Athletics: On track to new heights

Emma Sutherland shows the style that is landing her PBs on the high jump mat at San Jose State University.

A student athlete from Napier has garnered attention in the United States for her high jump abilities.

Emma Sutherland, who is enrolled in graduate studies (urban planning) at San Jose State University, is also a member of the school's track and field athletics team.

Sutherland nearly cleared a personal best height at her first outdoor meeting of the year at the Johnny Mathis Invitational in San Francisco. Sutherland's winning height of 1.77m also qualifies her for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) West preliminary round, a competition to be held in Austin, Texas, May 28-30.

She is no stranger to elite competition, having finished ninth in the Australian Championship in 2014 and 11th in the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

The former Napier Girls' High School pupil even topped the podium at the 2011 Oceania Athletics Championship in Apia, Samoa.

The San Jose State women's team began just two years ago and their head coach, Jeff Petersmeyer, relies on Sutherland to bring some solid experience to a nascent programme.

"I wish I had (Emma) for four years. With the programme being as young as it is, it's nice to have an older, more mature athlete to go along with the large amount of freshmen that we have on the team. She serves as a guide, a role model, someone who's been to the big meets before."

With a geography degree already in hand from the University of Canterbury, Sutherland has "mapped" significant swathes of the United States from the air during a busy indoor and outdoor athletics campaign, which included a competition at the famed Armory Track Invitational in New York.

"Jumping indoors was quite strange," Sutherland said.

"It was hot inside (at New York), and a lot was going on in such a small space. It was quite distracting."

After a shaky indoor season - Sutherland had never jumped indoors before - she has returned to form outdoors.

"The weather in San Jose has been insane for jumping and training," Sutherland said. "It's barely rained," she added with an infectious grin.

With so much going well, Sutherland wants to set a new standard for herself in the high jump.

"I, without a doubt, want to be jumping a PB [personal best]. I've decided to aim for my own height and do well for the school here," Sutherland declared.

Next up for Sutherland and her San Jose State teammates is the Mountain West Outdoor Championship meeting from May 13-16 in San Diego, California.

Sutherland misses jumping with the girls she knows in New Zealand and enjoying a good flat white. According to the coffee aficionado, Starbucks, which coincidentally introduced its version of the flat white upon her arrival here, has a product that is not quite up to scratch.

When it comes to jumping or java, Sutherland likes to set the bar quite high.

-Michael O'Connor is an American athletics writer.