Rustburg high jumping trio raising the bar

After clearing a personal record 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump on her first try Wednesday at Heritage, Rustburg freshman Michelle Heath pumps her fist like a tennis player celebrating match point before jumping over the net.

Sophomore teammates Jamiecka Baker and Giovanna DeRose wait on deck, having already secured a Red Devils sweep in the Seminole District tri-meet by surmounting 5-0.

“That’s typical for them, a 1-2-3 finish,” said Rustburg assistant coach Shamane Day, also DeRose’s mom.

Those are the type of points Red Devils head coach Gerald Mosley counts on to keep his team in contention for team trophies.

“The high jump has always been the key event to us winning a district title,” he said, noting in recent years Rustburg often has racked up as many as 20 points in the pit. “We overload that event to set us up to win as many points as possible. When Kristin (Smith) was a senior in 2007, we had Cassidy (Jones) and Kristin and Ashley Heath in the high jump and they formed the nucleus for us to win the Region III outdoor title.”

Jones, who started at middle hitter this past fall as a sophomore on Sweet Briar College’s volleyball team, also serves as the Red Devils’ high jump coach this spring.

“If we did (have track and field at Sweet Briar) I’d be doing that, too,” said Jones, who cleared a PR height of 5-3 as a senior at Rustburg.

Since last spring, she has developed a young corps of jumpers who were new to the event as freshmen and, in Heath’s case, an eighth-grader.

“Definitely, I have quite a few great, talented girls,” Jones said.

Baker, who cleared 5-0 to finish third in the high jump and help the Red Devils to a third-place team finish at this past Saturday’s 30-team Amherst Invitational, is Rustburg’s best. She cleared an area-high 5-4 in indoor and has qualified for the outdoor state meet with her 5-2 effort at the Bradford Relays at E.C. Glass.

“When I started with them, Jamiecka was a freshman last year and so she had never done it before and she got 5-feet last year and now she’s rocking up to 5-4,” Jones said. “She’s consistently at 5-0 or 5-2 all the time.”

Mosley believes all three underclassmen have the potential to clear 5-6 by next month’s state meet, with Baker likely to be the first to reach that height.

“My coaches push me very hard and I try my best to improve and just go for it,” said Baker, also the most versatile of the three, competing in the 400 and on the 400 relay, the 100 and 300 hurdles and the long and triple jumps on occasion.

“She’s a very well-rounded athlete,” Day said.

Baker entertained ideas of adding the pole vault to her repertoire of events.

“I wanted to try that, but coach Mosley said no, I might break the pole,” she said. “I think he was being funny.”

DeRose, who was hampered by a quadriceps pull on Wednesday, also runs the 200 and 400 and legs of the 400 and 1,600 relays when she’s healthy while Mosley is trying to turn Heath into a triple jumper.

Heath, who starred beside senior sister Ashley Heath on the front row in volleyball this past fall and in the backcourt in basketball this winter, equaled Ashley’s runner-up performance at the Group AA state indoor track and field meet by clearing 5-2 in her first time competing in a meet this spring.

“She’s solid in just about everything she does,” Jones said of Heath, whose father shuttled her to basketball practice after the high jump was finished.

The Red Devils will rely on Michelle to replace Ashley’s points in the event as she recovers from offseason back surgery, which likely will sideline her for the rest of her senior year.

Mosley credits Jones for infusing her passion for the high jump into the young jumpers, and passing on pointers she learned during her career at Rustburg.

“Cassidy has done a good job of getting them ready week after week,” he said. “She’s a five-time all-state high jumper. When you’re a five-time all-state jumper, you know all the ins and outs of the event. They’ve put it together and that’s where they are now, three of the best jumpers in this area.”

As much speed, leg strength and agility as the Red Devils have, Jones says hard work in practice is the key to their success in competition.

“They’re all naturally athletic, so it helps out a lot,” she said. “The coordination, I didn’t have to deal with too much.

“You can have natural athletic ability, but practice makes perfect as in any other sport,” she added. “It takes a lot of effort on their part … a whole lot of just repetitions of jumping and jumping and doing different drills. Conditioning is a big thing and (improving) your vertical leap.”

She works on developing the jumpers’ technique as well as their body physique.

“A lot of their problems are arching and jumping up so we focus a lot on core strength and a lot of bending and flexibility type drills,” Jones said, noting she puts them through plenty of plymetric work to strengthen their abs, back and lower body.

She also helps them with the psychological aspect of the high jump, teaching them how to stay focused, eliminating distractions, and envisioning themselves clearing the bar.

“It takes a whole lot of mental strength to get to the point where other people don’t affect your jumps,” Jones said. “They definitely have to see it before they can do it.”