TRACK : Former Olympic Stars Bring Hope to Jordan

Jordan High is fast becoming a Who’s Who of track and field.

Florence Griffith Joyner, the world record holder in the women’s 100 and 200 meters and 1988 Olympic gold medalist in the events, is a 1978 Jordan alumnus.

Charlie Dumas, the first man to clear seven feet in the high jump and the 1956 gold medalist, is a teacher at Jordan.

Add Valerie Brisco to the list.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist is in her first season as co-coach at Jordan with Roosevelt Wilson.

In the 1984 Olympics, Brisco, 35, set Olympic and American records in winning the 200 and 400 meters in 21.82 and 48.83 seconds, respectively.

As a member of the United States’ 1,600-meter relay team that set an American record of 3:18.29, Brisco became only the second U.S. woman track athlete to win three gold medals at an Olympics. Wilma Rudolph did it in 1960--the year Brisco was born.

The 1977 state 400-meter champion at Locke, Brisco made her coaching debut at Centennial High in Compton in 1993. She was involved in promotional work until she received an invitation from Jordan assistant principal Edie Rambo, her former coach at Locke, to come to Jordan.

“You have to have more faith in a person than they have in themselves,” said Brisco, a walk-on coach who works with the Jordan sprinters. “You have to constantly motivate them because they can’t see it. They’re a lot like I was.”

In the Southeastern Conference finals Thursday at Bell High, Jordan’s Ervin Dumas won the triple jump with a leap of 43 feet 7 3/4 inches and Tanieka Nash won the 300-meter hurdles in 50.95.

The afternoon, however, belonged to the Fremont boys, who won seven of 15 events. Clarence Scott, the state leader in the long jump, won his specialty with a leap of 24-0 and the 200 in 22.0. Teammate Cameron Carson was victorious in the 400 (49.60) and 800 (2:05.56).

Locke’s Sirr Parker won the 100 (11.02) and high jump (6-3) and Garfield’s Alex Platenchi won the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles in 16.07 and 41.48.

In the girls’ competition, South Gate’s Melissa Peralta swept the distances, winning the 800 (2:31.7), 1,600 (5:27.55) and 3,200 (12:28). Ebony Poe captured the long jump (14-10), triple jump (34-4 1/4) and 100 hurdles (17.98).