Sean Lee is 13. Willie Banks is 56.

Only at an all-comers track meet would an intermediate school student be competing against a Hall of Famer—a two-time Olympian and former world record holder in the triple jump. But the high jump is Sean's specialty. He holds numerous youth records and titles.

When the bar was raised to 5 feet 11 inches Saturday at Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Peñasquitos, it was a showdown of two American age-group record holders—with Banks the best man over 55 (having cleared 6 feet last year) and Sean having been among the best preteens ever. Follow RSM Patch on Facebook and Twitter.

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Read other stories on RSM Patch. The result: Three misses for Banks, a Carlsbad resident and La Jolla High School coach, and a second-try clearance for Sean of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Watched by father Ron Lee—a coach at Trabuco Hills High—Sean had good tries at 6-1, which would have been 3 inches short of the American record for boys 13-14. Asked what he thought about beating a legend, Sean just smiled.

Banks smiled too—especially after getting a great mark in the triple jump after fouling three times (by stepping over the takeoff board). On his fourth and last try, the Oceanside High product's hop, step and jump covered a distance of 42-6¼.

That beats the listed American record for men 55-59 by 16 inches. At first, for lack of a steel measuring tape, the mark was considered ineligible for ratification by USA Track and Field. A cloth tape had been used.

But Banks informed Patch Sunday that "they held up the event until a steel tape could be purchased from the nearest Home Depot, so the record will be ratified." Dennis McClanahan, the meet director and Mt. Carmel High School track coach, had made a call for a steel tape over the PA system, but none was produced at first.