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Record-breaker Johansson leads excellence @ South County Classic

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 (SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.) — Everyone wanted the spotlight on Friday night and a slew of kids sure did their part to earn it. But Curtis Godin and Carl Johansson did a whole lot more.
The pair of seniors, from Mater Dei High and Orange Lutheran, respectively, mirrored each other with school record performances and top-five all-time Orange County performances to share top billing at Friday’s inaugural South County Classic at San Clemente High. Orange Lutheran’s Carl Johansson made his mid-wintertime slump event more of a distant memory, racking up his third lifetime-best performance in as many outings, this time being pushed to the limit in a great pole vault competition that saw two athletes eclipse their school records. Johansson has been all about school records of late, setting    Orange Lutheran’s new standard with a 15-10.00 clearance at the California Indoor State Meet to win the title there, then upped his best to a school record 16-05 in dual meet action against Tesoro on March 6th, then tacked on another inch via his 16-06.00 winning effort here.
Johansson, who also took a great stab at clearing 17-00.00 on his first attempt at that awe-inspiring height, arrived at Orange Lutheran four years ago when the school record was merely 12-10.00. Aided by healthy competition with teammates David Bean and since-graduated Kevin Stull over the years, Johansson has fashioned his consistent improvement into a situation where he awakes on Saturday as the slight favorite to capture the California state championship outdoors in early June.
What a difference a few good weeks can make.
“January I had a slow start, and then Reno (for the the Pole Vault Summit), I was really struggling,” admitted Johansson. “I was kind of freaking out and like, ‘Come on, I got this.’ Up to the state meet, something just happened and I jumped 16 there… I hadn’t even jumped 15 up to then (this winter). Ever since then, everything came together and I’ve just been (setting personal records) every meet ever since then.”
Johansson cited an adjustment in his take-off angle as one reason his consistency and performances have improved, leading to his latest breakthrough that carried him into a toe for fifth on the all-time Orange County pole vault list.
“Last year, I was sinking in and going straight up (at take-off),” said Johansson, who signed a letter of intent to Texas A&M University last month. “This year, I’m kind of rising right off the ground, just been working on getting back more.”
Johansson’s sharpness here paid off as Santa Margarita’s Parker Curry and Mater Dei’s Tommy Nord each had their own memorable performances during a thrilling back-and-forth battle between the three.
When Nord cleared 15-06, a huge grin plastered his face from ear to ear as teammates and friends rushed the pit to congratulate him.
Curry also was clutch in landing a 16-00 performance that broke his own school record by two inches and could have applied pressure on Johansson. But the Orange Lutheran senior exhibited true poise in zoning in and scaling above 16-06.00. By the time the winner had been decided, Curry had already taken 14 attempts while the fresher Johansson had only taken eight jumps before attacking the 17-foot barrier.  more


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