Hope falls foul – PCC Courier

Rising star Jared Whitt did not show his best result in the triple jump, as everybody expected, and took only third place at the Occidental Distance Carnival Spring Break Classic on Saturday Mar. 9.

Six track and field athletes represented Pasadena City College in five events.

Whitt, who is a big gold medal hope, finished the long jump in seventh place at 21 feet 6.75 inches. His teammate Justin Smith took ninth place at 21 feet 6 inches. A few hours later Whitt calmly did his warm-up for his superior event the triple jump, from time to time moving his head to a beat playing in his headphones.

“[I feel] pretty good. Body feels better than normal. So hopefully, everything goes good today,” Whitt said before the triple jump contest nicely and friendly as always.

Whitt planned to reach 48 feet, that would put him the number one in the State. The assistant coach Pat William would be glad if Whitt “goes between high 47 and high 48 feet”.

“We are looking for him to take a State lead and looking for improvement,” William said before the triple jump began. “Should be pretty good.”

Whitt’s sprint on a runway looked light but powerful. His white bandana and a white, singular sleeve on his left arm in conjunction with a black Lancer’s competition uniform made him pretty noticeable at the jumping sector.

On the first attempt, Whitt jumped at 46 feet 4 inches. The next three jumps he committed to a foul.

“I slipped on the board my second and third attempt and the last one I have just crushed,” said Whitt. He added that he was not nervous, “Just frustrated a little bit.” He did not know what he would change for the next competitions.

“It happens to jumpers to try to find the step, the rhythm. This is his only second time jumping,” William said. “Just the indication of things to come.”

Justin Smith took 11th place in the triple jump at 41 feet 8.5 inches. Miles Johnson contributed to PCC’s medal box by taking the second place in the high jump at 6 feet 0.75 inches, which he accomplished with the first attempt. Porte-Joie Tshiaba from California State University, Los Angeles took first place in the high jump at 6 feet 4.75 inches.

Sophomore Dylan Che fought for his second place in the heat and was 16th overall in the 800 meters at his seasonal best 1:58.29.

“I think I am happy with my result. I think throughout the season I have been, hopefully, getting something a little better each time,” Che said.

Che’s distance runners teammates Trevor Ave and Giovanni Guajardo participated in 5000 meters. Ave was 19th in the heat at 16:54.44 and Guajardo 35th at 16:55.40.

Now the Lancers are getting ready for BC Relays and Multis Meet hosted by Bakersfield College on Saturday Mar. 16. It is going to be another chance for a rising star Whitt to shine.