TRACK AND FIELD / JOHN ORTEGA : If Arizona Gives Him a Chance, Nadeau Says He Will Jump at It

To jump or not to jump?

That is the question facing Jeff Nadeau of Monroe High as he prepares to attend Arizona on a football scholarship in the fall.

Nadeau, a three-sport standout, cleared 7 feet 2 inches to win the boys’ high jump title in the state track and field championships Saturday at Cerritos College, capping a phenomenal five-week run to end the season.

“The only goal I had at the start of the season was to (break the school record of 6-9),” Nadeau said. “I never thought about winning state or about setting a City (Section) record.”

Nadeau, a defensive back in football, raised the City record to 7-2 1/4 in the Valley Pac-8 Conference finals at Birmingham High on May 13 when he improved his personal best by a stunning 6 1/4 inches.

He proved that was no fluke by winning the City title at Birmingham two weeks later with a jump of 7-0, and he followed that with a victory, clearing 6-10, in the prestigious Golden West Invitational at American River College in Sacramento on June 12.

Then came Saturday’s state finals--which initially had been canceled because of rain June 5 before being rescheduled after a flurry of protests--in which he outdueled Camarillo’s Jeremy Fischer (7-1) and Bieber Big Valley’s Todd Kelly (7-0).

“I really owe it all to my coaches,” Nadeau said. “They deserve a lot of the credit for getting me here and for keeping me in the right frame of mind.”

So the question arises: Will Nadeau, a quality long and triple jumper, compete in track at Arizona?

Maybe.

“I’m going there first as a football player,” he said. “That is my first priority as an athlete, but if they are willing to let me jump, then I’ll jump.”

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Center stage: It didn’t take Nadeau long to become one of the crowd favorites in the state meet. His extremely short--and almost nonchalant--approach to the high jump bar combined with an explosive takeoff brought the crowd to its feet several times.

“The crowd was into it and that really made it fun,” said Nadeau, who exchanged high-fives with Fischer several times after successful jumps. “When the crowd is like that, it makes it that much easier for (the competitors) to get fired up.”

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Trivia question: Which athlete from the region has most recently won a state title in the boys’ mile or 1,600 meters?

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High stepping: Drue Powell of Reseda High moved to third on the all-time regional list when he ran a state season-leading time of 13.87 seconds to win the boys’ 110-meter high hurdles title in the state meet.

Powell trails Steve Caminiti of Crespi (13.6 in 1964) and Shelton Boykin of San Fernando (13.84 in 1987) on the all-time list.

Caminiti, who finished third in the 120-yard highs in the 1964 state meet behind Earl McCullough of Long Beach Poly and Roger Moody of Corona del Mar, is Powell’s coach at Reseda.

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Back on track: City Section athletes as a group--led by champions Nadeau and Powell--bounced back with a vengeance in the state championships after barely making a ripple in last year’s meet.

City athletes scored 62 points in this year’s meet--in which points were awarded to the top six finishers in each event on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis--after accounting for 13 points and zero victories last season.

Last year was the first meet since 1972 that the City had failed to produce at least one state champion.

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Banner year: Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks (girls’ 100, 200, long jump), Nadeau, Powell and Cheaza Figueroa of Quartz Hill (girls’ triple jump) combined to win six individual titles in the state championships, the highest total by athletes from the region since 1987.

Quincy Watts of Taft (boys’ 100, 200), Dave Bultman of Royal (boys’ shotput, discus), Percy Knox of Antelope Valley (boys’ long jump), Madette Smith of Quartz Hill (girls’ 200) and Jenny Whelchel of Agoura (girls’ shotput) won seven titles that year.

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Record alterations: The regional record in the girls’ triple jump was broken three times in the state meet.

Figueroa, who entered the meet with the regional record of 39-8 1/2, improved it to 39-9 1/4 in the fifth round, but Vanitta Kinard of El Camino Real took the lead on the next jump with a leap of 39-9 1/2.

Figueroa improved to 40-1 1/4 in the sixth--and final--round to retake the lead, and when Kinard fouled, Figueroa became the second Quartz Hill athlete to win an individual state track title.

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Down again: Ryan Wilson’s ninth-place finish in the boys’ 1,600 in the state championships continued a string of disappointing performances by the Agoura senior in big competitions.

Wilson, who has signed a letter of intent with Arkansas, dropped out of the Kinney West regional cross-country championships last December after entering the race as a co-favorite with Margarito Casillas of Hoover.

In 1991, Wilson finished 28th in the Kinney national championships after placing third in the West regional.

“I was out of it from the start,” Wilson said of the state meet. “I just haven’t felt the same since (the Masters Meet).”

Wilson, who finished fifth in last year’s state meet, ran a season best of 4 minutes 12.82 seconds to win the 1,600 in the Masters Meet on May 28, but he timed 4:30.00 Saturday.

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Statwatch: Marion Jones’ winning mark of 22 feet 1/2 inch in the long jump in the state meet would have placed her second in the USA Track & Field championships in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday.

The top three finishers in each event in the USATF meet qualified for the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, in August.

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Trivia answer: Brent Tubb of Cleveland won state titles in the boys’ mile in 1970 (4:12.9) and ’71 (4:09.6).

Tubb holds the regional record in the 800 meters (1:49.5) and ranks third in the mile (4:09.2).