Fischer Clears 7-2 After Eliminating a Mental Barrier : Track and field: Camarillo junior adjusts approach, goes on to set Mt. SAC Relays high jump record.

The logic is irrefutable: Before one can high jump 7 feet, one must first clear 6 feet 10 inches.

That’s what Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo High kept telling himself before the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut on Friday and it paid off as he cleared a personal best of 7-2.

The effort--a meet record--equaled the highest prep jump in the nation this season, tied the Ventura County record set by Ken Burke of Westlake in 1984, and moved Fischer into a tie for third on the all-time region list with Burke and Reggie Betton of Antelope Valley (1988).

It also came six days after Fischer finished third in the Arcadia Invitational with a dismal--for him--6-8 jump.

“I was just trying to get over 6-10 and take it from there,” Fischer said. “Once I got over 6-10, I felt real confident at seven feet.”

Fischer cleared 6-4, 6-6, and 6-8 on his first attempts, but it took him three tries to get over 6-10, a height he had negotiated in five meets this season.

“I was jumping into the bar instead of over it,” Fischer said of his first two attempts. “Luckily, I was able to adjust my approach correctly on the third attempt.”

Fischer, a junior, passed at 6-11 before clearing 7-0 on his second attempt and 7-2 on his third try. He missed three times at 7-3.

“This was a good meet for him,” Camarillo Coach Dennis Riedmiller said. “He had to battle back a couple of times and he was able to.”

Although Fischer has made four of six attempts at 7-0 this season, he has struggled at 6-10, making only two of his last 12 attempts at that height.

“He knows he can make 6-10 so I think he gets a little lackadaisical,” Riedmiller said. “That’s something we need to work on.”

Hart timed a national season-best and meet record of 17:33.8 in the boys’ 6,400 relay, but the Indians fell well short of their goal, the national high school record of 17:00.6 set by South Eugene (Ore.) in 1976.

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks turned in a pair of stellar relay legs.

The North Carolina-bound senior anchored the Lancers to a second-place finish behind Rio Mesa (49.75 to 49.83) in the seventh heat of the girls’ 400 relay, and she ran a sizzling second leg (53.6) in the 1,600 relay to help Thousand Oaks place second (4:04.38) in Heat 3.

Jones also was scheduled to run the 400 anchor leg on the Lancers’ sprint medley relay, but Thousand Oaks’ leadoff runner pulled up.

In other events, Crystal Brownlee of Westlake, Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore and Jesse Stern of Harvard-Westlake turned in region season-bests.

Brownlee, who has signed a national letter of intent with South Carolina, won the girls’ shotput with a season-best 44-8 3/4, her best effort since 1991.

Aparicio, who is bound for Brigham Young, finished third in the girls’ 3,000 with a personal best of 9:48.86 to move to fifth on the all-time region list.

Stern finished fifth in the pole vault at 15-1, his first clearance at that height of the season.