Track and Field /John Ortega : La Monica Loses Gear, but Posts Career Bests in TAC Junior Meet

After several months of frustration and disappointment caused by an injury, things are falling into place for Jeff La Monica.

The former Poly High standout placed fifth in the decathlon at The Athletics Congress Junior track and field championships in Tallahassee, Fla., last week and, most important, he sees better performances ahead.

La Monica, a sophomore at Cal State Los Angeles, set or tied six personal bests in scoring 6,564 points at the TAC meet. His previous best was 6,269, which placed him second in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships in May.

“I’d been waiting for the junior championships for a long time,” said La Monica, an alternate on the U. S. junior team that will compete in the U. S.-Canada multiple-event meet in August. “Especially because of the injury problems.”

Hobbled by a strained tendon in his right foot, La Monica was unable to train consistently for much of the season.

“It really got frustrating,” he said. “I had to cut a lot of workouts short and I even missed a few because I was just so depressed about the whole thing.”

The most exasperating moments, however, came when La Monica had to take three weeks off in April to let the injury heal.

“Those were the worst times,” he said. “I’ve never been a patient person and those three weeks really tested me. I was bored out of my skull.”

La Monica’s patience was tested further last week when an airline company lost his vaulting poles and javelin en route to Tallahassee.

“They still don’t know where they are,” La Monica said. “How hard can it be to find a 16-foot-long white case?”

Using borrowed equipment, La Monica cleared 14 feet, 9 inches in the pole vault and threw a personal-best 187-5 in the javelin.

“I was hoping for 15-1 in the vault before the meet, but I’ll take 14-9 on borrowed poles,” he said.

The 6-foot, 172-pound La Monica is quickly approaching the 7,000-point barrier that he set as a preseason goal.

“I’m only at about 90% right now because of the training I missed with the injury,” he said. “I should be close to 100% by the middle of August.”

Sudbury-bound: Dave Bultman of UCLA placed second in the shotput at TAC Junior championships to qualify for the World Junior track and field championships in Sudbury, Canada, July 26-31.

Like La Monica, Bultman had spent much of his first collegiate season battling injuries.

After producing promising marks of 54 feet in the shotput and 175 feet in the discus in February, Bultman hurt his back at the Bud-Lite Invitational in San Diego and missed many of the invitationals in April and May.

“The injury was mainly due to my technique,” said Bultman, who won 1987 state titles in the shotput and discus while at Royal High. “I didn’t have the greatest technique coming out of high school and that can catch up with you when you get to college.”

In high school, the shot and discus weigh 12 pounds and 3.6 pounds, respectively. The college weights are 16 and 4.4 pounds.

“The heavier weights take a much greater toll on your body,” Bultman said. “Technique is much more important.”

High-level training: Deena Drossin of Agoura High and Charger Coach Bill Duley will attend a junior elite distance camp at the U. S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 2-7.

Drossin, the 1987 girls’ state Division I cross-country champion, was one of 40 high school distance runners invited to the camp.

The camp’s primary purpose is to measure the runner’s physical capacities with a series of physiological tests designed to measure such qualities as lung capacity and body-fat content.

Bryan Dameworth of Agoura will attend the boys’ elite training camp from July 26-30.