PHILADELPHIA – There’s a difference between winning at the Penn Relays and having the chance to stand on the awards platform in the middle of Franklin Field.

Syracuse sophomore Sheron Mark felt that difference Friday morning, capturing the college women’s Eastern triple jump. Mark left the sand pit, jogged to her seat in the bleachers and left soon after while Stanford’s Erica McLain waved to the crowd after winning the college women’s triple jump championship, the more elite of the two competitions.

‘I think I would have gotten a better mark,’ Mark said of being left out of the 12-woman championship flight.

The No. 1 seed after the trials, Mark hopped, skipped and jumped to a 12.76-meter jump in the finals, almost a foot longer than her closest competition. It would have placed her fourth in the championship competition. The measurement actually broke the previous record for the event of 12.44.

Mark had her sights on jumping 13 meters (McLain jumped 13.34) but had some issues on her approach to the board.

Syracuse jumps coach Enoch Borozinski said Mark referred back to an old habit in her last two or three steps to the board, leaning down and popping up at her jump.

‘She’s wasting energy,’ Borozinski said. ‘She has to get out horizontally and start pushing through the jump.’

Mark posted three jumps that would have won the competition, the 12.76 coming in her second jump of the finals. At her last jump, Mark walked out of the sand and started back toward her warm-ups before the 12.66 measurement was even displayed.

‘She was consistent,’ Borozinski said. ‘She was right on track at that jump. She jumped 12.94 indoors without any legs under her.’

Senior Jenna Grimaldi appeared to have no legs under her in the afternoon, failing to get over the opening height of the women’s high jump championship. Grimaldi hit the bar with her back at her first attempt at 1.75 meters. She clipped the bar with her legs the second time before the height was raised. She was back in the stands and ready to head back to Syracuse in almost 20 minutes.

‘The two felt really good,’ she said, of her first serious competition in a month.

Both athletes will have a very serious competition next weekend at the Big East Championships in Piscataway, N.J. Grimaldi will have a few jumps to study over the week and Mark will get another chance at a realistic personal best, one that could’ve contended for a spot on the podium at Franklin Field.

‘It was supposed to be today,’ Mark said Friday, ‘but hopefully I’ll get it next week.’

Published on May 1, 2005 at 12:00 pm