Last weekend, senior Erynn James had the best performance of her Marquette track and field career while freshman Kyle Winter failed to qualify for the Big East Outdoor Championships — something he hoped to accomplish this weekend.
James set the school record for the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 10 3/4 inches Saturday at the Long Beach Invitational in Norwalk, Calif.
“It means a lot, especially since I’m a senior and I’ll be graduating soon,” James said of the accomplishment. “That was one of my goals, to get the school record in both indoors and outdoors. I’m very excited to be able to hold that.”
James’ record came just one day after only jumping 5 feet, 7 inches at the Mount San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, Calif.
Coach Bert Rogers said James was having some problems on her approach Friday. The changes were then implemented on Saturday and it made all the difference in the world.
The previous school record (5 feet, 9 1/4 inches) was set by Chris Spindler in 1993.
While James’ mark is impressive, it could have been even better. Rogers said in James’ last two attempts at the six foot mark that she got her hips over the bar but dragged her legs too much, which caused them to run into the bar.
“The key in the high jump is getting your hips over the bar because then you can adjust your legs,” Rogers said. “That makes me think that, going forward … she’ll have opportunities to be jumping at six feet.”
That’s exactly what James’ goal moving forward is: jump six feet.
Rogers said for a woman high-jumper to reach six feet is similar to a man running the four-minute mile.
“For female high-jumpers, six feet is like the magic number,” Rogers said. “If you can jump six feet, that’s when you really start to become elite.”
On the other end of the spectrum was Winter, whose goal was to run a sub-1:52 800-meter race and qualify for the Big East in the 800. He finished 36th (1:54.17) in the 800 at the Mt. SAC Relays, which didn’t meet the Big East qualifying time (1:52.54).
Winter said his performance in the 800 was due to a poor start. He went from fifth to 13th place relatively early in the race and got boxed in. Winter was in the first lane and had runners in front, behind, and to his side and had nowhere to go.
Winter said it was the most physical race he’s ever run. There was pushing, shoving, swearing and kicking in the first 75 meters. He said despite the poor result, the race was a good learning experience.
While qualifying for the Big East has continued to allude Winter to this point, Rogers is confident that this weekend will be Winter’s time to shine.
“I think he’s going to go out and do his thing and do what he has to do to get the qualifying mark,” Rogers said. “He’s completely capable of that, it’s just a matter of doing it.”
