Media Room
Press ReleasesJune 18, 2008
World Junior Standard No Longer An Issue For Swartz
Shawn Swartz will step a little lighter Saturday when he makes his way to Swangard Stadium to compete at the 25th annual Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic.
No, the Coquitlam Cheetahs' high jumper hasn't been on a crash diet. But he did shed an enormous weight Tuesday night when he leaped a personal best 2.14 metres to finish second at the LaFarge Abbotsford International Track Classic. The mark gave Swartz a qualifying standard for Canada's team to the upcoming world junior track and field championships in Poland.
A career best jump and a ticket to Poland were not what Swartz anticipated when he arrived at the meet on Tuesday.
"I had jumped on Sunday and I was pretty fatigued," he said. " My shins were hurting, I didn't feel good in the warm up. I wasn't even sure I would get 2.09 so I had to really gut it out. This was my second to last chance to get world junior standard so I just had to get it."
Swartz will now compete at the Jerome meet without the pressure of having to make a qualifying standard in what would have been his last chance meet.
"Saturday? I'm just going to have fun now," he laughed. "I've got a standard in my pocket. Hopefully I could get another PB, I'd love to go for around 2.16 or 2.17. But the key is also to be consistent so if I could get 2.14 again I'd certainly be happy."
While Swartz can now afford to just have fun, Mike Mason of Nanoose Bay will be all business at the Jerome meet on Saturday. Mason, the 2004 world junior champion, cleared 2.26 metres en route to winning the men's high jump in Abbotsford on Tuesday. But he missed on three attempts to clear 2.30, the A-plus qualifying standard for a spot on Canada's Summer Olympic team to Beijing.
Ruky Abdulai
"It's there, I just have to put it together," he said after his heel grazed the bar and brought it down on what was nearly a successful third attempt at 2.30 metres. "My first two attempts I just wasn't focused. I didn't really put it all together until my last attempt. Sometimes you can get away with bumping the bar a little bit and I thought I might have just gotten away with it, but I didn't. But part of my problem today was I just wasn't focused enough."
Mason, who finished eighth at the world indoor championships earlier this year, cleared a personal best 2.30 metres indoors in January. But indoor marks are ineligible for Olympic team consideration. Currently he has two B-standard leaps of 2.27 metres but without the A-plus standard Mason must win the high jump at the July Olympic trials to earn a trip to Beijing.
"The Harry Jerome meet on Saturday is going to be pretty important now," says Mason. "I'd really like to jump the 2.30 which means I only have to finish in the top four at nationals, it takes the pressure off."
American veteran Jamie Nieto comes to the Jerome men's high jump with a current season best of 2.26 metres, and a personal outdoor best of 2.34 metres earned in finishing fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Also competing is Oregon's Jesse Williams, a former NCAA champion and U.S. junior champion who brings a season best 2.25, and PB 2.32 to Swangard.
Meantime, Jerome meet organizers confirmed Tuesday night another event, the women's long jump, has been added to the meet program for Saturday. That is good news for Valley Royals' Ruky Abdulai, who won the women's long jump at Abbotsford but her 6.55-metre effort was short of the 6.72-metre A-plus standard for the Beijing Olympics.
Abdulai, who was born in Ghana but became a Canadian citizen earlier this year, knows full well she can make the standard. She leaped a Canadian record 6.72 metres in April but the effort came outside the allowed time-frame for standards to be accepted. She now has another chance on Saturday.
The 25th annual Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic goes Saturday, June 21 at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium. Tickets and meet information are now available through the meet website at www.harryjerome.com.
For media inquiries contact:
Diane Clement
dclement00@hotmail.com or (604) 261-6220
For athlete information contact:
Marek Jedrezejek
marekj@interchange.ubc.ca or (604) 822-6259
or
Doug Clement
dclement00@hotmail.com
