Morgan Clears Final Hurdle

Chris Morgan of Taft High, the dominant high hurdler in the state all season, withstood a strong closing rush by Trevor Jones of Newport Harbor to win the 110-meter high hurdles in the state track and field championships Saturday before 11,623 at Cerritos College.

Morgan, a junior, posted a 13.95-13.99 victory and became the third Taft athlete to win a boys’ state title.

“I got a little shaky over the last two hurdles,” Morgan said after missing his school record by one-hundredth of a second. “I knew [Jones] finished well and I think I got a little nervous about him at the end.”

Morgan, who placed ninth in the high hurdles in the 1999 state meet, finished a disappointing ninth in the long jump in 22-2 1/2 earlier in the meet. But he was able to put that subpar effort behind him.

Triple jumper Jamil Smith of Palmdale, long jumper Oliver Jackson of Royal and pole vaulter Shane Hackett of Verdugo Hills also won state titles.

Smith, a junior, became Palmdale’s first state titlist by bounding 49-4 1/4 into a stiff head wind on the second of his six efforts.

He was an unlikely champion three weeks ago.

Although he bounded a wind-aided 48-4 1/4 in a dual meet in April, he typically jumped in the 45- or 46-foot range. However, he leaped a then-career best of 47-2 1/2 to finish third in the Southern Section Division I final on May 20 before winning the Masters Meet in 47-11 3/4 on May 26 and exploding to a state-leading 49-10 3/4 effort in qualifying Friday to move to fourth on the all-time region list.

Jackson, who has signed with UCLA, was runner-up in the long jump in the state championships last year and he trailed senior David Malonson of Lakewood Mayfair after four rounds this time.

He improved from 23-7 3/4 to 24-4 1/4 in the fifth round to defeat Malonson by four inches.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Jackson said after becoming the second Royal athlete to win a state title. “I just kept telling myself that I wasn’t leaving here with another second.”

Hackett, another UCLA signee, was regarded as co-favorite in the pole vault with senior Logan Odden of Huntington Beach Marina. But he trailed senior Travis Offner of Mt. Carmel as he approached his third--and final--attempt at 16-4.

Both vaulters had cleared 16 feet at that point, but Offner was in the lead because he cleared it on his first attempt and Hackett did it on his second.

Hackett and Offner missed their first two attempts at 16-4, but Hackett became Verdugo Hills’ first state champion when he narrowly cleared the bar on his third try and Offner missed.

“I could tell that I brushed the bar when I was on top of it,” Hackett said. “But I just turned to the side real quick and it stayed up.”

Junior Chris Wells-Anders of El Camino Real was second in the 800 in a school-record 1:52.28, senior Josh Spiker of Ventura placed second in the 3,200 in a season-best 9:05.36, senior Jerrick Holmes of Palmdale placed second in the high jump at 6-10 and Cleveland was second in the 1,600 relay in a school-record 3:13.60, second on the all-time region list behind Taft’s 1998 clocking of 3:13.21.

Gardena Serra totaled 38 points to win its first state title, followed by Long Beach Poly with 24 and Berkeley St. Mary’s with 20.

Palmdale finished in a four-way tie for fourth with 18 points while Taft and Cleveland tied for eighth with 16.