The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 281

SCVThurMlay. July 31. lJNf 1 1 Cos Angeles (Times Gold Medalist Wishes He Was in His Prime Bob Seagren Still Longs to Vault two sessions. Aug. 3-8 and 10-15.

The cost is $110 for commuter campers and $150 for live-in campers. Registration forms are with the Fullerton athletic department at (714) 773-2677. Youth Tennis Tourney The San Gabriel Parks and Recreation Department will hold a tennis tournament for boys and girls 18 and younger Aug. 22-23, at San Gabriel High School An Aug. 15 deadline has been set to register for the tournament, which costs $4 to enter.

Sports Calendar Softball Tournament Former Los Angeles Dodgers" pitcher Joe Moeller. pitching coach at USC. will speak at the opening ceremonies of a Softball tournament and barbecue at 10 a.m. today at North-side Park in Azusa. The event is from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m. Admission is free-, lunch is 50 cents. Slow-Pitch Softball Registration is under way for men's, women's and co-ed slow-pitch softball leagues that are sponsored by the Monrovia Department of Community Services. The cost is $270 a team plus $7 a game for officials' fees. Registration is at the Monrovia Community Center.

119 W. Palm Ave. League play is expected to start Aug. 4. Wrestling Camp Youths aged 10 to 18 are eligible to participate in the Titan Wrestling Camp at Cal State Fullerton, which will have YOUR COMPLETE HEADQUARTERS FOR PLUMBING.

KITCHEN AND BATH FIXTURES. These Sale Prices Good thru 8786 with copy of this ad. Outside Water K0IILER FIXTURES ONE PIECE 3-WALL FIBERGLASS SHOWER STALL HEATER ENCLOSURES For 20. 30, 40 Gallon Tanks 24x24x76" AND FAUCETS 25 OFF 34" $151 36" $159 42" $166 48" $171 IN 95 Mm $90 M47 NLy uu By BRIAN LANDMAN. Timet Staff Writer Bob Seagren, who won the gold medal in the pole vault in the 1968 Olympic Games and the silver in the 1972 Games, grimaced and gently massaged his back when he recalled his final vault.

The last time I jumped was for a commercial for the United Bank of Denver about 10 years ago," Seagren said. "I didn't know if I was going to get over the bar at all, but I cleared 16 feet five times. "But when I woke up the next morning. I felt like I was beat up in an alley somewhere. My back hurt My rib cage hurt.

I could barely walk. I couldn't believe how sore I was." Still, the former Pomona High School and USC standout, who set six world records and won four National Collegiate Athletic Assa championships from 1966 to 1972. would like to be vaulting today. "I wish I were in my prime now," said Seagren, who last competed in 1976. after a four-year stint in a short-lived professional track and field circuit "I always enjoyed competing against the best, and Sergei Bubka is the best.

He's in a class by himself." Bubka of the Soviet Union has broken the world record six times in the last two years, most recently vaulting 19 feet, 8 inches at the Goodwill Games in Moscow. In Bubka's streak, he has added 6V4 inches to the world mark he set in 1984. To put that feat in some perspective, when Seagren broke his own world record of 18-4 with a vault of 18-5V6 at the 1972 Olympic trials in Eugene, it took nine more years before Thierry Vigneron of France added 6 inches to the mark. "He could break 20 feet anytime he wants," Seagren said. "But every time he breaks the record, he gets perks, so he's smart doing it a little at a time." In Seagren's day, 20 feet was perceived as an unattainable goal, even with state-of-the art equipment such as his Cata-Pole 550, better known as the "green pole," which he used at the U.

S. Trials. That pole subsequently was banned at the Games, probably costing Seagren a second gold medal as East Germany's Wolfgang Nordwig won the event with a. vault of 18 feet, V4 inch. But Seagren said that a new technique, not new equipment, is the key to Bubka's new heights.

Please see SEAGREN, Page 12 CLOSET COMB $QR05 1 3j VI i I fc DESIGNER BRASS FAUCETS vr IT HAS TO BE ccnncnc A I LEJULIIO ricesStarr. as low as I $27995) i Hoom Air Conditioners Parchment Only A-GRADE SEAT NOT INCL 25-30 OFF 3f flnt 1 "-ft 't mmi mi "By advertising in the Los Angeles Times Southeast and Orange County editions, we're able to effectively focus on our trading area." John E. Thompson president Thompson's Furniture Company Bellflower, California ERIC DRAPER Los Angeles Times Bob Seagren plays in celebrity tennis tournaments like this one in Santa Monica, but he would rather be competing in the pole vault. SportsScope 'Baseball Ambassadors' Hope to Dispense Good Will While Winning Games in Orient Joe Burdika is looking forward to his wife's pot roast Joe is quick to tell you that Judy's pot roast is his all time favorite. He's been looking forward to it since he learned he was going home.

Going home. Words that mean so much. That's why Home Care Advantage is here to help people like Joe continue their care at home. Home Care Advantage brings the hospital home with round-the-clock skilled nursing and expert care that ranges from physical therapy to intravenous therapy. For many people needing periodic care, it's a way to stay home near family and friends.

For Joe, continuing his recovery at home means he'll be able to lower his health care costs. Without missing Judy's pot roast. Help the one you love come home. Call Home Care Advantage at (818) 915-8621. The 25th tournament, which starts at 8 a.m.

Saturday, has 938 entrants, 197 more than last year. Matches will be played at Glendora High, Citrus College and Dawson Park and Racquet Club. Finals in all divisions are Aug. 10 at Glendora High. The tournament, which features many of the top amateurs in the nation, also has an international flavor with players from Japan, Canada, Mexico and Thailand.

Top seeds in the men's open singles division, which has $1,500 in prize money, are defending champion Bruce Man Son Hing of UC Irvine, Steve Aniston of UC Irvine, former UCLA and Junior Davis Cup team member John Davis of Los Angeles and Harold Hecht of Los Angeles. In the women's open singles division, top seeds are Kristi Blan-kenship of Placentia, Michelle Mras of Anaheim, Jennifer Slattery of Huntington Beach and Linda Mal-lory of Laguna Nigel. Paul Baiotto, tournament director, said the most competitive division may be the open men's doubles, headed by the teams of Aniston and Mark Spearman of Irvine, Hecht and Darrin Kennedy of Los Angeles, Man Son Hing and Chris Euing of Glendale and Nick Mateljan and Kevin Gillette of Redlands. Among the top San Gabriel Valley players are former San Marino High standout Scott Melville of Rice University, seeded No. 6 in men's open singles; Bill Brown of Claremont, No.

2 in the junior boys 18-and-under division, and Amy IjOw of Pomona, seeded No. 4 in the junior girls 18-and-under Division. The Arroyo Seco All-Stars of Pasadena will be one of the favorites when the Senior Babe Ruth Pacific Southwest Regional Baseball Tournament for ages 16-18 starts Saturday at Brookside Park in Pasadena. In opening games of the double-elimination tournament Saturday, Arizona faces Central California at 3 p.m. and Arroyo Seco meets Southern California at 6.

In two other first-round games Sunday, Guam faces Northern California at 3 p.m. and Nevada faces Utah at 6. The championship game of the eight-day event is Aug. 9. They are known as the U.

S. A. Baseball Ambassadors, so it should come as no surprise that their mission is to promote good will while playing baseball. The 14-player team of graduated high school seniors, coached by John Meiers of Arcadia, leaves for a two-week tour of Japan and China on Tuesday. The team will play nine games in the Orient from Aug.

5 to 18, including five in Tokyo and Osaka and four in Beijing and Shanghai. Between games, the players will visit sites such as Mt. Fuji in Japan and the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Last summer the Baseball Ambassadors played nine games in Europe, winning every game and the Adriatic Cup. Meiers said he wanted the team to return to Europe this summer but decided against it because of the recent problems with terrorism.

"We have U. S. A. all over our uniforms and we thought it was too dangerous for us to go there right now," he said. But Meiers said the trip to the Orient is a good alternative.

Meiers has five of his players from Arcadia High on the team: catcher Jim Ballard, infielder Harold Braunstein, pitchers Mark Ju-has and Tim Lindsay and outfielder John Sutton. Other San Gabriel Valley players are third baseman David Gorman and catcherfirst baseman Carlos Salazar from Bishop Amat, outfielder Gary Hollingshead and infielder Scott Root from Covina and shortstop John Harris from Pasadena. Meiers said players are selected for leadership, citizenship, enthusiasm and ability and added that all will play college baseball next season. The top players might be Lindsay and Junas, both selected in the major league free-agent draft in June. The team will play the Arcadia High alumni at 2 p.m.

Sunday at Arcadia High. The team defeated a team of Arcadia High all-stars, 1 1 -2, in another tour warm-up July 20. The Glendora Tennis Tournament, always one of the largest amateur tennis events in Southern California, is getting even bigger. 2 Home Care Advantage" Bringing the support of the hospital home. 100 South Citrus Avenue, Covina, CA 91723 (SIS) 915-8621 i IWr, I IKSCV SM SmicTimuk (if IIKSCiV.