Louise Ritter Clears 6-8 to Set U.S. Mark

AUSTIN, Tex. — Louise Ritter set an American women’s record of 6 feet 8 inches in the high jump Friday night at the Texas-USA trial qualifications on the University of Texas campus.

Ritter, a former collegiate performer for Texas Women’s University, broke her own mark of 6-7 that she established on Sept. 1, 1983 in Rome and tied last Aug. 19 in Zurich.

“You never know, you just never know,” said Ritter, 30. “I felt really good coming into the meet and I thought I might have a chance at doing myself some good.”

Ritter, competing for the Mazda Track Club, made the jump on her second attempt and tried once at 6-10 before quitting.

Ritter had already qualified for the Olympic trials. Qualifying height for the trials, which will be held July 15-24 in Indianapolis, is 6-2.

The world record of 6-10 is held by Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria.

In the men’s high jump, Jimmy Howard, former Texas star James Lott and Jake Jacoby all cleared qualifying heights, with Howard winning the event at 7-7 and both Lott and Jacoby going 7-5.

All three had already qualified. The qualifying standard is 7-4 1/2.

Derrick Florence of the Aggie Track Club won the 100 meters in 10.2 seconds to turn in a qualifying time, but he too had already made the Olympic trials.