For Skieresz, It Was a Season of Trials and Tribulation

Striving to meet long-range goals might be the best way for most national-class distance runners to motivate themselves, but Amy Skieresz of the University of Arizona prefers to take things one day at a time.

The 1995 graduate of Agoura High was in the midst of a superb freshman season in April before a case of bursitis near her left Achilles’ tendon forced her to miss several weeks of training. The down time prevented her from running the 5,000 meters in the NCAA championships June 1 and left her at less than her best 2 1/2 weeks later at the U.S. Olympic trials in Atlanta.

Finishing 11th in the trials would be a feather in the cap of most college freshmen, but Skieresz’s time of 16:22.99 was well off her career-best of 15:45.59 that she set while placing fourth in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April.

“I had no expectations going into the trials,” she said. “Because of the injury, I couldn’t. “I just didn’t want to make a complete fool of myself. I wanted to be able to finish and not get lapped, and I was able to do that.”

After her performance at Mt. SAC, some experts predicted Skieresz would battle two-time defending champion Jen Rhines of Villanova for the NCAA title and contend for a top-eight finish in the Olympic trials.

She, too, had expectations, which made the injury doubly painful.

“It seemed like the season was just getting started at Mt. SAC,” she said. “When you come off a great race like that, you’re really excited because the hardest part of your training is behind you and you know that all these big races are coming up. But it was all taken away with the injury.”

This is the second time Skieresz has had a promising track season diluted by injury or illness. She won Southern Section Division I titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters as an Agoura sophomore in 1993 before a bout with mononucleosis prevented her from running in the Masters Meet, the section qualifier for the State championships.

Her latest injury prevented Skieresz from running in the NCAA meet but she was determined that it wouldn’t keep her out of the trials.

“Missing the [NCAA championships] was one thing,” she said. “But being a freshman, I should have other chances at that meet. But I couldn’t bank on making the Olympic trials again. That was an opportunity that might never happen. I have no idea what I’m going to be doing with my life four years from now.”

That last comment might seem surprising coming from a 19-year-old runner who is regarded as one of the nation’s brightest young stars, but Skieresz said she’s simply being realistic.

“If I’m in shape, and healthy and running well, I’ll go as far as I can,” she said. “But you just never know what’s going to happen, especially in this sport.”

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Skieresz’ cautious outlook contrasts sharply with the optimism of Kansas State triple jumper Vanitta Kinard.

The 1993 El Camino Real High graduate bounded a career-best 44 feet 2 inches to place fourth in the NCAA championships before finishing 10th in the trials at 43-1. Those performances, in what she calls her first “really serious” season of triple-jumping, have Kinard talking of a 50-foot jump in the years ahead.

Inessa Kravets of Ukraine holds the world record of 50-10 1/4 and is the only woman to jump 50 feet.

“If I keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll get to there,” said Kinard, runner-up in the 1993 State high school championships. “I’m just starting to learn about all the technicalities of the triple jump.”

The trials were an eye-opener for Kinard, who began triple-jumping as a high school senior.

First, the 5-foot-10 1/2, 125-pound jumper noticed most of the nation’s elite performers were substantially stronger and more muscular.

But then she was amazed at the diminutive stature (5-5, 115) of U.S. record-holder Sheila Hudson, who has jumped 47-3 1/2.

“I thought she was going to be this big, humongous woman,” Kinard said. “But she’s little with these short legs. If she were 5-10, she’d go 50 feet, no doubt, but her size will prevent that from happening. That’s why I think I can go 50 feet. I have the legs for it. The only thing she has is strength.”

Strength is something that Kinard will need plenty more of in the years ahead if she’s to reach her lofty expectations.

She’s never lifted weights seriously before and admitted that it hurt to lift in years past. But Kinard has acquired a new attitude under Kansas State Coach Cliff Rovelto and envisions big things on her athletic horizon.

“Cliff has taught me that I can’t think of myself as being like all the other girls,” Kinard said. “I have to think that I’m better than them if I want to become one of the best. I have to think about jumping far. I have to believe I can jump far.”

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The chances of Arkansas junior Ryan Wilson representing the United States in the men’s 5,000 at the Olympic Games dimmed Monday when Jim Spivey ran 13:24.23 at the Dagens Nyheter Gala meet in Stockholm.

Spivey’s time exceeded the A qualifying standard of 13:29.0 for the Olympics and made him the first alternate on the U.S. team because he finished fourth in the trials.

Wilson, a 1993 graduate of Agoura High, met the A mark with a 13:28.6 clocking at the Mt. SAC Relays in April, but he failed to qualify for the final of the trials and is the second alternate.

Spivey will get to run in the Games if Ronnie Harris, third in the trials, fails to exceed the A standard by July 16.

For a country to send three athletes to the Olympics in an event, each individual must meet the A qualifier.