CHAMINADE'S GILTNER WINS THE HIGH JUMP.

Byline: Danny Schumacher Daily News Staff Writer

It took three years of trying, but Chaminade High School's Liz Giltner broke a personal barrier Saturday when she won the girls' high jump during the State Track and Field Championships at Cerritos College.

Giltner cleared a personal best of 5-feet-10 on her first attempt and then watched anxiously as defending champion Tara Flaming of Immanuel missed her final attempt at 6-0.

``It's a pleasant surprise,'' Giltner said. ``It was an awesome competition. I wanted to look (at Flaming's attempt) but I didn't.''

It turned out to be safe to look for Giltner because Flaming, who won the meet last year with a clearance of 6-0, missed badly on her final jump.

And that brought out celebration among Giltner's supporters, including her father Larry and coach Stefan Hoelzel.

``This comes as a huge surprise,'' Larry Giltner said. ``We figured she would be second or third but no way did we figure to win it. I'm buzzing, I'm buzzing. I'm absolutely buzzed.''

Giltner's winning jump also moved her into a tie for fourth on the all-time area list. If she would have cleared 6-0, Giltner would have tied Chrissy Mills' (Campbell Hall, 1989) area record.

But for now Giltner is just happy to have improved so much. She cleared 5-8 once as a freshman, three times as a sophomore and six times this year. Then came the 5-10 leap Saturday.

``It was just a matter of time. I had to push (coach Hoelzel, telling him) that I would like to do well at state.'' said Giltner, who is training for the Junior National heptathlon next month. ``He didn't want me to be fresh until this meet.''

Hoelzel responded by cutting back on Giltner's running workouts in her training for the heptathlon.

It made a difference as Giltner took advantage of her fresh legs to breeze through the lower heights. She didn't miss for the first time until the bar reached 6-0.