Hesseltine Primed For Big Finish

FAYETTEVILLE -- Kirstie Hesseltine decided she wanted to try the high jump late in her senior year at Springdale Har-Ber.

She questioned that decision a little bit during her freshman year at Arkansas, but now the senior's pleased with her decision.

Hesseltine will try to put an exclamation mark on her track and field career at Arkansas this week at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. She will compete in the high jump on Saturday. It's her second trip to nationals, finishing 17th a year ago.

She's looking for more this time, and Arkansas women's track coach Lance Harter believes a personal-best jump could be in the cards. Hesseltine's personal best clearance is 5 feet, 10.5 inches earlier this season.

"She had a big jump at the regional meet and that tells us where she is with her technique," Harter said. "She's ready for some real big jumps. She's been knocking on that door. I think her teammates, friends and the coaching staff are keeping their fingers crossed. If it happens at the national meet, it would be real sweet."

Hesseltine said the goal is 6 feet and her big clearance of 5-9.75 at the regional meet gives her hope that height is within reach.

"That's definitely my goal," Hesseltine said. "That jump at regionals is the jump that could have gotten me over 6 feet I think."

It's definitely been a long-term process for Hesseltine, who didn't start high jumping until her junior year in high school. She had even verbally committed to play volleyball at Campbell University in North Carolina, but changed her mind late to give the high jump a chance.

"That's what has made this whole experience pretty cool, I didn't know a whole lot about the event coming into it," Hesseltine said.

But it's also not been without frustrations. Her personal best clearance in high school was 5-8, but Hesseltine didn't approach that during her freshman year.

"I was calling my high school coach Jodi Unger going 'What the heck is going on?'" Hesseltine said. " on it She and coach harter kept telling me you've got to get that first year under you with the training. My first year was a struggle, but I've built on that and gotten a lot better."

Unger, who pole vaulted at Arkansas, said all freshmen must adjust to the training regimen, which is very different from high school. But she got to see firsthand that Hesseltine's training has paid off at the regional meet held in Fayetteville a couple of weeks ago.

"I remember telling her something like just being a student-athlete is hard," Unger said. "It's easy to want to just shut down. But you surround yourself with uplifting people and she's done great. You could tell her maturity has really showed up."

Hesseltine said getting through the regional meet was more of a mental challenge than a physical one. She cleared just three bars to qualify for nationals, but Hesseltine needed to do it with no misses and that was the key, Hesseltine said.

"I knew what I had to do," Hesseltine said. "It was more about mental strength for sure. There were 48 girls there and 12 advanced. The whole time I'm watching the other girls jump, I'm thinking about my approach over and over in my head. Really it's about my last four steps."

Hesseltine said she's had time to think about her last competition as a Razorback and it's been a great experience overall.

"My freshman year I kept think 'should I be playing volleyball?'" she said. "But growing with my teammates and them becoming my best friends them and coach Brian Compton, they are the reason I wanted to continue and I wouldn't change it for the world."

Sports on 06/11/2014