All-American Mary Varga winning 99 MAC Indoors.

High Jumpers

- Mary Varga  6'
- Kelly Green 5'6"
- Takeithia Jordan

Mary Varga (So) of Tallmadge, OH, Walsh Jesuit HS leads the Zips high jump program winning the MAC indoor title in 99, gaining All-American honors outdoors and clearing an Arkon outdoor record of 6'. She is also an excellent heptathlete taking 3rd at outdoor MAC and she is the school record holder in the javelin placing third in that event as well. She does all this while maintaining a GPA of 3.7 which earned her Academic All-American distinction in 99. Mary was a three time state champion in the high jump at Walsh. In high school she was also a 2nd-team all district softball player, first team all-Summit County in volleyball, and she lettered in basketball.

Karen Beasley(Sr) Blakeslee, OH is another of Akron's top high jumpers. She went 5'8" in 1999. Beasley is also a top pole vaulter going 11'2". She was state champion in 1996 at Edon HS.

High Jump Tradition at Akron

Akron has developed into a women's high jump powerhouse the last four seasons. In 1996 the Zips took one two in the event. Brande Lamb of New Philadelphia, OH led the charge with a personal best of 5'10". She was followed by Lori Wozniak of Brunswick who cleared 5'9" that same year. In 1998 Wozniak took MAC high jumping to a new level clearing 6' indoors. She was an All-American that year holding and winning the indoor MAC record. In 1999 freshman Mary Varga came in to capture and retain for the Zip's the indoor championship title in the event. She did this after competing and placing in the grueling pentathlon. She was runner up outdoors at MAC. Competing in the Heptathlon and javelin was too much for the freshman, but she still managed to clear the same height as the winner of the event but was caught on misses. At the NCAA championships in Boise she took 9th but was 5th American which gained her All-American honors.

Training

For the first few weeks of September variations of this training program are used by all our field event athletes. The purpose behind this system is to develop an all-around general development. We want to make sure many muscle groups and energy systems are incorporated. As Fall goes along training is more specific to each event. Fall is a time of the year when all the field event athletes train together developing team unity and physical mental toughness and injury prevention activities before they separate into their individualized training groups starting late September.

Fall Conditioning Program
1999/2000

Mondays
Jog Mile/Stretch
Active stretching
- High kicks
- High knee rotations
- Knee ups
- Ankle rotations

Conditioning Circuit
3 x 's for Frosh and Throwers at half the running distances
4 x's for rest
5 x's for Multi events
· Carry-okas - 40yds
· Butt Kicks - 30yds
· Backward high knees - 20 yds
· High skip - 40yds
· Speed skip - 40yds
· Gallops - 40yds
· Double Gallops - 40yds
· Compact high knees - 40yds
· Stride bounds - 40yds
· Stride to turnover - 40yds
· V-ups - 20
· Rocket jumps - 10
· Stride hops - 20
· Deep knee jumping jacks - 20 touchdowns
· Side straddle hops - 20 touchdowns
· Pushups 10-20
· Hypers - 20
· Side crunches - 20 each side
· Sit up - 20
· 100 yd turnarounds

Weights - Upper body

Tuesdays
Team Meeting
Jog and Stretch
Regular Sprint Drills
Med Ball for Throwers
4-6 x 200's for rest
Weights

Wednesdays
Voluntary gymnastics

Thursdays
Same as Monday

Fridays
No huddle football
4-6 x 200's
Weights