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.