Nicole Trenchard is heading back to the Central Valley on Sunday, back to the state championships in track and field. But the incoming senior at Santa Cruz’s Pacific Collegiate School won’t be competing in the event she became known for this past season, nor will she be competing in a meet sanctioned by the CIF, the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
Trenchard, who in March set the Santa Cruz County record in pole vault, will instead be competing in an exhibition javelin event at the California State High School Hammer Championships in Modesto. She will be one of 14 county competitors at the meet, each of whom will be looking to see how far they can go — and where, exactly, they stack up — in the non-CIF-sanctioned throwing events.
“It’s like throwing a softball and I grew up doing that,” Trenchard said of the javelin, which was introduced to her last summer by her pole vault coach, Joe Miyoshi. “So it’s a new way to do something that I’ve been doing for a while.”
Trenchard still considers herself a newbie in the event — and for very good reason. Although she picked up javelin last summer and registered a throw of 120 feet during an open meet in Moorpark on Oct. 27, competing in pole vault and other CIF-sanctioned events have dominated her focus ever since.
But Trenchard probably isn’t the only competitor who might be considered a newbie. Javelin was introduced at the hammer championships just last year, which is why it remains an exhibition as interest continues to grow. The marks will count, but there’s no state title yet, unlike the hammer competition.
Still, it’s another event to keep open as Trenchard and others eye track and field in college.
The PCS athlete will be joined by Aptos’ Angela Chmelicek and Michelle Firebaugh in the javelin event on Sunday, while county competitors Robert White, Ethan Rasmussen, Dominic Rodriguez and Dustin Samms will compete on the boys side.
Samms, who last year finished second in the hammer throw, will seek the top spot in the event this year while competing alongside locals White, Rasmussen, Rodriguez, Cecil Fisher, Tristan Bush, Adrian Galindo, Justin Firebaugh and Nick Kolb.
Chmelicek and Michelle Firebaugh will also compete in the girls hammer, along with Erica Nunez and Ashley Doherty.
Aptos High throwing coach Lloyd Hedenland, who is also the head throws coach with the Sierra Foothill Track Club, said they would like to introduce both hammer and javelin to the CIF, with the events held in conjunction to last weekend’s state track and field championships in Clovis.
“There’s more and more kids competing in javelin and hammer than ever before,” Hedenland said.
“We’re building the sport…”
The two events are sanctioned by USA Track and Field.
The state hammer meet, then, is the first test of many that will take place the next few weeks for the throwers, culminating with the national championships in Houston July 21-28.
Trenchard could compete in both pole vault and javelin moving forward. But, right now, at least, the latter event is simply for fun.
Of course, if she is as good throwing as she is vaulting, Trenchard could have another bullet point on her high school resume. And considering her one and only mark this season of 120 feet ranks her second best in California, according to athletic.net, that just may be the case.
“I have a personal record to beat, but it’s not about that,” Trenchard said about Sunday’s event. “It’s all about having fun. There are no expectations.”