Sharon Day
Barry Faulkner
Though the complexity of the task defies concise explanation, Costa
Mesa High senior Sharon Day thought only a few seconds before
professing her keys to defying gravity.
“I think you have to have speed and control at the same time,”
said the two-time CIF State girls high jump champion, who defended
that title Saturday at Cerritos College, capping a momentous season
and monumental prep track and field career.
Speed and control, in fact, could also prove analogous to Day’s
pliable personal traits; those that allow her to balance a raging
competitive fire with a cryptic cool that has rendered her virtually
resistant to the most pressurized situations.
“People watch her at meets and see how calm she is, but they also
see the competitiveness in her,” said Eugene Day, her high jump coach
and father, who believes her demeanor between jumps frequently
intimidates the so-called competition. “It’s like she shows up to the
office, does her work, then goes home. She tries to enjoy herself
while she’s there, but she really isn’t worried about what anyone
else might do that day.”
This Day at the office has provided a seemingly endless string of
success, since she won the CIF Southern Section Division III high
jump crown as freshman. She won her Southern Section division crown
all four years and, with a successful state title defense, became one
of only four girls to win two state high jump championships.
The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week also won the Southern Section
Masters Meet this spring and set the Orange County and CIF Southern
Section record with a leap of 6-2 to win the Trabuco Hills
Invitational April 5. The 6-2 clearance is best in the nation this
year. Her individual dominance, including victories in the 100 and
200 meters, the high jump, and as the anchor on the winning 1,600
relay, also led the Mustangs to the Golden West League title.
A storybook ending would have called for another personal record
and, perhaps, a state and national record. But she topped out at 5-10
Saturday, prompting initial tears of disappointment.
With a few days of perspective, however, Day had let go of such
despondency and was already hard at work toward her next challenge:
the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 21 at
Stanford University.
“I’m not really as disappointed any more,” Sharon Day said. “I had
a great season and I guess I can focus on that.”
She’ll be focused on a higher standard at Stanford, a school at
which she dreamed of competing. The Cardinal, however, failed to come
through with a scholarship offer, prompting her to commit to Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, where she will compete in both soccer and track and
field.
“The under-19 national record is 6-4,” noted Eugene Day, who
believes his daughter, who turned 18 Monday, is fully capable of
soaring ever higher.
“All season long, we’ve worked and worked,” Eugene said. “We set
some goals and most of them, we attained. When you stand our high
jump pit up, it’s 6-6 and we’ve trained on that. She’s jumped high
enough to come down on top of the mat. Now, it’s just a matter of
doing it with a skinny bar up there.”
Though Sharon, the Orange County and Golden West League female
Athlete of the Year, points to speed as her leading attribute,
Eugene, like Sharon’s mother, Yolanda, a former collegiate high
jumper, believes it’s more about hops.
“You have to have the ability to pounce off the pavement and
Sharon has that,” Eugene said. “She definitely has some speed, but
all the speed in the world won’t help you if you can’t jump.”
Eugene, however, acknowledges Sharon’s sprinter speed is one of
several elements -- including technique, work ethic and mental
toughness -- that contribute to her success.
“Speed helps, because the [Fosbury] Flop gears around speed and
centrifugal force sending you over the bar,” Eugene said.
Floating on air is the sensation that has made high jump the
favorite athletic pursuit for Sharon, also a decorated volleyball and
soccer player.
“It’s just fun to jump high,” she said. “Most of the time, your
jumps happen so quickly, they’re a blur. But sometimes, when you do
everything right, things go in slow-motion and you just seem to hang
in the air.”
And what rarefied air it has been.
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