Salpointe’s Mikinski back from foot injury, wins the high jump
The Nike Chandler Rotary Invitational outdoor track and field meet’s return to Chandler High School on Friday and Saturday was a long-awaited new beginning for Arizona high school spring sports over the past year.
The 95-degree heat with clear blue skies and the towering voice of longtime Arizona high school track and field announcer Ron Smith calling the results marked the end of the looming void after the AIA’s 2020 spring sports season was canceled from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this point, if we had nobody in the stadium and just officials and kids running, I’d be doing backflips,” Chandler girls track and field coach Eric Richardson. “It’s great that we’re back in the way that we are, but we would take anything because that was the absolute worst thing that could happen to some kids.”
For Tucson Salpointe Catholic junior Paris Mikinski, she used the opportunity to double up the ante for herself and her competitors in her outstanding return after not being in a meet for the past two seasons with a broken foot injury.
Mikinski set two personal records, leaping higher than the event’s 20 high jumpers to win the Chandler Rotary high jump’s in-state competition on Friday.
First, she cleared 5-foot, 4-inches to eclipse her previous PR of 5-2. After Mikinski was given a tough challenge by one of the state’s best in American Leadership Academy-Queek senior Kylie Bishop clearing 5-4, Mikinski cleared 5-6 with a swooping Fosbury flop with much separation from the bar.
Her mother and Salpointe track and field jumps coach Gwen Mikinski stood on the sidelines and yelped with elation at her daughter’s two new accomplishments.
“What is remarkable about her performance in Chandler is the fact that she has not competed in a high school meet since 2020,” Gwen said in a text message. “To have a double PR in a meet is basically unheard of because athletes usually are so elated of the first PR they lose focus.”
But Paris didn’t lost sight of her next goal.
The bar was then raised to 5-8, and she told her mother, “I just want to try and see if I get it.”
Paris made four additional attempts and didn’t clear that height. But her desire to push herself higher made Paris forget about her foot injury last month.
It happened when she was kicked in the foot while playing for the Salpointe girls soccer team in the 4A conference state championship against Prescott, which Salpointe won.
Paris trained since March 2020 after the track and field season was halted, working on fitness, running and improving her weak areas.
The most impressive part about her winning in her comeback is that she doesn’t feel her foot to be at full strength yet.
“Not
100
percent
yet,
but
Iwas wearing this copper fit brace on my left foot. That’s actually helped a lot to relieve the pain. I’d say I’m 90 percent there,” Paris said. “Along with that, I ice it a few times per day and do a (stimulation) machine on it.”
The copper fit sleeve brace helps Paris for compression abs circulation, Gwen said.
Friday’s 21 high jump entrants started at 4-6 and cleared with ease. The leaderboard lessened the amount names as the bar reached 5-feet.
To Hamilton jump events coach Sam Bowe, who had freshman Kianna Reed finish fourth at 5-2, it’s more than just coaching that helps high jumpers flop over the bar.
“It really comes down to if they have it or they don’t have it,” Bowe said. “Some people who have a gymnastics background, they’re comfortable and good self-body awareness and self-control. Some people don’t. Part of it comes from them being naturally gifted, and then other part is just lots of repetitions feeling those positions in the air.”
Bowe also acknowledged there has been difficulty for Arizona high school jumpers and track and field athletes heading into the spring season from the shortened preparation time.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Arizona Interscholastic Association to adjust the spring schedule, including the format of the Chandler Rotary for instate competition, and athletes only had two and a half weeks to before their first competition.
“It was kind of like we rushed them into competing right away before they were really able to develop the muscle memory with the correct form. Essentially, it’s helping them find the correct spacing, getting a consistent approach, and teaching them how to lean away from the bar.”
But Paris has the genetic makeup of Gwen, born to follow her mother’s leaps and bounds, and ample rehabilitation time.
Gwen Wentland-Mikinski was a world-class high jumper and the member of two U.S. world championship track and field teams. The last gold medal Gwen won as a competitor was 2003 in Paris, and served on the gold meal-winning U.S. Olympic track and field coaching staff.
She named her daughter after France’s capital city Paris because she was conceived during the world championships there and she was born the following year.
Paris has been high jumping since she was eight years older. At age 10, Paris won that event in the USA Track and Field Youth Nationals.
Wentland-Mikinski now runs her own Tucson-based high jump training facility called Gwen Fitness, where Paris trained.
It’s only natural for Paris to want to raise the bar, growing up watching her mother soar to new heights and teaching people to do the same.
“Paris kept her eyes on the prize and remained intent on getting quality jumps in even at 5-8, which is a bar she has never looked at before,” Gwen said.