Working to jump higher
When you stop and think about it, what athletes like Hailey Ficklin do is pretty amazing.
They take a running start and try to leap over themselves. For the truly elite athletes, way over.
“I love what I do,” the Central Valley junior high jumper said. “Track is my all-time favorite sport, and I love jumping.”
As a sophomore, Ficklin cleared 5 feet 4 inches and qualified for the State 4A high school track and field meet in Pasco. First-time jitters set in and she managed to clear 4-10, but no higher.
This year, Ficklin has put in plenty of hard work preparing to jump higher. She turned out for cross country for the first time, looking to improve her conditioning. Over the winter she worked with a personal trainer lifting weights, looking to make her body stronger.
“I started out doing cross country just to be running, but I really enjoyed running with the team and came to love the sport,” Ficklin said. “By the time the season started, I was in good shape and really felt stronger in my jumping. I was clearing heights more easily and sooner than I had last year.”
And then an ankle injury set her back by several weeks to start the season.
“She’s a little behind where we expected her to be at this point. We’re starting to work her into a few running events to help her get a little stronger,” coach Dennis McGuire said. “Right now, she’s jumping about 5-2. But jumpers are funny characters. They can be going along and then, boom, they go way up. She can still get there.”
Just exactly how the ankle was injured varies depending on whom you talk to.
“She told me she hurt her ankle rehearsing for Peter Pan,” McGuire said, referring to the school’s recent musical. “I think she must be a little accident prone. Something’s happened every year.”
Ficklin, however, claims the injury happened while jumping.
Either way, the injury was to her plant foot, where her forward speed gets transferred vertically.
“I’m just now beginning to get back to jumping smoothly,” she said. “Having warm weather helps. We have some big meets coming up and I’m ready for some competition.”
The Lady Bears, at least the ones who aren’t attending tonight’s Senior Prom, are in Kirkland for an invitational meet at Lake Washington High School. Next weekend is the annual Strandberg Invitational at Central Valley and the postseason is right around the corner.
“I’m looking forward to jumping against Kelly McNamee of Ferris,” Ficklin said. “She’s a really good jumper, and I like competing against her.
“I think most jumpers jump best when they’re pushed. Competition brings out the best in you.”
That’s what disappointed Ficklin most about last year’s state track meet.
“I really wasn’t happy with how I jumped at state,” she said. “Being a sophomore and being there in a big meet like that for the first time, I think I just allowed my nerves to get the best of me.
“I really want to get back there and show what I can do.”
McGuire is looking forward to the day Ficklin breaks the school record – if only for bookkeeping reasons.
“There are three jumpers that I’ve coached that share the school record at 5-5,” McGuire laughed. “I told her that I expect her to jump 5-6, so I can erase all those names.”
Kim Laut first cleared 5-5 as a junior in 1979. Michelle Rodgers did the same as a junior in 1984 and Lara Pokall matched it as a senior in 1990.
Ficklin is tied for fourth all-time.
But the school record isn’t that big a deal, she insists.
“It would mean a lot more to me to be jumping 5-6 or 5-7 and help my team win a state championship,” she said. “I would much rather help my teammates do well than just do well by myself.”
Right now, Ficklin said, she’s just trying to be patient. She’s put in the hard work and figures the performances will improve any day now.
“I’m just waiting for things to explode,” she said. “It’s kind of hard waiting, but I know it’s going to happen. And the sooner the better.”