LA CROSSE — Melrose-Mindoro High School junior Sheila Johnson had to wait until Saturday for official recognition of her performance at the WIAA state track and field meet. but she, her friends and her family were able to go to sleep Friday night knowing what she had accomplished.
Johnson was a Division 3 state qualifier in the high jump as a sophomore, but she missed out on a medal by one spot.
She made good on her latest attempt on Friday by clearing 5 feet, 4 inches and coming away with second place. But the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex was cleared due to an incoming storm as she waited to take her place on the medal stand.
So Johnson was introduced to the crowd as a state runner-up Saturday morning after tying her career best the day before.
“It feels great after missing the podium by one spot last year,” Johnson said of the seventh-place finish.
Johnson couldn’t put a finger on why, but she said she had encountered more difficult clearing heights like 5 feet and 5-2 this season. She did have a successful jump at 5-2 during her sectional.
But she got over the bar on her first attempt at 4-8, 4-10, 5-0 and 5-2 and went to 5-3 as one in a group of six.
Johnson missed the first two tries before clearing 5-3 as one of three. She also made 5-4 on her third try before both she and Dodgeland junior Abby Kast missed all three attempts at 5-5.
Kast won with the difference coming when she made her second attempt at 5-4.
“My jumps were good, and I thought I had good form,” Johnson said. “I worked with my drive leg and really concentrated on driving up to the bar and working on my snap and not snapping at the bar.”
She said most of her misses came when she initially cleared the height rather than hitting the bar on the way up, so she gave herself a good chance at the victory.
“I was just moving around to where my mark was,” Johnson said. “It was more about adjusting my mark than anything with my approach.”
