High School Track & Field: McCord ties for second

CLOVIS — Sage Hill School senior CJ McCord finished tied for second in the boys’ high jump final at the CIF State Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Buchanan High.

McCord’s top clearance was 6 feet, 9 inches, which he achieved on his first attempt. He needed just one attempt to clear 6-5 and 6-7, but failed three times at 6-11, which would have bettered his career best of 6-10.

He cleared 6-10 at last year’s state meet, in which he also finished second.

“I’m definitely disappointed with my effort,” McCord said by phone after the event. “I know I can do better, but it’s a decent season coming back from injury.”

McCord said he suffered from tendinitis in his left knee, which was his plant leg. The injury began during basketball season, he said and he estimated he was only about 85 to 90 percent on Saturday.

“My ultimate goal was to win and to break my PR,” said McCord, a two-time CIF Southern Section Division 4 champion who is bound for Yale.

Michael Burke, a senior at Lemoore High, won the high jump as the lone competitor to clear 6-11.

Newport Harbor High senior Hope Bender finished eighth in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles with at time of 43.47 seconds on Saturday.

She qualified fifth in Friday’s preliminaries with a personal-best 42.18.

“A bunch of things kind of went wrong at once, so it was not a good race by any standard,” Bender, who is bound for UC Santa Barbara, said by phone. “But I wouldn’t trade state finals for anything.”

— From staff reports