High jumper stays involved as graduate student

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

At an away track meet her senior year last season, All-American high-jumper Carri Long was asked by Coach Ben Paolillo about what she was going to do after she graduated.

Long didn't know for sure. Paolillo suggested that she become a volunteer coach for Purdue track. Brian Murer, a former assistant coach, left early this year and Long said that opened up a spot. So she took the volunteer position because of an interest in coaching.

"I would love to coach at a collegiate level," said Long. "That's why I volunteer to see if I like it."

Also, she gets to be flexible in her schedule. And in addition to her studies in consumer and food sciences, where she is pursuing a master's degree, she is learning a lot about other aspects of coaching.

Long said she is learning a lot about recruiting and still has a bit to go because of all the NCAA regulations. Additionally, she has worked on giving workouts to the athletes in a coaching capacity — a change of pace from when she was an athlete, placing high at various track competitions.

Long won both the Big Ten indoor and outdoor high jump titles her senior year. She was runner-up (and top American) in high jump at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Track Nationals and took sixth place at the 2000 collegiate outdoor nationals. Long made it to the Olympic Trial Finals in the high jump in 2000 and finished 11th. And this past month at the USA Indoor Nationals, she placed fourth.

Besides being a volunteer coach, Long continues to train in the high jump event.

Long is a member of the Indiana Invaders, a track club out of Indianapolis. A club that, in her words, was "made for post-collegians to try to survive."

One of the difficulties of competing in track after being an undergraduate is that there are no professional teams in track as in a sport like baseball. Track athletes who still want to compete after graduating from college don't have a minor-league farm system where they can go to improve and train.

So Long said a group like the Invaders helps her to find meets to compete in and lodging to stay in when the group is on the road. And a bonus of living near Purdue is that she can train at Purdue's facilities and not have to travel to Indianapolis to train.

Long trains about 10 to 12 hours a week, but she said that number varies. Also, that does not take into account travel and competition time. Long said that makes it "tough to have enough energy to train at my best."

She also said it is tough to have a full-time job while she is training.

"I don't want to put 50 percent toward track and 50 percent toward a job," said Long. "I want to put 100 percent toward track."

Long said some people see it as a sacrifice, but she doesn't see it that way. It's an opportunity, she said. A chance to continue improving and training in a sport that she enjoys.

She does have scholarships that help to ease the financial situation. Long is on a $5,000 NCAA post-graduate scholarship and she is on the Red Mackey Scholarship this year from Purdue. Long said the Red Mackey Scholarship is like a full-ride scholarship for graduate student-athletes. She is trying for a NCAA scholarship for next year.

And there is help after she graduates next May. The Indiana Sports Foundation gives out grants to help athletes while they are training. Or as Long puts it, "I could get a part-time job or something."

But for now, she concentrates on training and getting set for upcoming competitions, like the one she is going to in California in two weeks. With most of her competitions being in the summer after the school year ends, like the USA Nationals in June, she is trying to hone her performance to peak for a certain summer event in a few years. And she is willing to stay focused for that festival, a culmination of training and practice.

Long said, "I am trying to peak for 2004, the Olympics."

High jumper stays involved as graduate student

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