Engelhardt leads Irish by leaping into record books
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Assistant Sports Editor
High jumper Jen Engelhardt sprang to success at Notre Dame, making history with her lofty leaps.
Engelhardt aims to win her third honor as an All-American.
"All-American status is great," Engelhardt said, "And I'd love to be blessed with that again. Becoming All-American, and then continuing to do it junior year [is my greatest success]. That was really rewarding and something I never expected."
This season, the senior biology and education major wants to win the third and fourth Big East titles of her career.
"I want to lead the team in the Big East and have a strong finish, hopefully a championship," Engelhardt said.
Engelhardt won the Big East Outdoors Championships each of the past two years. She has never finished lower than second in the Big East, indoors or outdoors.
Engelhardt achieved success through both talent and hard work.
"She'll do anything you ask her," field events coach Scott Winsor said. "She's very conscientious. She works hard, and I think she puts in as much time as she's physically capable of. She's a pleasure to work with."
Leading the Irish
This year, Engelhardt serves as one of two captains for the Irish, a position that adds leadership responsibility to her role as a high scorer.
"Just today, she said that she didn't think that some of the younger athletes on the team really understood how important the Big East is," Winsor said. "And she was going to try to get that across to them."
Engelhardt takes pride in being a team captain.
"I think it was a great honor to lead the team and represent Notre Dame," Engelhardt said. "It's something that I really treasure."
Irish coaches selected Engelhardt as captain for reasons beyond just athletics. Engelhardt has excelled in the classroom despite the rigor of being a varsity athlete with a double major in biology and education.
"Obviously we take accomplishments outside of track and field into consideration when we pick our captains," Winsor said. "Typically we try to pick someone who's very accomplished both athletically and academically."
Going for gold
The 2000 track season will not be the end of Engelhardt's career, not if she has anything to say about it. Instead of hanging up her track shoes following graduation, Engelhardt plans to throw her efforts behind a possible run at the Olympics.
"The Olympic Trials are right over the horizon," Engelhardt said. "That would be my ultimate goal. It's like the next step up. I think it [jumping] is something I'm not going to be able to put down.
"The coaches are pretty responsive to letting me train after school lets out. The door's open, so I'm going to follow through on that."
Qualifying for the Olympic Trials will require the best jumping of her career. Engelhardt will need to improve on her career best high jump of 6-0 3/4 by two to three inches to have a shot at Olympic glory.
"For her to qualify for the Olympic Trials, she's definitely capable of it," Winsor said. "It's going to be difficult for her because she's so busy this semester with her education major. She needs to work on her strength, but she's definitely capable of qualifying."
If sheer will power can get her there, Engelhardt will be a shoo-in.
"She's extremely dedicated," head track and field coach Joe Piane said. "She's very talented and a great competitor."
Every competition this year has been chalked up as a victory for Engelhardt, a trend she aims to continue this weekend at the Butler Invitational.
"I've got three more chances to improve my standings for the NCAA meet," Engelhardt said. "I'm just going to take this as another chance to improve in the rankings."
Starting off stellar
Engelhardt was ranked as the No. 4 high school high jumper in the nation as a senior at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, Mich. But she wasn't even sure whether she wanted to concentrate on diving or high jumping.
"Actually I was a diver, and that was my first option," Engelhardt said. "But I always had a love for high jumping, so I went that route."
A lifelong fan of the Michigan Wolverines, her college choice came down to Michigan and Notre Dame. Once she zeroed in on Notre Dame, she quickly had a deep impact on the Irish.
As a freshman, Engelhardt became the first Notre Dame woman ever to earn All-American status in a field event, placing ninth at the NCAA indoor championships.
"That really came as a shock for me," Engelhardt said. "I really went after it, and I really worked hard. Plus I have a great coach."
She's been winning praise ever since.
Engelhardt smashed Notre Dame's indoors school record her freshman year with a winning jump of 5-foot-10 3/4 at the Alex Wilson Invitational. That same season, she began her run of top finishes at the Big East Championships by taking second both indoors and outdoors.
Despite the early accomplishments, Engelhardt kept jumping higher and higher, setting a Notre Dame outdoors record with a leap of 6-0 3/4.
Her junior season, Engelhardt made her way to two NCAA championships. She took 12th at the indoors championships to be designated as an All-American for the second time in her career. At the NCAA outdoors championships, Engelhardt turned around to place 19th.
"She's improved a lot," Winsor said. "She jumped 5-10 in high school, and she's jumped 6-0 3/4. When you're at that level, three inches is quite a bit. You can work years for a one-inch improvement."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 10, 2000
