PREP TRACK AND FIELD / NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS : Newport Harbor High Jumpers Boost Their Spirits With Finish

Newport Harbor’s girls’ high jump trio turned the National Scholastic Outdoor track and field championships into a possible preview of the upcoming State meet.

Tina Bowman and Misty May tied for third in the high jump, and Michaela Ross placed sixth in Saturday’s meet at UCLA.

Bowman and May, both sophomores, competed against national leader Amy Acuff of Calallen High in Corpus Christi, Tex., and Danielle Boswell of Fresno Bullard High.

Acuff, who holds the national high school record at 6 feet 3 inches, won Saturday’s competition at 6-2, equaling her national-leading standard.

Boswell was second (5-10), Bowman and May were next with 5-8 and Ross cleared 5-5 3/4.

Bowman, May, Boswell and Tracye Lawyer of Cate--who all cleared 5-6 in the State prelims June 4--are favorites for the rescheduled State meet final on June 19. The Newport Harbor jumpers said Saturday’s competition helped get them psyched up for the State meet, which was initially canceled June 5 and then was rescheduled after protests.

“We are excited now,” Bowman said. “We really got upset when the meet was canceled because there is so much (the officials) could’ve done. We weren’t too excited about the upcoming meet.

“But now, I’m pretty sure we will all place and I feel like I can go higher.”

Bowman has defeated Boswell this season in a competition, clearing her personal-best 5-9 1/4 at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April. Saturday, Bowman along with May, missed three attempts at 5-10, Boswell cleared on her third. Acuff cleared 6-2 on her second attempt and then had the bar raised to 6-4, where she missed three times.

In the girls’ field competition, Newport Harbor’s Gina Heads placed fourth in the discus (134-5) and shotput (40-6 3/4).

In the boys’ competition, the Sailors’ Wade Tift, who has improved his best in the shot by more than four feet since going 54-9 3/4 at the Sea View League finals, placed third (59-1 1/2). His previous best was 57-6. Adam Nelson of Lovett High in Atlanta, placed first (63-2 1/4) and Keith Lozowski of Fremd High in Palatine, Ill., was second (59-6 1/4). Top Orange County finishers included Esperanza’s Travis McCullough, who was sixth (55-4 3/4) and Newport Harbor’s Beau Ralphs who was 10th (54-11 1/2).

Meet Notes

Among the top county performers were El Modena’s Gary Van Sluis in the pole vault (sixth, 15-3), Esperanza’s Shawn Frack in the boys’ two-mile (fifth, 9:21.99), Esperanza’s Carrie Caulkins in the girls’ mile (seventh, 5:03.70), and Foothill’s Mike Lynch in the second heat of the boys’ 800 (eighth, 1:56.39). Buena Park’s Carrie Garritson, who is ineligible for CIF competition this season, was fourth in the girls’ two-mile in 11:09.92. Canyon’s Kim Nelson, who plans to run at State, was sixth (11:37.86).

Tony McCall, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound senior from Tony McCall of Ocala Forest (Fla.) High School, was regarded as questionable for the finals of the boys’ 100 meters, then he won in 10.31 seconds, the best high school time of the year. The North Carolina-bound McCall won his qualifying heat Friday night in 10.56, but he limped off the track and later withdrew from the 200 heats. McCall’s effort, which moved him into a tie for 14th on the all-time national high school performer list, gave him a comfortable margin of victory over Derrick Steagall (10.46) of Newnan (Ga.) and sophomore Bryan Howard (10.47) of Moreno Valley Canyon Springs. He broke the 1991 meet record of 10.52 set by Steve Davis of Spartanburg, SC. Howard finished second in the 200, with a wind-aided 21.30, behind Steagall (21.07).

Michael Granville of Bell Gardens lowered his national freshman record to 1 minute 51.03 seconds to finish third in the 800. Granville was in sixth place with 200 meters left, but his powerful kick brought the crowd to its feet. Jeremy Stallings (1:50.09) of Stanton (Tex.) and junior Vondre Armour (1:50.99) of Bakersfield finished first and second, respectively.