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Shafter's Jelmini named All-Area Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year

BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:33 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:53 PM

Everything Anna Jelmini did this year -- from the undefeated season to the 183-11 discus throw to, of course, the double state championship -- can be traced back to a crowded, noisy Body Xchange gym on Calloway Drive and the next set of weights.

"Every time it got hard," Jelmini said, "I thought of the state meet. Then I kept working harder."

That singular determination in the fall made the spring's competitions a formality. Jelmini went unbeaten -- and never really was tested -- in winning state championships in the shot put and discus.

The Shafter junior, who single-handedly lifted the Generals to fourth place in the state, is an easy choice for The Californian's Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Jelmini herself can tell you how dominant she was with a story of how other throwers treated her -- if you don't mind her blushing.

"Everyone was really nice, and they're like, 'If you want to see real throwing, look at her,'" Jelmini said. "It sounds weird hearing them say that."

Competitors so impressed they turned into fans? Yowza.

"I didn't expect to come out and dominate right away; I had to work after it," Jelmini said. "But once I was up there, I just continued to work to stay up there."

"Up there" meant having top-5 marks nationally in both events, and, after a mid-season trip to Salinas, the No. 1 mark in the discus, a spectacular 183-11 that sent her into the Central Section record books and allows her to compete in this month's U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

"It was unreal," Jelmini said of the big throw. "It was amazing. I was like, 'Was that me? Did that really go that far?'"

Salinas is famous for its windy discus arena, often propelling throwers to big marks, but Jelmini is no fluke. She won the state discus crown with a throw of 169-4 (no one within eight feet) and the shot put title with a 48-3.5 (winner by more than five feet). She had a discus throw well past 180 at state, but it was a foul by inches.

"She is very athletic, she's very responsive, she picks things up well and she's very quickly able to adjust," Shafter throwing coach Matt Godbehere said.

Godbehere or his wife, former Bakersfield High and UCLA great Dawn Dumble, have been coaching Jelmini since she was in grade school. After she finished fourth in the discus and seventh in the shot at last year's state finals, he primed for a breakout junior season.

"We sat down last summer and discussed goals and how we were going to get there," Godbehere said. "Based on that conversation, we set a schedule for training. ... Numbers I wanted in the weight room that I was shooting for this time of year, she was doing it in the fall.

"From the get-go, she stayed way ahead of the curve. It was exciting."

Now, Jelmini has bigger meets in mind than even the state. She won the discus Friday at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio, and will compete in the shot put today. Next is the World Junior Championships July 8-13 in Poland -- and the Olympic trials.

When she's done with that, she'll come back to Shafter, Bakersfield and Body Xchange and continue working on a career that already has her on the short list of Kern County greats.

"It seems like those other people are on a whole different pedestal," Jelmini said. "But it's pretty cool that I'm up there with them."