Day takes home bronze

Sharon Day, a former Costa Mesa High standout, finished third place

and with a bronze medal in the women’s high jump when she cleared

1.91 meters or 6 feet, 3 1/4 inches, matching her personal record at

the world junior track and field championships in Grosseto, Italy

Sunday.

Kovalenko Iryna of the Ukraine won the women’s high jump with a

clearance of 6-4. Shkolina Svetlana of Russia finished second with

one fewer miss on 6-3 1/4. Svetlana cleared the mark on her second

attempt, while Day went over on her third and final try.

Day, who will be a sophomore at Cal Poly in the fall, also cleared

6-3 1/4 to win an all-comers meet at Atascadero three weeks ago.

Day, 19, the 2002 and 2003 CIF state girls high jump champion,

qualified for the U.S. Olympic track and field finals, but chose to

compete in the world junior championships instead because she said

she wanted one more chance to represent Team USA as a junior athlete,

which requires being under the age of 20.