DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Robson sticks to track and field

First it was tennis for nine years, volleyball for two years and basketball for one year.

None of those sports stuck with Jessica Robson at Newport Harbor High.

What did was what a teacher at nearby Ensign Intermediate School told Robson.

“You’re really tall. You should come out for high jump,” Robson recalled what the teacher advised her to pursue. “I did. Now it’s like my main sport.”

For now it is for the 6-foot-2 senior.

Come next year, the high jump will be one of seven track and field events for Robson, as she enters the world of a heptathlete at Dartmouth College.

Seven events are rigorous. And this is the same athlete who dropped basketball because it was too physical.

“I wasn’t too good at contact sports,” Robson said.

It makes sense for this high jumper. Any chance Robson can, she looks to evade contact before crashing onto a padded surface.

When the high jumper does come in contact with something, it usually means she’s hit that darn horizontal bar and it might be coming down.

Robson has experienced her share of knockoffs. There’s nothing hiding them, either.

The most recognizable were the ones at last year’s CIF Southern Section Division II preliminaries. Clear five feet and move on is how Robson approached her first leap.

She missed the first time. The same thing happened the second time, finding herself in a bewildered state after her third attempt.

“I no-heighted. I didn’t clear the opening height, which was only five feet,” Robson said. “I don’t know what happened.”

What took place was Robson was out of the competition. Her favorite, her top event, and out just like that.

Five feet, before the prelims, was nothing for Robson. She launched herself four inches higher than that at meets earlier in the year.

Instead of staying dejected, Robson still advanced to the CIF finals in the long jump. In her second favorite event, she hit a 17-1 to qualify before placing eighth with a 16-9 mark in the finals.

Still the long jump finish, compared to the high jump, came up short to Robson’s goal.

“The end was disappointing,” Robson said. “It was a little surprising. I got out of my rhythm.”

That groove appears to be back. Robson’s found it.

Forget 5-4. She’s nailed 5-8, making a statement in the Sailors’ Sunset League opener against Los Alamitos that this year she’s springing herself to the CIF State championships for the first time.

Next for Robson is Misty May’s Newport Harbor school record of 5-10.

“I know she won the Olympics,” said Robson of the volleyball player, now going by May-Treanor, who with Kerri Walsh, won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games. “We’ll see how that goes.”

If anyone can break May’s mark, Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit said it’s Robson.

During his coaching career at Newport Harbor, which started in 1980, Tweit’s seen his share of stellar athletes. But Robson stands out, with the best of them. In track and field and in school, as last semester Robson said she earned a 4.6 grade-point average.

“There’s not very many people who worked as hard and been as motivated in a four-year period [as Robson],” said Tweit, who said Robson should qualify for the CIF finals in the high jump, long jump and 100-meter hurdles. “Last year was very disappointing, because she basically bombed in the prelims.

“It’s really good to see it finally pay off … because it could be frustrating. A lot of people don’t last. In her main event, she always ends every meet on a miss. She’s always going to a higher height.”

Robson’s found that she can pursue that in track and field.

JESSICA ROBSON

Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden

Born: Jan. 14, 1989

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 150 lbs.

Sport: Track and field

Events: High jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles

Coach: Eric Tweit

Favorite food: Thai

Favorite movie: “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”

Favorite athletic moment: “When I cleared 5-8 this year at Los Alamitos at our [Sunset League] dual meet. It tied me for No. 1 in state. There’s like six other girls [with the same mark].”

Week in review: Won the high jump with a 5-6 mark at the Orange County Track and Field Championships Saturday, and two days before, placed first in the high jump (5-4), 100 hurdles (16.3 seconds) and shot put (25-3 1/2 ), and second in the long jump (16-7 1/2 ) in a Sunset League dual meet against Fountain Valley.