McCloskey makes her mark
Germantown Academy grad jumped to All-American status at Penn State
FORT WASHINGTON » It was a happy homecoming for Megan McCloskey, returning to Germantown Academy Tuesday evening as a College All-American.
A chorus of “congratulations” followed her as she made her way over — quite fittingly — to the high jump.
“It was a really cool way to wrap up my career,” the GA grad said of her senior year at Penn State. “I hadn’t been to Nationals before and to not only go, succeed and do well but to get All-American was super special. It was kind of a bitter-sweet end to my track and field career but I couldn’t be sad when I walked away as an AllAmerican.”
McCloskey (Lower Gwynedd) closed out her Nittany Lion career in style earlier this month, clearing 5-feet-10 to tie for fourth-place in the women’s high jump at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, held at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
On Tuesday night, McCloskey was helping out at GA’s All-Comers Meet, overseeing the high jump event for the evening.
“I’m a super sentimental person so it’s kind of really sad that it’s over,” she said with a smile. “But I’m here at GA’s track, which is cool — four years later I’m back. It was a great career.
“I was so happy to be at Penn State. I couldn’t have picked a better place to be for four years, with my teammates, the coaches — all of it was a really positive experience. And I was really happy to be on a team that won Big 10’s — we won my junior year indoors, which was really cool. And just to be part of a really strong culture, which supported the athletes, and it was just a really good place to be.”
had a strong junior season in 2017, competing at seven meets. She posted five top10 finishes.
The former Patriot even recorded a personal-best clearance of 5-11.25 (1.82m) — the No. 2 mark in the program’s history. Ultimately, McCloskey competed in the high jump at the NCAA East Preliminary but she was a year away from achieving her goal.
“I guess I was trying to go with the flow a little bit more this year,” she said. “I put a lot more pressure on myself junior year and I didn’t make it to the National meet. It was kind of like resetting and trying to focus on what was important.
“And just relaxing and having confidence and believing that I was really meant to be there with the top girls really changed my perspective. And I felt very comfortable competing and I knew I was supposed to be there and it
“And just relaxing and having confidence and believing that I was really meant to be there with the top girls really changed my perspective. And I felt very comfortable competing and I knew I was supposed to be there and it just kinda felt right. And I felt really good in the competition.” — Germantown Academy graduate Megan McCloskey
just kinda felt right. And I felt really good in the competition.”
This time at the preliminaries (Tampa, Fla.), McCloskey cleared a seasonbest
height of 5-10.75 on her second attempt to finish in the top-12 and move on to Oregon.
UP NEXT » McCloskey was back where it all started Tuesday night, back where she was a two-time Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association High Jump State Champion as well as a four-time Independent Schools State Champion.
The former track and volleyball standout, who holds both the indoor and outdoor high jump school records at GA, spent a warm evening at Carey Stadium talking with old friends, meeting some new ones and looking to the future.
“I have a job,” she says with a smile. “So I’m gonna take a little bit of time off and then I start doing marketing for a financial services company and I start that at the end of July.
“Otherwise, I am done high jump for now. And who knows? Maybe I’ll compete in something else in the future but I took my last jump and I’m happy with that.”