Balky Bar, Extra Effort Lead to County Best

Lynn Patrick, a junior from Serra High School, cleared a county-best 5-feet 8 3/4-inches in the City Eastern League high jump preliminaries Monday at Balboa Stadium. Patrick, who won the state meet with a jump of 5-10 last year, had a previous county best of 5-8.

After passing at every height until 5-0, Patrick cleared 5-0, 5-2, 5-4 and 5-6 on her first attempts. After clearing 5-7 on her second try, Patrick asked to move the bar to 5-8 1/2.

Meet officials could not set the bar at 5-8 1/2 because the standards would not stick at that height. They set it at 5-8 3/4 without telling her, meet officials said.

After clearing that on her third try, Patrick missed on three tries at 5-9. She will compete in the City Eastern finals Friday at Balboa Stadium.