Ryan ChartrandJenna Homes is a recreation administration major. She is just about to finish up her first year at Cal Poly. Although she is only a freshman, her star is shining brightly.
Homes is already one of the leading athletes on the Cal Poly track and field team.
The Walnut Creek native won the women’s pole vault at the Big West Conference Championships on May 11 at Cal State Northridge with a mark of 12 feet, 5 1/2 inches.
She then tied for 21st at the NCAA West Regional Meet last Saturday at Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., with a mark of 12-0.
For Homes, getting involved with the track and field team – pole vaulting specifically -was something that took a bit of convincing.
“Actually, I wasn’t going to get involved with pole vaulting at all,” Homes said.
She said her eventual coach at Las Lomas High saw something special in her.
“He knew that I played soccer and that I was sort of fast,” Homes said. “One day he asked me if I was going to come out and pole vault.”
Homes said she told him no, but he remained persistent. She said he had a real impact on her decision.
“He told me to come out and do track,” Homes said. “He said it would be fun so I ended up going.”
Homes stuck with it. By the end of her first year of high school, things began to fall into place athletically.
“I broke the freshman record for pole vaulting at 9 feet, 6 inches,” Homes said. “I still hold that record at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek.”
While winning is nice, Homes reminds herself to be humble.
“I’m not the kind of person that needs to win all the time,” Homes said. “There’s more to it than just that. I just want to go out there and have fun, be competitive and bond with my teammates.”
Bonding is not only important to Homes, but to her teammates as well.
Cal Poly’s Mike King – the Big West champion in the pole vault for the men’s team – is impressed with the work Homes has done already.
“Jenna is only one of two girls from our track team who qualified for regionals as a freshman,” King said. “That’s something that most people work for their entire career in college – just (to) make it to regionals.”
As Homes prepares for the upcoming competition, she keeps her mind on goals and remains calm.
Her assistant coach, Jack Hoyt, has worked closely with Homes all year. Hoyt said the key for any pole vaulter is mental strength.
“What impresses me most about Jenna is she is very tough mentally,” Hoyt said. “She doesn’t lose her head.”
Hoyt also talked about how impressed he is with Homes’ abilities while under pressure.
“She gets into competition, she remains calm and she just does her thing,” Hoyt said. “She really handles the pressure very well.”
Hoyt said that improvement and experience are necessary factors in any athlete’s life. He said that national competition is on the horizon for Homes.
“She can gain experience at regionals, make some improvements next year and plan out her goal to be at nationals,” Hoyt said.
King also feels that Homes has what it takes to eventually make it to the national level.
“I’m pretty confident that if she keeps improving, she’ll definitely make nationals within the next year or two,” King said.
And as far as Homes’ future is concerned, could there be an Olympic medal shining off in the distance?
Homes said that if that particular possibility happens to come along, then it would be most welcome.
“I try and take it one step at a time,” she said, “but sometime in the future, if the opportunity is right, I do want to go. One day, if (the) Olympics really come into the picture, then yeah, I’ll put a hundred percent into that.”
And just what do the people around her think about Homes possibly wearing that gold disc around her neck in the near future?
King said that with the improvements Homes has already achieved, the possibilities are endless.
“She’s got a lot of natural abilities, strength and speed,” King said. “All-around improvement is pretty much what she’s been doing this year. I think that by the end of her senior year, she could definitely be closer to those Olympic standards.”
Hoyt said that when it comes to her abilities, with proper steps and training, both the Olympic Trials and the games have never been out of the question for Homes.
“I would say if she really got motivated this year and put all her concentration, on and off the track, into her pole vaulting and training, she could be at the Olympic trials next year,” he said. “To be at the trials is really the first step. For someone who is only 19 years old, if she could get there and get a chance, then that’s big.”
Hoyt went on to speculate four years farther into the future.
“Maybe four years after that, if she keeps going, she can be in that elite group of women that goes down in the history books,” he said.