SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — Eleanor Hinckley already stood a head taller than all the other girls in the final event of her high school track and field career.
Then, coming out of the final turn of the 200-meter dash, the Hartford High senior rolled back her shoulders, stretched to her full height and pulled away for her third win of the VPA Division II track and field championships at South Burlington High School.
Talk about saving your best for last.
“This is way better than I’d hoped,” said the Roanoke College-bound Hinckley, whose personal season-best time of 26.34 seconds left runner-up Barrett Freeman of Lamoille 1.36 seconds in arrears. “So much better than I could have imagined.”
Certainly better than anyone imagined a year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all spring sports — and just on the heels of the Hurricane girls’ first-ever team track title during the 2020 Division II indoor campaign.
“We had really high hopes for the whole team,” recalled Hinckley, who won the 55-meter dash at the 2020 indoor meet. “Everybody was going, ‘Oh, cool: This is going to be an awesome spring season.’ ”
Instead, star sprinter/jumper Kennedy Mullen graduated along with a number of other seniors.
During the ensuing pause, which also wiped out the 2021 indoor season, Hinckley put in extra sessions with Hartford strength-training coach Bob Miller.
“She came through the COVID year stronger,” Hartford head track coach Mike Perry said. “She spent a lot of time in the weight room. She really did her work to get to this point.”
Hinckley credits the much-decorated Mullen with setting an example off the track and out of the jumping pits as much as on and in.
“I’d seen how hard (Mullen) worked,” Hinckley said. “She had the most dedication of just about any athlete I’ve ever seen.”
Once she knew there would be a season, Hinckley figured she’d be fine in the high jump, even with minimal of live training.
“I’d been focused on it since sixth grade at Hartland Elementary, when (coach Susan) Murphy started me out running and jumping on grass,” Hinckley recalled. “I have that muscle memory.”
Perry wasn’t so sure that muscle memory would be enough, with so little training.
Then Hinckley cleared the bar at successively greater heights, the last of 4 feet, 11.75 inches, a full two inches higher than top-seeded Maris Lynn of Rice Memorial.
“I thought high jump was a hit or a miss,” Perry said. “I was more scared than her. The 100 and the 200, I thought she was going to be there, where she was.”
So she was, first by pulling away from Freeman, with a burst worthy of Carl Lewis, in the 100-meter dash.
Then came that 200-meter explosion.
“I knew what Eleanor had in her tank,” Perry said. “It was a great way to go out on a terrific career.”
Among Hinckley’s fellow senior Hurricanes, Edward Jeon hurdled to third place and personal-record times in the 110-meter and 300-meter races, accounting for 12 of the 16 points the Hartford boys had amassed going into the day’s final events, which were delayed by a thunderstorm.
In the 300, Jeon came out of the final turn in seventh place and passed four hurdlers in the final 80 meters to finish in 44.44 seconds, his personal best by eight-tenths of a second.
“It was so close,” Jeon said. “I couldn’t really tell.”
Team scores were still being tallied as of press time. They were scheduled to be posted at 802timing.com.
Freshman Jordan Davis placed fourth in the discus for the Hartford boys. He was also the top qualifier for the finals in the javelin, which officials were considering postponing until the state decathlon later this month.
David Corriveau can be reached at dacorriveau@gmail.com.