Higher (The University of Gatica #3)

by Lexy Timms

  She had done it! Somehow, she had managed to get A’s, or near close enough on her finals. She didn’t know the result of today’s exam, but it didn’t matter. Even the surprised, strange look her professor gave her when she showed up to write it, didn’t matter.

  She hitched her backpack up on her shoulder and made her way to tell Coach Anderson. He was going to be so proud of her! As she rounded the corner of the classes section of the building she headed for the small set of stairs to take her to the track office. Mr. Dab stood in the hallway with his briefcase in tow.

  “Hello, Mister Dab,” she said cheerily. Ain’t nobody gonna break me down.

  “Jani.” He cleared his throat. “I was surprised to see you in the exam room today.” He gave her a single nod. “I’m glad that you came. Your coach came and spoke with me this week. I’m glad you have put your focus back into your studies. I look forward to seeing you in my class next year.”

  “I plan on trying my hardest.”

  “That’s all we, as professors, can hope for.”

  She nodded and was about to carry on to the track office when she changed her mind. “Mister Dab?”

  “Yes?”

  “I know this is late, and I messed up, but I’d like to hand in my essay.” Her inner voice told her to keep it and save it for next year. She dropped her backpack off her shoulder and pulled it out before she changed her mind. “I’ll make next year’s better.” She made a face. “And on time.”

  Mr. Dab’s mouth opened but nothing came out. He accepted the paper, slowly looked down at it in his hands and then back up at Jani’s face.

  “I’ll see you in September again, sir.” She pretended to salute him and headed for the stairs. She should have kept the essay, but the surprised look on his face was worth it. She had done good. Not because she had to, but because she wanted to.

  Her academic high flowed into the track meet the next day. She warmed up and marked out her approach. She had lifted Thursday morning instead of yesterday because of the exam and her legs felt slightly flat. She didn’t feel the usual pop that came with less volume of training and more concentration on competing. Coach Maves wanted to train through the Winter Invitational and Jani agreed. NCAA indoor wouldn’t be till March. If she slacked now, she would have nothing left to carry her through to nationals.

  As she set out her approach and went through her run-throughs, she adjusted her markings accordingly. Aileen raced the sixty meter and won her heat. Coach Anderson had her running the sprint to work on speed. She would also be racing in the hurdles shortly. If she made both races, she would be running six times. Heats, semis and finals. Jani had no doubt Aileen would be doing all three in both events.

  With school now finished for the semester, they planned on going out tonight and dancing. No matter how they did, they were going to celebrate.

  Turning her focus back to the high jump pit, Jani waited for the other girls competing to practice their take-offs with the bar set at lower heights. She wanted to take a couple of 5’5” and 5’7” short approach or full approach, whatever Coach Maves wanted.

  There were a lot of girls jumping today. Jani checked her watch as she sat stretching and watching the other girls. Four o’clock and twenty-five girls. This was going to take over an hour before she even started jumping. She would have to warm up again in half an hour.

  An official set the bar on the ground and started to move the standards. Another official called the girls to come check in with him.

  Jani jumped up and rushed over. “I haven’t had any warm-up jumps yet.”

  The official gave her a hard look. “The bar’s been up. If you didn’t take your jumps, that is not our issue. It is your responsibility.”

  It’s a freakin’ invitational! “I’ve been waiting for you to raise the bar higher.”

  The man pressed his lips and huffed through his nose. He glanced down at her UofG t-shirt. “Fine. Two jumps. That is it. We need to get this thing started. We’ve got twenty-six girls competing. I’d like to be home before Christmas.”

  Jani bit back a smart remark and pointed to her name. “That’s me.” She hurried over to the other official and looked around for Coach Maves. She was with the long jumpers in the far pit. It looked like someone had gotten hurt or something. She couldn’t tell from where she stood if it was a Redcoat or one of the other six schools competing.

  “One height, Jani. You can have two jumps, but at one height.”

  She gave him a Really? look but didn’t argue. “Five seven,” she called out to the other official and moved to her five step approach mark. She’d do one short approach to get her form over the bar and use one long approach and hope she could get it in one go.

  Pressing her left foot into the mondo so her track spikes stuck, she visualized herself over the bar and took a deep breath. As she forced an exhale she ran her curve trying to force a lean and drove her knee up. She felt her calves brush the bar but shaking, it stayed up.

  She hopped off the mats and moved to her full approach. She had to ask three girls to move because they sat right on her approach marking. Tall girl with extra-long legs, she was always furthest back from the standards.

  Finally a clear approach, she drove out of the back. “Watch ou—”

  She ran straight into the official holding the clipboard. He hadn’t been paying attention and walked straight across her approach as she was running. She hit him hard, unable to stop and sent him flying, the papers with the list of girls competing went flying everywhere.

  The great feeling from yesterday was slowly dwindling into an irritated one.

  “Are you alright?” she asked. “You have to watch where you’re going.” As a high jump official the guy should know that better than anyone.

  “I’m okay.” He accepted the hand Jani held out to him. “You are one tall drink of water.” He rubbed his thigh.

  “Did I Charlie-horse you?”

  He nodded and shook his head. “Sorry about that. I forgot you were doing your run-through.” The other official handed him the sheets from the ground. “What height did you want to come in at, by the way?”

  “Five six or five seven. I’ll see how long it takes before I start jumping.”

  The official nodded. “I know who you are now.” He smiled sympathetically. “It’s going to be a while. After an hour, I’m allowed to let anyone who has not entered the competition to have a run-through. I’ll let you know when an hour’s up.”

  “Thanks.” Jani walked back to her ten step approach and let the official clear the track this time. She ran through and easily cleared the height. Good to go!

  The bar started at a very low height. Jani switched back to her runners and put her warm up clothes back on. She watched Aileen race from the inside of the track and hugged her after she came a very close second in the sixty meter. She easily qualified for the hurdle final forty minutes from now.

  It was nearly an hour before the bar finally reached 5’6”. There were six girls left, not including Jani. She decided to pass and went to speak to Coach Maves as two of the girls struggled to get over the bar on their second and third attempts.

  “How are things?” Coach Maves asked.

  “Just about to come in.” Jani stretched her hamstrings. “What happened at the long pit before?”

  “Chrissy got hurt.”

  “Is she okay?”

  Maves checked her phone. “Not sure yet. One of the assistant coaches took her down to the athletic therapy room and he sent me a message a bit ago that they are going to take her for X-rays to rule out everything.”

  “Crap. That sucks. I hope she’s alright.”

  “Me, too. We need her this season.”

  The officials dropped the bar down to raise the standards up to 5’7”.

  “That looks like I’m up.”

  “Good luck. I’ll be over there.” Maves pointed to the other side of the apron so she could watch Jani’s approach and take off without any distraction. “T
ake it easy on the lower heights. Concentrate on your approach. Just treat it like practice.”

  “With a Gatica uniform on?” Jani teased. She saluted Maves. “Will do, Coach.”

  There were four girls left and all three names were called before Jani’s. She tied her high jump shoes back up and pulled off her sweat pants and top. By the time her name was called, she was ready to go.

  Hard drive out of the back, she felt her body naturally lean into the curve and popped up to easily clear the bar. She looked at Maves for confirmation she had done it right.

  Maves nodded and pointed to her marker just before her curve. She turned her hands over and over each other to gesture that Jani needed to speed up over the curve.

  Three girls made it to the next height so the bar went up two inches. Both girls ahead of Jani missed the bar. She took her place and moved her marker back half a shoe length so she could accelerate without crashing into the bar when she pushed through on her curve. She accelerated at her curve and felt her body stay too tall. She tried to make herself lean, which she knew wouldn’t help. You couldn’t fake it in high jump. It was too technical.

  She managed to drive her right knee up high and clear the height. Not very prettily, but the bar stayed up so it didn’t matter.

  Only one other girl cleared the height on her third attempt. The officials asked the two of them to come and speak with him. “What height would you girls like?”

  The other girl requested 5’10”. Jani would have preferred 5’11” but this meet was a training one so the more jumps she took, the better. Plus, after the last botched approach, she needed another run-through.

  Jani visualized her approach and form over the bar. She ran through her approach and nailed it perfectly, flying with inches to spare between her and the bar.

  The other jumper did not clear the height so Jani set the bar to 6’ and moved back to her approach. She heard Aileen cheer her name. If she made this height, it would pretty much guarantee her a spot at NCAA indoors.

  The noisy track quieted as she stood at her approach marker. She drove out of the back, pushed her left leg over her right as she rounded her curve and drilled her knee up. She wanted this height. It represented a big thing by American standards. She floated over the bar and as she lifted her head to create the snap to get her calves up, she saw how much space was between her and the bar. A lot. A freakin’ lot!

  She jumped up and down and raced over to Coach Maves. “What height now? Six-one?” She bounced excitedly as she spoke.

  Maves gestured to calm down. “Remember, this is a training meet. Why not go six-two? You can get that approach consistent and focus on your take-off. You seemed a bit close to the bar. As it goes higher you are going to need to move back. It’ll take more time to clear the higher heights. If it takes a couple of attempts, at least you are working on your timing at the higher heights.” Maves grinned. “Seems you have plenty of air time right now.” She high-fived Jani. “Keep it up. Literally.”

  Jani smiled and jogged over to tell the officials what height she wanted. “Just keep moving up an inch at a time.”

  They nodded in agreement and went to set the next height.

  Jani sat down as she waited for them. She watched Aileen come blasting out of the blocks and cruise over the hurdles like they weren’t even there. She beat the other competitors by a full hurdle.

  Aileen raced over and hugged Jani. “You’re doing great!”

  “You aren’t doing so bad yourself,” Jani laughed.

  “I love this!”

  “Me, too.”

  “Jani, the bar is set,” the official called out. “Six-two. First attempt, Jani.”

  That meant she had ninety seconds to start her approach. She walked over to her starting tape and stared at the bar. It didn’t look any higher than her last jump at six foot. Which was weird. This height should scare her. It wasn’t much lower than her PB. She ran through her approach in her head and thought about knee drive, pushing her knee up, up, over the bar.

  She should have visualized but was too excited with first time clearances so far. She knew the moment she took off she was too close. She hit the bar on her way up and knocked it off. She felt her body continue to travel up and knew had she been the right distance away, she would have cleared it.

  She shook her head and got off the mat, walking immediately back to her take-off tape. She was ready to go before the officials had even set the bar back on the standards.

  Focus, Jani, focus. She inhaled a slow, deep breath and moved back half a shoe length from her tape. If she pushed for more speed and leaned with her curve, she could easily make it. Easy Peasy.

  She was running before the official even finished calling out her name. One, two, three… four-five. She counted in her head as she rounded the curve. Driving her knee, she pulled her head back behind her so her hips would pop up high. Just as her center curled over the bar, she brought her head up and let her lower legs snap over.

  Perfect clearance. With room to spare.

  She knew because of the roar of the crowd now gathering to watch. It had been a big jump. Even Coach Anderson had walked over beside Coach Maves.

  Jani tightened her ponytail and walked calmly over to them. “Six-three now, right? Or six-three and a quarter? Did that look okay?” she asked, her face serious. It had to be near perfect. She wanted the next height… and the next.

  Coach Maves remained ever calm. “Stay focussed, Jani. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  Did the woman know how to read her thoughts? “We’re working on approach tonight. It felt good. It’s just not consistent.”

  “It’ll come. Go up to six-three.”

  The idea of tying her PB should be satisfying, but she was hungry for more. And it’s only the first meet of the season! “Okay.” She walked over to the officials and requested the height.

  Coach Anderson came over and mentioned that she would be tying the school record if she made it. He wanted the officials to be concise. “You’ve got this, Jani. Fantastic to see you back. I’ve missed this enthusiastic spirit of yours.”

  She smiled and jumped up and down on her tippy-toes. “It is fun.” She turned and pumped her hands excitedly at Aileen. She mouthed, Six-Three!

  Aileen gave her a thumbs up.

  When Coach Maves cleared her throat loudly, she turned her attention back to the bar. The rest of the meet had finished and were now watching only her.

  She sat down to give her legs a moment’s rest. She lay on her back and mentally went through her approach and what she needed to do to get over the bar. When she felt ready, she strode purposefully to her marker and moved a quarter of a shoe length back.

  When the official calmly called out her name, she nodded. Everything else disappeared. It was just her and the bar. She raised her hands over her head and the invisible crowd began clapping to her rhythm. She wanted this.

  And she was going to take it.

  Two hard steps out of the back she adjusted her position knowing she was going fast. Her body fought gravity as she naturally leaned on her curve. She counted to five, making the last two numbers superfast together and driving her right knee hard toward the ceiling.

  Her upper body cleared the bar and she fought to keep her glutes tight and her hips arched high. The bar brushed ever-so-slightly against her hamstrings. She snapped her head forward so her lower legs counter-acted. She landed on the pink pit mats with her shoulders and rolled into a backwards summersault.

  The bar rippled slightly but had absolutely no intention of falling.

  Her fist pumped into the air and she jumped up and down on the cushioned pit. A ‘wahoo’ erupted from her lips while everyone watching cheered. She’d just tied her school record during the first pre-meet of the season. What else was in the cards for the competitive season?

  After the past three weeks, there could not have been a more climactic moment. She knew she was throwing every chance away at making the next height but she didn’
t care. She had hit her zone, focussed and then did what she wanted. Goal achieved.

  Aileen raced over and hugged her. “That’s amazing!” She squeezed her tight and then quickly let go. “Sorry, you have more to do. I just am so crazy-happy.”

  “Me too.” She laughed and turned to Maves to discuss the next height. She knew from the look in Maves’ eyes that she didn’t think Jani would make the next height. She also knew thinking like that was diminishing the chances of making it also. “Okay, Coach. How about one ninety-two?”

  Maves hesitated a moment, apparently translating Jani’s metric math to imperial. She nodded. “Six-three and a half?”

  “That’s kind of what I was thinking. It’s Canadian Olympic standard. If I even want a shot, I have to clear that, and then one ninety-five.”

  Maves shook her head. “I’ll never understand your system. Why not just win and go?”

  Jani smiled. “That would make things easy.”

  “I forgot, you don’t like it if it’s not a challenge.”

  Jani laughed and called the height over to the officials.

  She had three solid attempts with her second attempt being the closest. She would make it before the end of January. She was positive it would happen.

  After her third attempt and miss, she shook the officials’ hands and thanked them. She glanced up at the clock on the wall by the bleachers, wondering how long the event had actually taken. It had been nearly two hours. Her gaze travelled down to someone standing near the back of the bleachers.

  A familiar stirring started low in her tummy.

  Carter.

  In the flesh.

  Chapter 15

  What’s he doing here? Self-consciously she checked if her pony was still in the center of the back of her head. She probably had wisps of hair flying everywhere.

  He wore a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Even from this distance she could see the brightness of his blue eyes. Their eyes met and held.

  Why had he come? To watch her jump? It didn’t make sense. They hadn’t talked in weeks.