Track & Field: Great Oak’s Milan makes leap of faith

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It was a memorable day for Temecula Great Oak senior Chris Milan.

After finding out this morning where he will be headed to college next fall, he leaped a personal-best 22 feet, one inch on his final attempt to win the Open boys long jump at the Mt. SAC Relays. In doing so, he broke the school senior record of 21’ 11’ set last spring by Cameron Green.

Milan’s previous best effort was a jump of 21’ 6’ in the Wildcat Relays at Paloma Valley early this season. Friday’s triumph earned him a place in Saturday’s seeded division. Milan ran through the first of his six jumps in the finals and fouled on the fifth. His last jump overtook Moorpark’s Kenny Fehy, who finished second in 21’ 8.75.’

‘I was in second place the whole time and my coach was telling me I needed 22 [inches] to win it,’ said Milan, who has been accepted to Warner Pacific, an NAIA college in Portland, Ore. ‘The key is just building up speed down the runway. I knew when I landed I’d jumped pretty far. I was praying the official didn’t raise the red flag.’

Milan also played cornerback on the Wolfpack’s football team, but track and field is his passion. ‘I’m not one of those guys doing this just to stay in shape for football. My heart is in track.’

In addition to qualifying for the seeded long jump competition, Milan will also run the third leg of the Invitational 4x100 relay on Saturday. Great Oak set the school record of 41.83 seconds at the Arcadia Invitational two weeks ago.

In other Open events, Marissa Rossi of Calabasas won the girls long jump in 17 feet, 5.25 inches. Jake David of Ventura cleared 14 feet to win the boys pole vault and Regine Howard of Fresno Bullard won the girls shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 11.25 inches.

-- Steve Galluzzo