NORTHRIDGE — Brandishing a gimpy ankle and a wounded psyche, Sheena Gordon carried the weight of an exasperating season on her shoulders as she arrived at the Matador Track Complex on Saturday morning.
The month of May had been especially difficult for the UCLA sophomore. Having spent most of it camped in the training room, Gordon was understandably short on confidence.
In fact, she wasn’t even sure she could compete.
But by the end of Saturday’s high jump competition, Gordon’s doubts had evaporated. She stunned everyone, clearing a personal best 6 feet, 2 inches to capture first place at the NCAA West Regionals.
“Considering I haven’t competed in a month or practiced in weeks, it’s pretty phenomenal,” Gordon said.
To say the least.
Gordon, one of the nation’s better young high jumpers, has not had much of a chance to prove herself in the latter stages of the season. The coaching staff did not send her to the Pac-10 Championships for undisclosed reasons, and then she sprained her right ankle doing box drills two days later.
“It seems like it’s always something with Sheena,” UCLA jumps coach Robert Johnson said.
Gordon, who had barely even jogged since sustaining the injury, had no delusions of grandeur prior to the competition. A likely candidate for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, she knew she just had to give an honest effort, instead of focusing on a top-five finish.
But with each passing round, the condition of Gordon’s ankle improved. By the time she cleared 6 feet for the third time this season, Gordon had regained her focus and allowed her adrenaline to take over.
On her second attempt at 6 feet, 2 inches, she sailed over the bar, bouncing to her feet and greeting the crowd with a wide smile and a clap.
“It was extremely exciting,” Gordon said. “It was a very up-and-down season for me, but I’ve tried to stay positive. I’ve missed out on a lot of training, but apparently it’s not affecting me much.”
Evidently not.
Gordon made three good attempts at 6 feet, 3 inches, narrowly missing a clearance on her third attempt. Nonetheless, she had fewer misses than Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Kaylene Wagner and Sharon Day, allowing Gordon to stake her claim to the West Regional title.
“The more heights she hit, the better the ankle started feeling,” Johnson said. “She could have been a little better technically. I’m sure she was favoring it. But other than that, great job.”
Gordon is tied for the fourth-best mark in the nation this year, just one inch off the Olympic “A” standard. She will compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, but not before she tries for first place in the National Championships.
Having already defeated two of her top rivals, Day and Wagner, Gordon is going to Texas on an upswing. She has endured multiple injuries and now appears poised to stake her claim to the national title.
“I know I want to win, so that’s what I’m shooting for,” Gordon said. “I was close at 6-3. It might take more than that. It might take less than that. I’m just going for a win, whatever mark it takes.”