Jackson Gets Big Jump on the Competition

SIMI VALLEY — Oliver Jackson of Royal High had the superior individual marks.

But Will Svitek of Newbury Park led his team to victory in a Marmonte League track and field opener at Royal on Thursday that featured two of the top multi-sport athletes in Ventura County.

Jackson, a junior, won the long jump with a school-record leap of 24-1, the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.9, the 200 in 23.1, and ran the second leg on the winning 400 relay that clocked 44.2, but Newbury Park defeated the Highlanders, 88-33.

Svitek, a junior, scored 16 points for the defending league-champion Panthers (3-1) by winning the shotput in 53-4 and the discus in 136-4, and finishing second in the long jump (20-1) and high hurdles (16.5).

But Jackson, a free safety and wide receiver on Royal’s football team, had athletes, coaches and spectators talking after adding 11 inches to his previous best in the long jump.

“That was a great jump,” Svitek said. “I heard [the official say] 24 feet and was amazed.”

Jackson moved into a tie for third on the all-time county performer list with his effort, but he hopes to jump a foot and a half farther by the end of the season.

“I didn’t think I’d jump that far today,” said Jackson, the defending Southern Section Masters Meet champion. “But I want to go 25-7 this year.”

Jackson, defending county champion in the long jump and triple jump, fouled on his first attempt in the long jump before leaping 22-4 on his second try and 24-1 on his third. He passed on his fourth--and final--attempt.

“My second jump didn’t feel very good,” Jackson said. “So I just sat down, relaxed, got my head together and focused on that one jump.”

Svitek, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound native of the former nation of Czechoslovakia, seemed to be in perpetual motion for the first 1 1/2 hours of the meet, going from the shotput ring to the long-jump pit to the track for the high hurdles and then to the discus ring.

“I didn’t throw very well,” Svitek said of the discus. “But I don’t worry about marks in these [league meets]. I just concentrate on place and try to score as many points for the team as I can. The invitationals are the meets where the marks are more important.”

Svitek, an all-league defensive end in football and a starting forward on Newbury Park’s basketball team, won his second consecutive intermediate (ages 15-16) boys’ decathlon title in the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics in Seattle last summer, but rules prohibit him from competing in more than four events in a high school meet.

“I’m good at the shot and the discus and I run a pretty good time in the hurdles,” Svitek said. “But I’m an all-around guy. Sometimes I’ll see guys get all cocky when they beat me in an event and I’ll just say, ‘OK. Let’s do nine other events. I’ll smoke you.’ ”