Murrieta Valley's Star Pole Vaulter Sets School Record At Mt. Sac Relays

With hundreds of track and field athletes competing at this weekend's 53rd annual Mt. Sac Relays, a few were destined to have more memorable performance than others.

Murrieta Valley junior Peter Chapman was one of them. Chapman won the boys pole vault Invitational on Saturday, setting a personal and brand-new school record by clearing 15 feet, 9 inches. Kyser Anderson of Clovis West finished second at 15-5, followed by Evan Barr of Loyola at 15-1.

"I didn't think I was going to do it," said Chapman shortly following his victory. "It's just an exciting feeling. I was just relaxed during the competition and made sure I made my clearances."

Chapman's 15'9" mark bests a 2005 school record of 15'7" and considering that Chapman has the rest of this season and next year, he stands poised to break the school record he just set.

"The plan is to just go higher," he said. "It would be nice to go 19 feet. A goal of mine is to make the Olympics."

Chapman made the CIF Preliminaries last season and is confident he could advance higher a second time around.

"I want to go further, reach State," he said.

The Mt. Sac Relays began last week with the Community College events; the relays culminated on Saturday with a large portion of high school races.

National powerhouse Long Beach Poly was a big winner, taking first place in the boys and girls team scoring by healthy margins.

"Mt. Sac is always a great tune-up," head girls coach Crystal Irving said. "We bring the entire team and it's a great showcase for our athletes. We had lots of PR's (personal records) and that's great."

Among the top performers on Saturday included Covina High School sprinter Remontay McClain and Agoura High School hurdler Johnathan Cabral, who each won two individual events on Saturday.

McClain, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200, won both invitational events with 10.66 and 21.14 runs.

Cabral was impressive in winning the 110 and 300 meter hurdle invitational races. He edged Diamond Ranch's Andrew Fischer in the 110 with a 37.49 run to Fischer's 37.79. In the 300, Cabral boasted an impressive 13.38 run, which bested the high school meet record at Mt. Sac and was nearly a second better than La Costa Canyon's Julian Todd-Borden (14.40).

Aside from the high school races, there were also college races, Olympic developmental races and paralympic races among others.

Joseph Smith came all the way from Sacramento and was a winner in the men's 50-99 200 meter dash.

"Mt. Sac is just a great place to run and  I support it all the way," said Smith, 52, who was raised in Southern California. "It's like a homecoming for me."