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Erica McLain
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When Erica McLain won the Texas state 5A triple jump in Austin last month for the third straight year, we asked her to think back 3 years when fellow-Texan Ychlindria Spears set the national record in triple jump (44-2.25). Did she think then that she might some day have a chance to break Spears' record? "I was just a bubble head freshman then," Erica said, "so, yeah, I probably thought I could do it." Now, as a national champion senior preparing to enroll at Stanford in the fall, McLain definitely thinks she can do it. |
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McLain started this year as one of only four high school girls ever to clear 43 feet, and that rarified territory has become her home. In her Texas regional, she soared beyond 44 feet and would have had the record at 44-3.25 except for a 2.1 meter per second tail wind, just over the legal limit of 2.0. At the Texas meet, McLain was hobbled by a sore toe and knee that made her grimace when landing in the pit, but she still boomed out five jumps better than 42-7 and two over 43 feet to win by four feet.
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Erica wasn't too upset about missing the record in Austin because she has three more chances to get it, starting with the Great Southwest Classic. She also has her eye on the US Junior Nationals in College Station TX later this month because the top two finishers there will qualify for the World Juniors in Grossetto Italy in August. "I want to go shopping in Italy," Erica said.
McLain's dominance of triple jump in the US was challenged last week in California when Merrill West jr Brittany Daniels hit the 44 foot mark twice in her sectional meet. A wind legal (2.0) 44-0 mark unseated McLain from the US#1 spot on DyeStat's Nike List of national leaders, and Daniels flew out to 44-8 with a 4.3 tail wind. About the time McLain is jumping in Albuquerque Saturday, Daniels will be jumping in Sacramento at the California State Meet. They might both break the old record.
Great Southwest Classic index page
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