Garces high jump star McCullum lands at Cal Poly
| Thursday, Feb 04 2010 07:46 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Feb 04 2010 07:46 PM
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Garces High School senior athlete, Phillip McCullum waves at his family members and friends, while receiving a congratulatory hug from his older brother, Adrian McCullum, at the end of McCullum's letter of intent signing day to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Garces High School senior athlete, Phillip McCullum, was happy Thursday, during his letter of intent signing event to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to high jump on the track and field team.
Some 10 years ago, Phillip McCullum out-jumped all of the contestants in his older brother's track meet.
About a year ago, he out-jumped a slew of California competitors in the high jump by a quarter of an inch.
Those feats eventually led him Thursday to a conference room at Garces, where he signed a letter of intent to high-jump at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the next four years.
"It feels like it was meant to be," McCullum said. "I'm really excited about it."
McCullum was a state high-jump qualifier as a junior and is ranked in the state's top 10 in the event for this spring. Cal Poly's program underwent a coaching change in the past year and so entered McCullum's recruitment process only a month ago, but the school made an immediate impression.
"I actually went to visit the week after the coach arrived," McCullum said. "He was their cross-country coach (Conover), and he's the track coach as well.
"As soon as I stepped on campus, I knew that's where I wanted to be. I had pretty much narrowed it down to Fresno State and Cal State Bakersfield, just like most other Bakersfield kids. But Cal Poly swept me off my feet. ... It really feels meant to be."
A Division I dream became a reality for McCullum last year, when he jumped 6-foot-81/4 inches at the early-season Pasadena Games.
"That's a competitive Division I level; that's where you can score points," McCullum said. "And so I thought, 'If there are kids out there doing it, why can't I do it?'"
He didn't reach 6-81/4 again that year because of a sprained ankle, but the extra quarter-inch was enough to separate his name from the field.
"There were probably six or seven in the state of California that were at 6-8," said Phillip McCullum Sr, a proud father and Garces' coach. "He jumped 6-8 that day, then went up 6-81/4 and then went up again."
And so the younger McCullum fulfilled a dream in front of his dad/coach, his other coaches, his other family and a collection of friends who erupted in applause several times -- and even provided the pen with which he signed when the one on the table went missing.
"I'm very proud, but in a sense, I'm sad, because he's going to be leaving as my best friend and best athlete," the older McCullum said.
All of this sprung from a second-grade meet in which McCullum's older brother, Adrian, was jumping. A coach -- not the senior McCullum -- thought the younger brother had potential to compete right away, so he filled out an entry sheet.
"I ended up winning and beating all the other kids," McCullum said. "Ever since then, that's what started the ball rolling. It's been so many years: I've been working for so long, and it's finally paid off."
