Pole Vaulter Is Handling a Tall Order

When Jason Rice joined the Biola College track and field team in the spring of 1994, he didn’t think much of the Eagles’ pole vault record, 15 feet 6 inches by Jim Hagens in 1977.

Rice figured it wouldn’t take long before he had the record since he had vaulted 15-7 as a senior at Fallbrook High.

Once at Biola, however, Rice began concentrating on the decathlon. For two seasons, he trained for 10 events instead of only one and his pole vaulting suffered.

“I was stuck at around 15 feet,” said Rice, now a 6-foot-6, 175-pound junior. “I just couldn’t get any higher because I was so tight from training for so many events.”

This spring, Rice gave up the decathlon, went back to the vault and has seen quick results. Early this month, he went 16 feet at the Cal Poly Pomona Bronco Invitational.

Rice credits Biola vaulting coach Tim Meledy for his improvement.

“He’s a vaulting specialist who coaches but also allows me to just vault,” said Rice, who also credits a heavier and stiffer pole. “He is not in my face after every jump. He just tells me what I’m doing and then lets me go.”

Rice, who barely missed 16-4 at Pomona, also says that an early season switch to a heavier and stiffer pole has helped.

“It’s scary to use because it is a much bigger pole than I am used to,” he said. “But it’s really just a psychological thing. Once I really get used to it, I have even a heavier pole that I would love to use to go for 17 feet.”

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Triple jumper Jonathan Jordan of Cal State Los Angeles set a meet record with a leap of 52-10 3/4 in the Division II track and field indoor championships two weeks ago as he helped the Eagles to third place in the team race at Indianapolis.

Jordan was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 23-8 3/4 as Cal State L.A. finished with 36 points, behind Abilene Christian and St. Augustine’s of Raleigh, N.C.

Junior shotputter Tambi Wenj also set a meet record for the Eagles with a put of 60-11 1/2.

Wenj, who recorded the second-best outdoor mark in Division II history at 63-4 the first week of March, also finished fifth in the 35-pound weight throw with a 55-6 effort.

Senior Ray Banner was another winner for the Eagles, running the 55-meter hurdles in 7.38 seconds.

The Cal State L.A. women’s team finished sixth with 20 points, thanks largely to junior Petra Juraskova’s victory in the shotput at 49-8 1/4.

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In its first season playing entirely against Division I opponents, the La Verne men’s Division III volleyball team fell to 4-15 after being swept by Stanford, 16-14, 15-7, 16-6, last Friday.

Small College Notes

Azusa Pacific’s Chris Bethel had 15 points, four assists, four blocked shots and two steals but the Cougars lost to East Central Oklahoma in the first round of the NAIA men’s basketball championships at Tulsa last week. . . . Coach David Wells of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps got his 300th basketball victory when the Stags scored their first-ever playoff victory, defeating Upper Iowa, 70-58, in the first round of the Division III tournament. The Stags then lost to Wisconsin Whitewater, 63-62, in the final collegiate game for Kevin Zitar, voted player of the year in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s team also lost in the second round, to Bethel of Minnesota, 74-63, after defeating La Verne in a 62-61 first-round thriller. In beating their SCIAC rival, the Athenas scored six points in the final seven seconds, including five free throws by Colleen Tribby, overcoming a 27-point effort by La Verne’s Leslee Rogers, a Division III All-American. . . . Scott Squires was named football coach at Cal Lutheran, replacing Joe Harper, who resigned after last season. . . . Azusa Pacific named Gary Yee as women’s volleyball coach after the resignation of Lori Kildal.