CLOVIS — Talk about a whirlwind kind of Friday for Clear Lake High School senior Zuhuri Manley.
Competing in the long jump during the CIF State Track & Field Championships on Friday afternoon at Clovis, Manley went right from Veterans Memorial Stadium to the airport in order to catch a plane ride home to Lakeport so that he could attend his graduation at Don Owens Stadium.
Earlier in the week Manley said he didn”t know if he would attend graduation or the state championships because both were taking place within hours of each other. The problem was solved when pilot Tom Lincoln of Lakeport volunteered to fly Manley back home so that he could don his cap and gown and graduate with his classmates. He made it in time, too. Lincoln”s plane landed at Lampson Field near Lakeport at 6:40 p.m., 50 minutes ahead of the start of the commencement ceremonies.
About the only way this story could have had a happier ending for Manley is if he would have placed in the top 12 during the long jump qualifying portion of Friday”s competition. Only the top 12 move on to today”s finals. Thirty-two jumpers divided into three sections each received three jumps. Manley, coming off a fourth-place finish at last weekend”s Meet of Champions where he broke the Clear Lake school record with a leap of 22 feet, 10 1/4 inches, competed in section two. He cleared 22 feet on his first jump, 22-1 1/2 on his second jump and 21-4 on his final jump, leaving him in 10th place with one section of jumpers remaining.
Manley quickly fell to 14th and finally ended up 20th after the final section, which included many of the state”s top jumpers, was done. Adoree Jackson of Serra posted the top qualifying mark of 24-7 1/4 and two other jumpers also had marks of 24-0 or better. Had Manley repeated his best jump at the Meet of Champions last weekend — 22-10 1/4 — he would have tied for 11th and advanced to today”s finals.
The top 12 qualifiers Friday start from scratch today in the finals.
