Jelmini completes her dominant run, including state meet record in discus
| Thursday, Jun 04 2009 11:08 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Jun 06 2009 11:59 PM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Shafter High's Anna Jelmini won both the discus and shot put competition at the CIF 2009 State Championships held Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Shafter High's Anna Jelmini won the discus competition at the CIF 2009 State Championships held Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Shafter High's Anna Jelmini grimaces after releasing the shot put at the CIF 2009 State Championships held Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis. She won the event.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Shafter High's Anna Jelmini releases the shot put to win the CIF 2009 State Championships held Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
BY ZACH EWING
Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com
CLOVIS — Anna Jelmini can't remember much about her first high school shot put and discus throws.
The last few are etched in history.
Jelmini completed her dominant run Saturday to a back-to-back double state championship in the throwing events at the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
"I don't remember the first throw exactly," Jelmini said, "but I remember loving it. I was just like, 'Oh, this is great. I love track.'"
And why not, with the way she ended high school? Jelmini became the first girls thrower in California history to win both events back-to-back.
After setting the state-meet record in the shot put in Friday's preliminaries at 53 feet, 8 inches, Jelmini added the meet record in the discus today, recording 186-9 on her first toss of the finals. She later narrowly fouled on a throw that hit right at the 190-foot pylon.
"It's been great," said Jelmini, who's already the national high school record holder in the disc and second all-time in the shot. "All the great stuff that's already happened, and then to come here and defend my titles and get both state (meet) records, and then do that, I'm just amazed."
Jelmini's winning shot put mark was 50-5.75 on a day in which she fouled by throwing out of bounds on four of six throws and still beat the field by about five feet.
She has also added to the lore of Kern County throwing — including Jelmini's four, there have now been 15 girls state throwing championships won by locals.
"It's great to see the tradition of Kern County throwing continued," said Shafter throwing coach Matt Godbehere, who threw at Cal State Bakersfield. "All these great throwers have come out of the same area."
It also was a special day for Godbehere and his wife Dawn Dumble — who owns three of those titles and coaches Frontier's Matt Darr, who won both boys throwing titles.
"It feels amazing," Godbehere said. "I guess that as husband and wife, it's just that Dawn's been so focused on Matt and I've been so focused on Anna that that conversation — 'Oh, you know we could win four state championships' — never took place. It was just task at hand. But it's pretty awesome, pretty neat for our family."
And Kern County dominated in more ways than just at the top. Stockdale's Alex Collatz capped a remarkable weekend by medaling in both throwing events, second in the discus (163-1) and sixth in the shot put (42-6), an event she only started a month ago.
This after Collatz set a personal record by nearly 12 feet and led the discus after a 177-0 in the preliminaries — a national sophomore record and the second-ranking mark in the nation this year.
"Yesterday was the throw of the season for me," Collatz said. "I just wanted to get close to that rather than go for the big one all the time. I got second, and that's the place I wanted to finish in."
Burroughs' Kayla Kovar also placed in both events, fourth in the shot put (43-1.25) and fifth in the discus (136-10). She had placed in the discus last year but failed to qualify for state in the shot.
"This is surreal," Kovar said. "I just came out here wanting to have fun."
Most of all, though, this day was about Jelmini. The event's public-address announcer and several publications around the state proclaimed her all weekend as the best high school track and field athlete of all time because of her prowess in two events.
This was simply a coronation.
"It was history today," Godbehere said. "For her, it's just another chapter of history in this season. It's been pretty special."
Jelmini, who's bound for Arizona State after a summer of competing in the junior national championships and Pan American games, had a rare struggle in the shot put. After fouling on her first throw, she lobbed in a routine —for her — 48-11.5 on the second throw. Her next three attempts were all over 50 feet, but all landed just outside the left sector line. She fouled again on her last throw.
"She might have been focusing too much on every little thing with her technique rather than just letting herself enjoy the moment," Godbehere said.
She did just that in the discus ring, and the record-breaker was a thing of beauty. She unleashed it on her first throw, then enjoyed the proceedings — her last as a high school student.
"I guess it hasn't quite hit me yet, but I just can't believe it," Jelmini said. "It's just so exciting."
