Track and field: Day heads to Sacramento

Steve Virgen

SACRAMENTO - Costa Mesa High junior Sharon Day, the CIF State

champion in the high jump, will compete in the prestigious Golden West

Invitational today at Sacramento State. Corona del Mar senior Julie

Allen, a distance runner bound for Stanford, has pulled out of the 3,200

meters because of illness.

Day will compete in the high jump, scheduled for 7:25 p.m.

Day, who won the state high jump title with a 5-foot, 10-inch

clearance June 1 at Cerritos College, was thrilled to be invited to the

postseason track and field prep meet.

“It feels really good to know that I’m one of the top nine in the

United States,” said Day, who has been training throughout the week. “I

want to go there and have fun. I just want to jump my best. I don’t have

any big goals in mind. I just want to see how I do against people who are

jumping higher than me to get me ready for next year.”

Day, her mother and father, Eugene, who is her jumping coach, are

making a mini-vacation of the trip.

Meanwhile, Allen will be recuperating from her illness with the hopes

of being ready for June 22. That’s when she’s scheduled to compete in the

USA National Track and Field Championships at Stanford.

“We’ll regroup during the week,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. “This is

a good meet, but it’s not the end of the world for her because she has

the nationals to look forward to.”

The Golden West Invitational is in its 43rd year, and its past

includes athletes whom have represented the United States in every

Olympic Games since 1964. The site, Sacramento State, was the same one

used by USA Track & Field for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000.