At the Top 8 Meet at Los Gatos High in late April, Hollister
High senior Stephanie Starritt improved her school record of
10-feet, 6 inches to 11-0.
At the Top 8 Meet at Los Gatos High in late April, Hollister High senior Stephanie Starritt improved her school record of 10-feet, 6 inches to 11-0.
If she can repeat that mark at Friday’s Central Coast Section track and field finals at San Jose City College, Starritt is virtually guaranteed a trip to the CIF state meet at Cerritos Junior College June 6-7.
“That was my goal to start the season was to make it to state,” said Starritt. “And if I win CCS, I’ll be happy. I’m just going to go and have fun.”
“I expect Stephanie to go to state,” said Baler boys track and field coach Randy Logue. “And she has a good chance to win.”
The favorite is Kirsten Loftin of Aptos, who has a season best of 12-2. Two other contenders have gone over 11-0, while another has equaled Starritt’s personal record. It should be quite a battle for the top three qualifiers for state. Add to the fact that Starritt and Loftin, who have trained several times together at Soquel High’s quality pit, are good friends.
One of Starritt’s biggest supporters is first-year pole vault coach Julio Trinidad, affectionately called ‘Coach T’.
“Stephanie has her heart set on 11-0,” said Trinidad, an Baler alumnus of 1997. “She needs to clear 10-6 on her first attempt and then clear 11-0 on her first attempt and she should go to state. She has to run strong and use good form. The key is technique. She’s on the quest for the perfect vault. She’s always pushing herself, which keeps her going.”
“Running and planting are the most important things to vaulting,” said Starritt. “That’s what we’ve been working on this week.”
Gymnastics
Starritt was born in New York City and traveled around a great deal before relocated to Gilroy, then to Hollister at the start of her freshman year. She began to dabble in gymnastics at the age of 5 and competed at meets in Almaden, Gilroy, Morgan Hill to name a few. Her favorite events were the bars and the vault.
Her gymnastics background has a great deal to do with her success in the pole vault.
“Most of the girls you compete in the pole vault against did gymnastics when they were younger,” said Starritt. “It really helps your coordination, especially in carrying you over the bar.”
At Hollister, she played three different sports for Hollister at one time or another – water polo, soccer and golf. It was in water polo when she was a freshman when she befriended Karen Felice, a senior on the varsity water polo team. Felice also pole vaulted at the school and even coached vaulting for the Balers for two years after she graduated.
“She told me to try pole vaulting,” said Starritt. “She really encouraged me to do it.”
When Starritt was a freshman, she cleared a best of 10-0. As a sophomore, it was 10-0 once again, until her junior year, when she broke the school record with a vault of 10-6.
“Stephanie has gradually gotten better each year,” said Baler girls track and field coach Jennifer Logue. “She’s been very steady. She has a good attitude and works hard. And she has stepped in for us in the relays and ran the 100-meters for us at the league meet because we needed her to. She’s going to do well at CCS.”
Two of Starritt’s teammates have the utmost faith in Starritt.
“Stephanie is good at everything she does,” said Kory Case, who will run the 300-meter hurdles Friday. “She’s always smiling, too.”
“Stephanie rises to the occasions at big meets,” added Ali Schmidt, who made it into the 1,600 meters at CCS as an alternate. “She’s reliable. You can always count on her. I know she’ll do her best.”
Won’t over-analyze
When Starritt sets herself to vault, many things run through her mind.
“You can’t neglect thinking about things,” said Starritt. “You can’t help it. But you can’t over-analyze. They say ‘over-analysis heads to paralysis’.”
Can’t blame Starritt if she over-analyzes a little. She has a GPA of 4.25 and is ranked 14th in her class of 500. The GPA is quite an achievement considering she has had hearing problems for most of her life and has had to wear a hearing aid.
“My parents and I don’t remember how it started,” said Starritt about her disability. “It makes it harder for me in class because I have trouble hearing.”
Her Baler teammates have heard her loud and clear as a team leader in calesthenics this season. For one of the many fine attributes Starritt has is leadership qualities.
“Stephanie is a fantastic person and an excellent student,” said Randy Logue. “She’s a team leader and a well-rounded person. She’s represents what is good about the youth of America today.”
This fall, Starritt will attend UC Berkeley and vault into studies in pre-medicine. She’ll be allowed to try out for the Bears track and field team, joining ex-Baler and good friend Elzunia Lamb, who competes for the Bears in the heptathlon.
Until then, Starritt’s on that quest for that perfect vault and there’s no time like Friday’s CCS meet to find it.
