Miller wins high jump title Miller wins high jump title (June 11, 2004)

Los Altos senior is first in state with 5-9.25 leap

By Colleen Corcoran

She finished first in her league, then first in the CCS regionals. Last weekend, Los Altos' Allie Miller took on the whole state of California. At the state championships in Sacramento, the high jump competition ended suddenly with Miller's winning 5-9.25 mark.

"We had really wanted someone else to clear 5-9 along with her to give her a little competition at 5-10," Los Altos coach Julia Widstrand said. "It's hard to push yourself when you've already won it."

Second-place Desirae Gonder of Stockdale (5-8) and eighth-place Mindi Wiley of Sonoma Valley (5-5) cleared 5-10 earlier this season but not last Saturday. But top personal records don't always mean top finishes at one-time events.

"Some people do better as the competition elevates, and some people get too stressed out," Widstrand observed. "Like any event, you have your good days and bad days."

Tying the personal record she earned at last year's CCS finals, Miller had no problem with pressure. And a slight head wind didn't hurt.

"She has a tendency to jump too close to the bar, and the wind held her back a little which was good," Widstrand said.

Miller also qualified to compete in the 100m hurdles and the 300m hurdles. Unfortunately, a controversial false start call during last Friday's preliminaries cost her the 100m hurdles, and she scratched in the 300m hurdles.

Miller will work on clearing 5-10 in the high jump sometime this summer. After that, she will be taking her talent to UCLA in the heptathlon where, at the college level, she will compete on an even bigger stage.

Franklin finishes fourth

It took an 11-8 preliminary pole vault for sophomore Taylor Franklin of St. Francis to advance to the final round of the Sacramento state championships last weekend.

But it would have taken another foot to match winner Allison Stokke's 12-8 mark. Stokke hails from Newport Harbor.

In the end, Franklin shared her fourth-place 11-5.75 finish with Jannae Bennett of Foothill and Whitney Johnson of Mission Viejo.

Giants' closing ceremonies

The Mountain View Giants baseball team led the Little League Major division this year by finishing the season 10-2.

Closing ceremonies will take place on June 12 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. at McKelvey Park. Division coaches will compete against one another throughout the afternoon. For more information, visit www.mvll.org.

Brian David wins shootout

For the second year in a row, Brian David claimed the State Bullseye Pistol Championship trophy. David is a former manager of the recently closed Eddy's Sport Shop in Mountain View.

Using .22 and .45 caliber pistols in three individual matches, David earned 2577-79x points out of a possible 2700, beating second-place Tony Silva's 2564-104x points. Tie-breaking hits are referred to as Xs.

"It was a close call," said David. "There were 20 very good shooters out that day, but I was able to come in and win the slow, NMC and rapid fire categories in the .45 match and win the grand aggregate."

David hopes to compete at the National Championships at Camp Perry Ohio.

E-mail Colleen Corcoran at sports@mv-voice.com

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