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Sandy OR senior Tommy Skipper, who broke a pole and
his left hand going for the indoor national record at the Nike Indoor
Championship in March, opened at 17-1 when two other competitors
remained. Skipper cleared on his second try while Donovan Kilmartin
and Brandon McFarling missed three times. Skipper raised the bar
to 18-0.5 for a new Golden West record and made it. He then raised
the bar to 18-3 and made it for a new national high school record
(was 18-2.25 by Eric Eshbach in 1999). Skipper then missed once
at 18-6 and called it a day. He said his bigger poles didn't arrive
in Sacramento, so it wasn't likely he would make the higher height.
They will be with him when he competes next week in the USA Junior
Nationals at Stanford. It was the third straight meet Skipper moved
the bar up a foot after his opening clearance. "You either
make it or you don't, so you might as well go for it," Skipper
said. He confirmed reports that he will defer entering college so
he can train for the US Olympic Trials next year. He will train
with Dave Leman of Arkansas State.
Tommy now joins his older brother Art Skipper Jr as national record
holders. Art Jr, who died last year when the small airplane he was
flying crashed, still holds the national high school javelin record
at 259-10. "I've been waiting to get this record for my brother,"
Skipper said. He was very pleased he got the record on Father's
Day with his dad, mom, and sister in attendance. |