Jackson Missed Mark, Couldn’t Hit a Big Jump

Oliver Jackson of Royal High fell short in his bid to win the boys’ long jump in the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento on Saturday, but the junior said he felt no disappointment in finishing second to senior Robert Kennedy of Sacramento El Camino.

“I knew I could could have gone over 25 [feet] if I just could have [hit the takeoff] board,” Jackson said after jumping a wind-aided 24-8 3/4. “But I’m not unhappy with the way things turned out. I felt I jumped well.”

Kennedy, who finished second to Jackson in the Arcadia Invitational in April, trailed Jackson and junior Tony Allmond of St. Paul after the first round, but he unloaded a wind-aided 25-2 jump in the second round that was the farthest jump in the nation this year under any conditions.

“I didn’t feel any pressure because of that,” Jackson said. “If anything, it motivated me to do better.”

Although Jackson was unable to beat Kennedy, he had a superb series that included wind-aided jumps of 23-8 3/4, 24-8 3/4, 23-11 3/4, 24-0 1/4, 24-6 1/4 and 24-1 3/4.

He took off well behind the takeoff board on several jumps, but said that’s the nature of the long jump.

“Sometimes I’m a little more pumped up than other times,” he said. “And that affects your approach. You’ve got to stay on the edge all the way and that’s not easy.”

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Sophomore Alexis Weatherspoon of Grant, who won City Section titles in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters on May 27, failed to advance to the final of either event in the state championships, despite two school records.

Weatherspoon finished third in her qualifying heat of the 100 in 11.93 on Friday and she placed fifth in her heat of the 200 in 24.24.

The 100 time tied for ninth on the all-time region list and the 200 clocking was eighth.

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The girls’ 200 was the most talent-laden field in the state championships. A record six sprinters broke 24 seconds in qualifying heats on Friday and a record-tying six broke 24 in the final, topped by the 22.88 clocking of senior Tania Woods of Oakland Skyline.

Weatherspoon’s 24.24, 11th in qualifying, would have made every previous nine-person final in the state championship dating to the inception of the girls’ meet in 1975.

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Annmarie Turpin of Simi Valley leaped 5-7 to place a disappointing fourth in the girls’ high jump in the state meet.

Turpin, who cleared a Ventura County record 5-10 1/2, best in the state this year, to win the Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College on May 28, set school records in the high jump, 400 (57.38) and 300 low hurdles (45.09) this year and her best of 17-5 in the long jump ranks fourth on the all-time Simi Valley list.

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State champions Blaine Bussey of Taft and Josh Spiker of Ventura are expected to run in postseason meets this weekend, but Lauren Fleshman of Canyon said her season is over after winning the girls’ 3,200 in the state meet.

“I just want to let myself relax,” said Fleshman, a senior. “I just want to enjoy the last two weeks of [high] school.”

Fleshman, who ran a nation-leading 10:18.81 in the 3,200 on Saturday, won’t run for four weeks before starting to train for her freshman cross-country season at Stanford.

Bussey, a senior who won the boys’ 400 in 46.94 at the state meet, will run in a qualifying round of that event in the Foot Locker national outdoor championships at North Carolina State on Friday. The final is Saturday.

Spiker, a junior who won the boys’ 3,200 in 9:02.00 in the state championships, will run in that event in the Golden West Invitational at American River College in Sacramento on Saturday.

Turpin will compete in the girls’ high jump in the Golden West Invitational and senior Bridget Pearson of Hoover will compete in the girls’ pole vault in the national championships.