Record Leap Leaves Nadeau Speechless : High school track: Rarely at a loss for words, Monroe star unable to fathom 7-2 1/4 high jump.

Jeff Nadeau, Monroe High’s three-sport standout, rarely runs out of things to say when asked about his athletic accomplishments.

But the talkative Viking senior was speechless for a few seconds Thursday when a reporter asked him how he had cleared a City Section record of 7 feet 2 1/4 inches to win the high jump in the Valley Pac-8 Conference finals at Birmingham High.

“I guess I got kind of lucky,” Nadeau finally said. “I’m not sure what to say. I mean, I felt good today, but I would have been happy just to clear 6-9 or 6-10.”

Nadeau’s loss for words was understandable.

It’s not often that a high jumper who has a personal best of 6-8 raises that mark by a whopping 6 1/4 inches in one meet.

The effort moved Nadeau to second on the 1993 national list behind junior Billy Green of Ruston (La.) High (7-3 1/2), and to third on the all-time region list behind Lee Balkin of Glendale (7-3 1/4 in 1979) and Tim Poltl of Alemany (7-3 in ‘79).

Nadeau’s leap also broke the City record of 7-1 shared by Rob Olson of El Camino Real (1977), Greg Denby of Crenshaw (‘80) and Maury Burnett of Washington (‘82), and was sandwiched between a victory in the long jump (22-2) and a second-place finish in the triple jump (personal best of 45-2 1/2).

Birmingham, the defending City boys’ champion, won eight of 15 events on its home track, but Nadeau’s performance was the talk of the meet.

“That’s a huge shot in the arm for City track,” City commissioner Hal Harkness said. “A huge shot.”

Nadeau’s record was doubly impressive because he did it on his 24th attempt of the competition.

After clearing 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, 6-6 and 6-8 on his first attempts, it took him three tries each at 6-9, 6-10, 6-11, 7-0, 7-1 1/4 and 7-2 1/4. He missed three times at 7-3 1/4 before heading directly to the triple jump.

“After I cleared 6-10, my friends and teammates kept telling me, ‘This ain’t nothing. You can do this,’ ” Nadeau said. “I wasn’t so sure, but I guess I just did a good job of adjusting my steps at each height.”

Birmingham, led by seniors Alvaro Mejia and Tony Serpas, dominated the boys’ meet as expected.

Mejia won the 800 meters in 1 minute 58.2 seconds, the 1,600 in 4:40.4 and the 3,200 in 10:19.1.

Serpas placed first in the 100 (10.7 seconds) and 200 (21.9), but Terrance Jones of Van Nuys sped past him in the final 30 meters of the 400 (50.4 to 50.5).

“I just don’t think he knew that kid was coming on him,” Birmingham Coach Scott King said. “I think he thought he had the race won with 50 meters to go.”

Junior James Lincoln also had a big meet for the Braves. He won the 110 high hurdles (15.4), tied for second in the high jump (6-4), and finished third in the long jump (21-3) and triple jump (personal best of 44-10).

Oshonda Posey of North Hollywood and Ladietra Stewart of Grant topped a list of four double winners in the girls’ meet.

Posey won the 100 in 12.4 and the 200 in 25.5.

Stewart bounded 34-10 in the triple jump and put the shot 34-3 1/2.

The top five finishers in each event qualified for next Thursday’s City semifinals at Birmingham.