Athlete takes home first win for high school, sets records

Feb. 25, 2020 | Sarah Heinonen
sarah@thereminder.com

Hannah Amsden holds her ribbon and stands with teammate Mckayla Boman after her winning jump.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

WEST SPRINGFIELD – On the Wednesday morning of February vacation, while many high school students were sleeping in, West Springfield High School (WSHS) senior Hannah Amsden was in the gym training. She practices track and field events for up to two and a half hours, five days a week.

That dedication helped Amsden become the first WSHS student to win the Girls’ High Jump in the Indoor Track League competition at the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference Championships at Smith College on Feb. 7.

Amsden described the win as feeling “pretty amazing.”

The high jump, as it is commonly practiced, is an event in which the athlete runs toward a horizontal bar, which has been set to a predetermined height, and turns their body while jumping backward over the bar without dislodging it.

Amsden said she thought that she would jump as high as 5-foot-1, but when she took one more attempt at jumping 5-foot-3, she cleared it. She said it felt good to have won against last year’s champion.

Her coach Matthew Griffin said Amsden has set six school records, finished in first place overall five weeks in a row during the indoor season and holds the highest total number of points earned for a season. She was named the WSHS’s Girls’ Indoor Track and Field MVP for 2019 and 2020.

Griffin, who has been coaching the Indoor Track and Field League since it began in 2000, has been training Amsden in indoor track and field for three seasons and outdoor track and field all four years of her high school career.

“The heights that she was at [when she began], to see where she’s at now, it’s a feat,” Griffin said. “Everyone loves to do a certain thing. Hannah loves high jump.”

Amsden said, “The more effort you put in the better the result,” and added, “I like staying in shape. It’s fun in general.” She also said she enjoys the friendships she has built through the sport.

Griffin said Amsden will be competing in the Steele Relays, an annual outdoor track and field competition that will take place this year on April 18.

“Hannah really excels on that day. A lot of competitors from across Western Mass. are here,” he said.

Amsden will also soon be taking part in her second pentathlon, a one-day competition which consists of the high jump, hurdles, long jump, shot put and 800-meter race. She plans to continue her athletics when she attends college at either Westfield State University or the University of Hartford.

The world record for the women’s indoor high jump is 6-feet-10 ¼. Amsden said she doesn’t know if she could jump that high, but “I think it’d be fun to try.”

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