SU's House setting bar high at championships

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 10, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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In the two most important meets of the season, Southern high jumper Jason House has added a certain dramatic flair to the end of his performance.

But it’s not the kind of dramatics House, a sophomore, wants in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin Wednesday at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

In the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships in April and the NCAA Mideast Regionals two weeks ago, House had to come up with a clutch jump just to stay alive in the competition.

House, a native of Laurel, Miss., was down to his final try at 6 feet 10 inches when he cleared the bar. He went on to win the title at 7-1, which turned out to be the second-best jump in the NCAA Mideast Region this spring.

It was a similar adventure, however, for House at the regional meet. He made his first try at 6-9, then missed three times at 6-11. Still, he tied for fifth and got into a jump-off with four other competitors to see who would earn the region’s final automatic spot to the NCAA Championships.

After the other four missed, House calmly sailed over the bar to earn his second straight trip to nationals.

“I wasn’t excited at all,” House said of his clutch jump. “In fact, I’m very disappointed. I knew what I was doing wrong (early in the competition). It was just a matter of fixing the problem and going out and performing.”

Which is what he’ll try to do this week. House, Southern’s lone entrant in the meet, will compete in the qualifying round at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday. If he’s successful there, he will advance to the final at 7 p.m. Friday.

After coming up with some heart-stopping jumps to stay in his most recent competitions, House would like to come up with a dramatic jump that means a little more — like finishing in the top eight at nationals.

Nebraska’s Dusty Jonas is way out in front with a nation’s-leading jump of 7-8 3/4. Still, House’s best of 7-1, which is tied for 16th, is not far off the fifth-best mark of 7-3 1/4 going into nationals.

No matter what, House’s goal is to better last year’s performance at the NCAA meet. He qualified for the final, but two nights later missed three times at the opening height of 6-10 3/4.

House is one of nine individuals from state schools other than LSU to qualify for nationals.

Another local standout trying to earn All-America honors with a top-eight finish is Southeastern Louisiana’s Teremine White. A White Castle native, White will be in the men’s discus competition for the second time in three years after finishing fifth at the regional meet. He ranks 12th in the nation with a throw of 194 feet.