U.S OLYMPIC FESTIVAL / AREA ROUNDUP : Whitaker’s Gold Stolen on Inside Job

Lance Whitaker departed Texas a better boxer for the experience. He would have preferred leaving the Lone Star State with a gold medal.

In a bout for the Olympic Festival super heavyweight title, Reginald Blackmon won an 18-9 decision over Whitaker Sunday before a crowd of 5,600 at Freeman Coliseum.

Blackmon, eight inches shorter but only eight pounds lighter than his opponent, won by persistently boring in and effectively smothering the 6-foot-8, 232-pound giant from Northridge.

Whitaker, who lost for only the second time in 17 matches, failed in attempts to jab Blackmon back into the center of the ring.

Instead, Blackmon managed to spend much of the fight snuggled close to his foe, his head often resting against the larger man’s shoulder. From that position, he waited for an opportunity.

When Whitaker coiled to strike, Blackmon simply ducked under the attack and came up swinging with strikes to the body.

“When I felt him leaning, I’d try to come up and catch him off balance,” Blackmon said. “Big men like him, when they draw back you can see their punches coming.”

Whitaker wasn’t surprised by the strategy, but he still could not stop it.

“I didn’t do what I was supposed to do,” said Whitaker, 22, who played football and basketball at San Fernando High. “I have to use my jab more to keep those little guys off me.”

Twice Whitaker managed to do just that, and Blackmon paid for it both times. Midway through the second round, the big man scored with a pair of side-winding lefts. Later in the same round, he struck again with a left-right combination.

The one-sided decision seemed to surprise most ringside observers.

Blackmon’s plan at the beginning was to surge toward Whitaker with body blows, then retreat while throwing uppercuts, several of which connected.

But as easily as Blackmon won the first round, Whitaker seemingly had a similar advantage in the second.

The judges, however, using a new electronic scoring system that counts scoring blows, didn’t see it that way. They had Blackmon winning the first round, 9-2, but Whitaker winning the second only 4-1.

Blackmon won the final and most uneventful round, 5-3, as he came out on the offensive, tagging Whitaker several times early. Whitaker responded by smiling and indicating he was not hurt.

Perhaps not, but the punches still counted.

The unranked Blackmon, representing the Navy, thus pulled off his second consecutive upset. He had advanced to the final by defeating second-ranked Rodney Harris. His victory over Whitaker also was unexpected. Whitaker, though inexperienced, came in ranked third among fighters weighing more than 201 pounds.

“He’s got a lot to learn, but he’s here and that shows a lot,” Blackmon said of Whitaker.

Charles (Blue) Allen, Whitaker’s trainer, said he expects his boxer to be back fighting for gold again next year when the festival will be in St. Louis.

“Some of his inexperience showed today, but we’ll be back,” Allen promised. “We’re not going anywhere.”

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The silver medal was in Janae Lautenschlager’s grasp and the gold still in sight seven dives into the three-meter competition.

Halfway through her eighth dive, a back 2 1/2 somersault in the tuck position, she held championship form. But the 22-year-old Northridge resident could not maintain a slicing, unruffled entry. Her feet fell over, creating an unsightly splash, and her scores, ranging from 4s to 5s, dropped her into fourth place.

And just as she stepped to the board for her ninth dive, an inward 2 1/2 somersault, she was delayed by meet officials adhering to the request of a cable network which was taping the event.

Emerging from the somersault late, she plunged clumsily into the water, creating the largest and most painful splash of the competition. It dropped her into last place, where she ultimately finished with a final score of 406.50.

“I just had my head really buried so I couldn’t see my (spot in the water) and I didn’t know when to come out of the rotation,” said Lautenschlager. “The dive couldn’t stop.”

Lautenschlager’s West teammate, Nancy Janik of Simi Valley, moved into second place after the ninth dive. Her final dive, a back 1 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists, did not yield enough points to garner a medal, however.

Melisa Moses scored 448.50 points to Janik’s 445.35 in the battle for the bronze.

Janik, 32, erred at the beginning of her 10th dive and had difficulty recovering in time for a splashless entry.

“I could have kicked myself because that dive is a consistent 7 for me and I got 6s,” Janik said. “I knew if I hit that dive I had a chance to win a medal.”

Mary Ellen Clark, the Barcelona Olympic gold medalist on platform, topped the field of 12 with 481.32 points. Reyne Borup scored 455.64 for the silver.

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Donna Mayhew’s javelin toss of 197 feet 11 inches earned her a gold medal, the 53rd medal won by area athletes during the 10-day event. Mayhew, who competed at Cal State Northridge, won by more than 15 feet. She was one of eight area athletes to win individual gold medals.

Gail Devers of Mission Hills topped the list with individual golds in the 100 meters and 100 hurdles, and a relay gold on the 4 X 100 quartet which included former Northridge star Alice Brown.

Sarah Nichols, a 400-meter free-style swimmer from Camarillo, also struck gold, as did 400-meter sprinter Jason Rouser of Sherman Oaks, racquetball player Tony Jelso of Ventura and Ventura canoeist David Spaulding in the 1,000 meters.

Spaulding also won a gold medal in 500-meter doubles. His silver in the 500 singles and the bronze he took in the 1,000 meter doubles pushed his medal count to four, tops among local athletes.

Four area athletes competed for teams which won gold medals: Glendale’s Leslie Morse, team dressage; Moorpark’s Mohammed Barakat, field hockey; Christy Parker of Sherman Oaks, water polo, and Sara Griffin of Simi Valley, softball.

Area athletes collected 12 silver medals and 27 bronze.