Jelmini set the bar for throwers at local -- and national -- level
| Friday, Jun 26 2009 11:13 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jun 26 2009 11:24 PM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian Prep track star Anna Jelmini, of Shafter High School, will compete in her last state track meet of her high school career this upcoming weekend. Jelmini will be attending Arizona State University in the fall.
Now that Anna Jelmini's career at Shafter High School is said and done, it's easy to look back and say we saw it coming.
Jelmini is talented, right? She's got good, experienced coaching, too? So why wouldn't she steadily improve her marks in the shot put and discus throughout the years, eventually launching throws at track and field meets farther than anyone her age ever has before?
But doing what Jelmini has done, especially this past year, when she threw the discus a national-record 190 feet, 3 inches and the shot put a whopping 54-4.75, is not normal. It cannot be expected.
"She improved a lot as a sophomore and junior," said her coach, Matt Godbehere, "from 42 (feet) to 46 to 50 in the shot. But once you're at that level, it's hard to improve much. And then she went out and added four more feet."
And for that (not to mention the discus record, improved from a best of 183-11 as a junior), she's The Californian's Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. That honor pales in comparison with the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field honor she was given last week, but hey, it's the best we have.
We can also try to explain where this monstrous senior year came from.
Start with Jelmini's decision to scrap basketball for the year and focus on throwing -- not an easy call, considering Jelmini was the South Sequoia League MVP in hoops as a junior.
"Basketball's always been fun," Jelmini said. "But I wanted to get serious about throwing. I had really big goals and wanted to train more and work on technique and get stronger."
That allowed Godbehere, a meticulous weight-room planner, to get Jelmini lifting early and often.
"A lot of her success and improvement is going to come from the weight room, to get stronger and improve that component of training," Godbehere said. "It's also important to be a fit thrower; the fitter you are, that allows you take a higher volume of throws and sustain your technique and prevent injuries."
It has also allowed Jelmini to be fresher as the season drags on. Her biggest throws came at the Sierra-Sequoia Division meet in Oakhurst, which was late in the season, and then she set CIF state meet records a few weeks after that.
But Jelmini's big year has more to it than that. It's also the culmination of years of work -- she started training with Godbehere's wife, former UCLA national champion Dawn Dumble, in fifth grade. The big throws, Jelmini believes, were just waiting in the wings.
"Sometimes when you're training hard but you don't necessarily have a phenomenal year, it could be in the works for the year after that," she said. "I've just continued to improve what I'm doing in my throws, and I'm stronger and quicker."
No coincidence, said Dumble, who has kept a close eye on Jelmini even after she passed the coaching torch to her husband.
"You can have talent but not do anything with it," Dumble said. "But she has the personality to do it. She doesn't get a big head and think she's too big to train. She comes ready to train each and every day regardless of what she's done."
Jelmini now is competing at the USA Track and Field Championships, both as a junior and in the regular discus competition, this weekend in Eugene, Ore. She can qualify there for the Pan American Games in Trinidad and Tobago later this summer.
After that, the sky is the limit.
"There are no boundaries," Godbehere said. "There's no putting limits on her. I have no idea how far she's going to throw. I don't want to put pressure on her, but it'll be a really long ways in both events. Is she going to be the best ever? You can't say yet, but she has the talent."
And, not coincidentally, the drive.
"I just like improving," she said, "and I like challenges. If there's something more that I can do, I'm in for it."
Even if you didn't see her magical high school career coming, you can bet on this: You'll be hearing about Anna Jelmini for years to come.
