SBHS senior sets PR at Junior Olympics, advances to
regionals
HOLLISTER
It didn’t take long for incoming San Benito High School senior Sophie Coelho to make up the difference. Less than two months ago, Coelho recorded an 8-06 in the pole vault event at the Central Coast Section Track and Field Trials, falling 12 inches short of advancing to the championship round.
“Everything went wrong that day,” Coelho said.
And not a whole lot went right at the start on June 28 either, when Coelho was competing at the Pacific Association Junior Olympics Track and Field Championships at Grenada High in Livermore. Temperatures rose to a toasty 109 degrees, leaving the poles too hot to even touch.
“We had to water the poles down,” Coelho recalled.
With a developed form and a strong work ethic since the CCS Trials, though, Coelho managed to set the bar at Junior Olympics on her very first attempt, despite the heat, when she set a personal record vault of 9-06 – four inches higher than her previous best and 12 inches better than the CCS Trials.
As a result, Coelho finished fourth overall to advance to the Region 14 Junior Olympics Track and Field Championships this Saturday in Bakersfield, where a top-three finish will qualify Coelho to the national meet in North Carolina at the end of the month.
“We’ve been training for a while and I was hoping to get a better height, but I was happy,” Coelho said. “We sat out there for a long, long time, and by the time we got to jump, it was over 100 degrees off the track.
“I was hoping for a little bit better. But it was a rough day, so I was happy with it.”
Coelho said it’s her new form that has allowed her to improve so quickly since the end of the prep season. Under the tutelage of track coach Julio Trinidad, Coelho has been practicing to “get upside down sooner and pop off the top,” and she’s shooting for at least a 10-0 jump in Bakersfield, maybe even 10-06.
“My form has changed and it’s been more consistent … more vertical,” Coelho said. “My form is starting to move on to the next step.”
Trinidad said the up-and-coming pole vaulter is improving every day with her work ethic in the weight room and on the track, and she should be ready to go strong next spring season.
“She has all the right tools to be a CCS contender,” Trinidad said. “The girl is an athlete.”
And the 9-06 doesn’t appear to be a fluke either. Coelho recently recorded a 9-06 at the Los Gatos all-comer meet, good enough for first place, and Trinidad said Coelho is now clearing 10-0 during practice rather regularly.
“We know she’s capable,” he said. “We’re consistent at the (9-06) mark. Now we’re trying to attack the next giant, which is 10 feet.”
