The final blog is here! Thanks for sticking with me this far.
So for the final update..
I jumped well at the home meet this past weekend! I won it with a height of 5’7. I tried to clear 5’8 after, but just couldn’t quite get it. It’s definitely discouraging, but we’re going to tweak it next competition, and I’m not going to enter the competition until 5’3. Hopefully, that will save my legs for another good jump.
This Friday we head to Norman, OK for OU. I hear it’s supposed to rain all weekend there, so it’ll probably be another meet with crappy weather conditions. We just haven’t been able to catch a break this outdoor season.
The following weekend we have off. Then, we’re missing finals week for outdoor conference. I can not believe my junior year of track season is coming to a close. Where did the time go? It’s absolutely mind-blowing that I’m going to be a senior next year. IN COLLEGE. This time has flown by.
Bye 3355!! I’m sure I’ll see you in a course or two next year. Have a great summer!
Hi everybody! Welcome back. There are only a couple more blogs left, and then the semester is over!!!!!
So this past weekend, we went to Nacogdoches, Texas, and competed at the Stephen F. Austin meet. This is my absolute favorite meet. The high jump pit is off by itself in some trees. Every year when we go, everything is blooming and is so green. I absolutely love it! I took lots of pictures and put them on my snapchat story. However, I forgot to save the story, so, unfortunately I won’t be able to show you. The weather was a different story.
I know it snowed back home, but the weather was almost just as nasty there minus the sleet. We had rain, high-speed winds, and cold. Honestly, high jumping was the last thing I wanted to be doing. There were about 11 other competitors. I didn’t jump as well as I’d like to because I couldn’t keep my legs warm and ready, so my approach was very inconsistent every time I jumped. I didn’t get over 5’6 and 3/4. But, I had the highest jump at 5’5 and 3/4, so I still won the meet!
This weekend is the home meet. I’ve got some family coming to watch, so I’m super excited. Come on out and support Saturday afternoon if you’re free!
Hey guys! It seems like I haven’t had a meet in forever. I didn’t go to Texas Relays last weekend because apparently all of the girls that entered are jumping 6’0. The week before I was in Mexico, so I didn’t go to the Florida meet or the Tennessee meet.
So this blog will be about my Easter weekend! Even though I didn’t make it to Texas Relays, it all worked out, because my brother, his girl friend, and their dog made a trip down to berryville. I don’t get to see them often, so I was super excited!
I drove home Friday after class and met up with them at the house. My boyfriend came over and joined us, and we cooked steaks, mushrooms, macaroni, potatoes– you name it. We had a chill night and sat around our fire pit and enjoyed the nice weather together. After, we turned on some hilarious home videos. We were in tears they were so funny!
Saturday was supposed to rain all day, but the weather held off for us. We went riding fourwheelers to the river property and on the back roads. It was so beautiful. That night we died easter eggs. (never too old right??) We tried a different method than the conditional dye colors. They turned out awesome! We soaked the boiled eggs in vinegar for five minutes. While we let them dry, we sprayed some cheap shaving cream on some wax paper and put a few dots of food coloring dye on the cream. Using a tooth pick, we swirled it together to get some cool effects! When the eggs were dry, we rolled them around in the shaving cream.
Sunday my brother had to head home, but the rest of us at home had a relaxing day after Easter Sunday church and watched a few movies. It ended up being a great weekend!
But the fun break ends. This weekend I’m heading to Nacadoches, Texas for the SFA meet. Its my absolute favorite. The pit is off in the woods; it’s a beautiful spot.
If you’ve never been to Cancun, Mexico, you must put it on your bucket list right now.
I’ve been the past few years during spring break/summer, and this is a vacation that will never get old. My boyfriend’s family owns a timeshare on a unit at the Royal Sands. I went with his mom, dad, brother, his girlfriend, her Mom, my boyfriend’s sister, his nana, papa, his two cousins (one of which I was good friends in high school with), and her boyfriend. We were quite the crew!
We arrived Saturday. We had so much fun laying and relaxing on the beach. The sand is pure white and the ocean is the prettiest turquoise color I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to quite a few beaches in America, and none even come close to Cancun’s beach. (Nope, not even Destin.) Our waiter served us (way too many) fruity drinks. Miami vices, Cancun lovers, Tropicanas, Tokyo Tea, Vodka Cranberry– you name it.
A couple of nights we went to the nicest steak house I’ve ever been to named Puerto Madero. The food there is indescribable. The absolute best. It probably made me gain at least five pounds both trips.
Overall, the trip was fantastic. The only complaint I would have would be that it was way too darn short. It was very disappointing coming back to the States with rainy, 40 degree weather. Also, not to mention coming back to class. Quite the drag!! 🙂 I’ll include some pictures from the trip below.
No meet this weekend, so I get to go home and spend Easter with my mom and brother who is coming home for the first time in over a year! Super exciting.
This weekend was the uca home meet! It was a 100% chance of rain all week. Some how the rain held off the whole day until the last 5 minutes of the evening.
I competed at 12:30. My boyfriend, his mom and sister, and my dad came to watch. (Also Mr. Doug came as well if any of you have taken him! Mr. Doug is one of the nicest professors in the world. He definitely supports UCA sports– you’d definitely know that if you’ve ever taken a class with him! Ha)
Normally I don’t get nervous before high jumping, but I really felt the pressure at our home meet of all meets because of the spectators! I jumped pretty well. I got them all on the first attempt until 5’7. I cleared it on the second try. That’s still awesome I cleared 5’7 again though! It’d be HUGE if I could get that height consistently when I compete. They raised the bar to 5’8 and 1/4. I was so close, but I just didn’t quite get it. My PR was 5’7 & 3/4 from conference, so that would’ve been a new PR. Even though I really wanted to clear it for my family and friends that drove so far to watch me, I just couldn’t quite get it. However, it is super encouraging to see how close I was to clearing it. I still ended up winning first place, so it all worked out!
Next weekend is the Memphis, Tennessee meet. I’m so bummed I can’t make it because I have to go to Mexico…. 😉 (that was a joke by the way. Wouldn’t want anyone to actually think I’m serious LOL)
Next weeks blog Ill probably be 4 shades darker and 10 pounds heavier. And that’s definitely okay with me. See you then!
My dad (right)& his friend from high schoolMy boyfriend’s mom, Leah and IMy boyfriend, Garrett and IMy boyfriend’s sister, Marlea and IMy teammate Logan & I 5’7
So I don’t have an exciting update… We get 2 weeks off before outdoor season starts. I haven’t competed since conference. However, competition time is right around the corner! This weekend is our first outdoor meet and it’s here at UCA! It’s this Saturday, so if you’re free around 12:30, swing by and watch me jump if you want! You don’t even have to get out of your car. Just park facing the track and the high jump mat sits right there on the end of the field. The view won’t be as good, but it’s an easy way to watch for free! My dad and boyfriend are making the trip to watch me, so that’s super exciting since we never have meets close.
However, the following weekend is another track meet in Tennessee. I won’t be able to attend it because I’ll be on a plane to MEXICO! Sorry coaches, but my toes will be in the sand and a cold, frozen (fruity of course) drink will be in my hand! But no worries. I’ll do extra workouts to burn off the calories…. maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reading back on my blog I wrote while sitting in the stands on Wednesday makes me laugh because I had no idea what was about to come.
NO IDEA
Going into the meet, I believe I was ranked fifth or sixth. My goal was simple. As I stated in the blog before, I wanted to have clean attempts at every bar up to 5’5. If I could do that, my next goal was to clear 5’7.
Keeping my goals in mind, I started the competition. I still had no idea what the conversion of meters to feet were, so naturally, I had no idea what height I was jumping over. I cleared opening height with no problems. It was about 5′ and 3/4 “. I cleared the second height on the first attempt as well. When they moved the bar up, I figured it was around 5’4″. I knew it was close to my old hump (if you remember from the earlier blogs, I was getting stuck on clearing 5’5′), so I prepared myself to really get a good spring to get enough height to get over the bar. I ended up clearing that bar as well on the first attempt. I ran over to my coach excited, but I expressed how nervous I was to try and clear 5’6”. He stopped me and explained that the bar was actually at 5’5″ 3/4. It was almost 5’6″ and I cleared it with ease. I was shocked!
I watched the other competitors attempts at it. They missed the first attempts, but about 10 other girls cleared it on the second or third attempts. I was very discouraged. 10 people still in at 5’5″, not including myself, is a lot. Only the top 8 can score. The next height was 5’7 and 3/4. I hadn’t cleared that since high school. Also, to top it off, I was the first jumper on the list. This meant I had to go first before all of the other competitors. The pressure was definitely on. I needed to clear that height.
I mentally prepared myself and stood on my mark. I told myself over and over I could do it in my head. I took off and cleared the height! On the first attempt! It was incredible. I hadn’t done that in three years. I honestly didn’t think I still even had it in me.
Three other girls cleared the height as well on the second and third attempts. They raised the bar to 5’9 3/4. I gave it my all but missed all three attempts. I walked over to my coach. The other three girls had missed their two attempts before and were on their last one. They all had more misses than me. In high jump, if multiple people get out on one height, they go by the number of missed attempts. I had gotten over every height on my first attempt except for 5’9 obviously. The other girls hadn’t. They’d missed a few bars along the way. My coach and a couple of my teammates were trying to stay calm. They said, “Hannah… I don’t want to jinx it now. But if these three girls miss this jump, you just won conference.” That’s right. WON CONFERENCE. I just stood there in utter shock of what was happening.
The second jumper was up. Missed. The third jumper stepped up. Missed.
We were all freaking out. My coach hissed at a couple of my friends,”Do NOT yell if she misses it. Stay sportsmanlike.”
The final jumper took off for her last attempt. MISSED.
Even my coach couldn’t hold it back. He yelped and clapped. My teammates were yelling and hugging me like crazy.
I had just won…. the whole entire conference.
Talk about overwhelming! It was so surreal. Honestly, I’m not sure it even has sunk in entirely yet. Winning the whole conference? That’s HUGE at the collegiate level. I was shaking so bad. I remember picking up my phone, and texting the group message I’m in with my family, “I think I just won.”
I walked over to the presentation area and was awarded my medal. I literally felt like an Olympian. (You’ll see why in the video and pictures.)
So there you have it! Somehow the girl who was blogging about her struggles to clear 5’5 a month ago ends up clearing 5’7 and 3/4 with a new college personal best, breaking the school’s record, and winning the entire conference. Talk about wild! Outdoor season is right around the corner. It’s a totally different environment. Our first meet is in two weekends here at UCA.
We made it! The bus loaded up Monday morning at 12 o’clock.
We’re staying at the Sheridan in downtown Birmingham, AL. The hotel is super nice inside– full of escalators, revolving doors, and tall ceilings. Yep, this is where your tuition money goes to!! (LOL)
Tuesday we ate at the awesome hotel buffet and went shopping. It’s tradition to come to the meet early and have a day to relax and do something fun. They usually take us to the mall every year.
After the mall, we went to the Crossplex to shake out. We got to do some run-throughs and stretches for a couple of hours. It was very chaotic and unorganized, so it took forever. We were supposed to leave the complex at 7, but instead left at 8:30. Our food was waiting for us at the hotel at 7:30, so we were afraid it would be cold and yucky. 😦
Finally, they took us back to the hotel for a team meeting about competition tomorrow. When they released us, the team stampeded up to the fourth floor to eat the catered Italian food that had been sitting out for an hour and a half. Afer carboloading with a plate that was too big and an unnecessary brownie, we went upstairs to get some sleep.
Today is Wednesday and I’m currently sitting in the stands typing this. Logan, the girl you see in all of the pictures, competes in long jump today. However, I don’t compete until tomorrow. So you all will have to just stay tuned until next week to see how it goes!
Just a reminder, this is the big conference meet. So all of the meets I’ve been competing in have been leading up to this meet now! My goal for tomorrow is to clear 5’5 with no errors at a bar leading up to it.
This past week, we hopped on the bus and headed down to Houston Texas for our next track meet Thursday morning at 9 a.m. The drive was about 6 1/2 hours long. We get to ride on charter buses so the rides are usually pretty spacious, but there weren’t as many competitors going to this meet. The boys and girls crammed together on one bus. There’s also a max speed of 65 mph, and if the driver goes any faster, it will beep at them until they slow back down. Talk about frustrating.
We’d never been to the Houston meet before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. They ended up having a pretty nice indoor facility, however, they wouldn’t let us use any of the bathrooms inside. Everyone had to walk outside and use one of the five porter potties if you had to go. OK not to be a diva, but !!!! Gross! There were tons of people there, the floors were covered with water (let’s hope it was water anyway ), and the toilet paper was damp. And no, I did not use the porter potty. That’s just the information I was told by other brave users.
Anyways, the competing part of the meet went a lot better! I’d been noticing I’ve had a lack of energy when I’ve been competing lately. So this time, I drank a 5-hour energy just before warming up. I actually felt alert and energized for once. I ended up clearing a new indoor college PR at 5’6! It put me finishing in fourth place.
There was a girl there competing with us who was the indoor and outdoor national high jump champion. She was also ranked at 15th place in the entire world. Her personal best was 6’6. For those of you who aren’t familiar with high jumping, that is incredibly tall for a woman to get over. The best part though is that she was only 5 foot 3 inches tall! Seriously!!! How is that humanly possible at that height! She put us 5’8 high jumper girls to shame. She entered the competition at about 6’0. Yes, ENTERED. To put that in perspective, I entered the competition at 5’0– a whole foot shorter than her entry height. She moved the bar up to 6’4 afterward and took three great attempts at it, however, just barely fell short. I definitely took some videos because I knew I couldn’t just write to you all without showing you. You’ll have to excuse her language at the end because when she would miss a bar she would yell and follow up with a loud F-word after… But I guess you’re allowed to do that when you’re an Olympian who’s ranked 15th in the world.
And of course, I’m going to include a video of my attempt over 5’6, but I’ll go ahead and put that first so I don’t have to try and follow up after the Olympian.
So as I mentioned before, the team traveled to SIU last weekend. I’d mentioned I’d been stuck at 5’5 for a while and it was my goal to reach it.
….and I did it!!!! 🙂
It was actually kind of a funny story though. I was getting ready to compete, and I had about 7 or so fellow track members on the side-line cheering me on. I knew I wanted to get all the heights on the first attempt (if you get out on the same height as someone else, they go by the least amount of missed attempts to determine the higher placement.)
I skipped opening height and came in at 5’1. Cleared on the first attempt! They continued to move the bar up 2 inches. Depending on the day, sometimes I’m jumping well enough to clear 5’3 on the first attempt, however, sometimes I mess up and get it on the second attempt. But not Saturday! I got 5’3 on the first try.
When they announce the heights as they raise the bar, they say it in meters. So they’ll say 1.55, 1.62, 1.69, etc. I may have been doing high jump for 9 years, but I still don’t know the conversion of meters to feet. So they said the new height in meters, and I assumed they raised it two more inches like normal– 5’5.
This was the roadblock I’ve been facing for a year. I knew I could get it, and I knew I was having an “on” jump day. I started my attempt, and to my surprise, I cleared it on the first attempt! My mini cheer squad went nuts for me. I’d finally reached my goal.
..or so I’d thought.
After the other girls did their attempts, there were three competitors left. They raised the bar to the next height and announced it in meters. Me, still having no idea what the heck their saying in meters, assumes they raise it two more inches. 5’7″. A little back ground for you all– my personal best is 5’8. I did it twice in high school (yep, three years ago), but I’ve only been able to get 5’6 and some change in college. I knew this would be a tough challenge.
I got focused and took my first attempt. Missed. I was a little discouraged, but the attempt was SO close, I knew I had it easy. My mini squad was cheering loud. I took my second attempt, and cleared it with ease!
I was ecstatic! I ran over to my coach smiling from ear to ear. I couldn’t believe it! I hadn’t cleared that since high school. My cheer squad was going nuts for me. I ran over and high fived them and got congratulated. But it wasn’t over yet. They moved the bar up. 5’9. Almost 6’0. I’d never cleared this. And honestly, (don’t tell my coach), I stepped up to my mark not expecting to get remotely close. I stared at the bar in front of me and I remembered thinking, “This bar doesn’t even look too high. Maybe I can do this. This is my day to do it!” I took off and attempted 5’9. Missed. To my disbelief, I was CLOSE. Way close. I knew I could do it. My team was cheering loud and my coach was grinning hard. I had a new kind of adrenaline in me. I stepped up to my mark for my second attempt. CLEARED. I sat on the mat for a second after and just stared at the bar with a huge smile in awe. 5’9! I’d never cleared that in my life! I ran over to my coach and gave some high fives. I’d never seen him smile so big. I ran to my mini UCA cheer squad who was going nuts now. I was so proud of myself!
They raised the bar another time. Still three competitors. They announced the meters, but I had no idea. Two more feet up, I predicted the bar was around 5’11. Wow. I couldn’t believe it. I just knew my legs didn’t have it in me to be jumping around 6’0 by now. I’d just broken the school record and all my PRs. To my dismay, I missed all three attempts. I just didn’t have it in me anymore. My team was still so excited. I ran over to my coach still so excited for my performance.
……………
Only to find out to my deeper dismay, I’d been mistaken on the heights….. the whole time…………….
My coach finally reminded me that after a certain amount of competitors are left, they go up by roughly one inch. NOT two. Hello???? You’d think I could remember that rule after 9 years of doing it????
So in reality, when I thought I was clearing 5’5, it was really around 5’3. When I thought the bar was at 5’7, it was probably 5’4. And lastly, my “5’9” attempt I cleared was about 5’5 and a quarter. I got out (the 5’11 attempt lol) on 5’6 and some change. I hope you guys are as sad as I was. Ha!
I went and told my little cheer squad, and they were all cracking up. We could only imagine how silly I must’ve looked to the other team’s spectators when they were cheering so loud for me and I was running off the mat with a huge grin and I was only clearing the bar at 5’4. They all must’ve been thinking I was the biggest amateur who doesn’t belong at a D1 school with that kind of excitement over an average bar height. LOL.
Even though it was no 5’9, I still finally got over my 5’5 hump! I was super excited about my performance, and I hope I can keep it up this Friday at the Houston, TX meet!
(Yep. I’m off to another meet again.)
Also, I had mentioned my brother was going to be able to make it to the meet, but he had something come up. I remember in the middle of competition how mad I was at him for missing the meet when I was clearing 5’9 for the first time ever! Lol. False alarm; I guess I’ll let him off the hook this time.
Here are a few videos from the meet below. I’ll put them in order so the first one will be the ” 5’5 ” attempt (really 5’3), then the ” 5’7 ” attempt (5’4), and the ” 5’9 ” attempt (5’5). It’s too bad the video cut off when it did because I wish it would’ve captured my facial expressions when I’d clear the bars I thought were so high. Ha!
**For some reason it won’t let me upload videos directly on here, so I embeded them
LOL!!! ^^^^^^^^ barnacle boy lookin’ ahhh
If you’ve never been to Cancun, Mexico, you must put it on your bucket list right now.
My boyfriend’s mom, Leah and I
My boyfriend, Garrett and I
My boyfriend’s sister, Marlea and I
My teammate Logan & I 
5’7
Finally, they took us back to the hotel for a team meeting about competition tomorrow. When they released us, the team stampeded up to the fourth floor to eat the catered Italian food that had been sitting out for an hour and a half. Afer carboloading with a plate that was too big and an unnecessary brownie, we went upstairs to get some sleep.
), and the toilet paper was damp. And no, I did not use the porter potty. That’s just the information I was told by other brave users.
So as I mentioned before, the team traveled to SIU last weekend. I’d mentioned I’d been stuck at 5’5 for a while and it was my goal to reach it.
Hannah the High jumper 