be sure.