Lucy Corbett Sets Her Sights High at Saturday's NCAA High Jump Championship
6/11/2021 4:52:00 PM | Women's Track and Field
The first Bobcat woman ever to advance to nationals in the high jump looks to cap a successful but inconcistent spring
BOZEMAN, Montana (June 11, 2021) – Competing for conference and national championships, setting records, all the trappings of athletic success, Montana State track and field coach Lyle Weese knows, are important.
But nothing beats the joy of simply competing.
"Having been able to get in more competitions, conference and regionals and now heading to national, it's just exciting," said Weese, a four-time All-America as a Bobcat himself. "It's great to see her compete so much."
Already a two-time Big Sky Champion, Corbett punctuated an inconsistent competition schedule this spring with a signature moment at the 2021 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She won her third Big Sky Gold Medal with a jump of 5 feet, 10.75 inches, and followed that by clearing 6 feet to break a 36-year old school record. It also stands as one of the 10 best jumps in Big Sky history.
Then, as if to show there's plenty left in the tank, she shared first place at the NCAA West Regional Championships by clearing 5 feet, 11.5 inches. Her regional performance advanced her to the 2021 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where she'll compete Saturday, June 12, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The women's high jump is scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm MT.
"It's been so exciting to see all that she's done this year," Weese said.
In addition to setting personal and school high jump records, Corbett became the first Bobcat woman in history to advance to the NCAA Championships.
That adds significance to Saturday's proceedings, but Weese isn't concerned that the moment could overwhelm the Bozeman High graduate. "I don't think I've ever seen Lucy lose her composure," he said, "and it doesn't matter what kind of competition she's heading into. She's pretty level-headed, and I think that's her biggest strength."
Corbett's path to Saturday's national championship event has been anything but straight. A native Californian, Corbett moved to Bozeman before her senior year in high school in the summer of 2017. The move came in unorthodox fashion.
"My brother lived here, and I wanted to come to MSU so I thought I'd try to get residency," she said of her decision to move to Bozeman. "So I moved in with him, and my parents moved up a little later. It was fun, and my sister lived there too, she's also older, so it was really fun to live with them."
Corbett's brother "came here for college because he had a few friends that came up here, and my (older) sister wasn't going to go to school but she was going to move out of the house so she moved in with my brother. And the rest of us liked it, so we kind of just followed them." Corbett's younger sister Mary is a distance runner at Montana State, as well.
In spite of moving to Bozeman without a conventional family support system, Corbett said the transition was made easier by her teammates at Bozeman High. "I made some friends when I moved here, and there's a lot of outdoors stuff to do in Montana, for sure," she said. "I like that group a lot. In the winter I joined the indoor program, so I met a few of them before the season started."
Even her arrival as a track and field star came late and unconventionally for Corbett. "I did soccer for my first two years of high school, and I didn't love it that much so junior year I thought I'd go out for track instead," she said. "I remember our sprints coach had some really hard workouts so I tried out for the high jump and was like, 'Oh, I'm pretty good at this,' so I stuck with it. I had a coach tell me if I kept going I'd be able to do it in college."
Without a traditional spring season behind her, Corbett said much of her preparation boils down to focus and an air of normalcy. "I definitely take all of the pre-meet nutrition more seriously, but I try to treat it as a normal meet in how I think about it. I like to visualize my jumps, and then the day of the actual meet I try to sit down and close my eyes for a minute and try to calm the adrenaline. And then I take a (practice) jump."
While dealing with injuries throughout the 2021 season, Corbett leaned on her academic experience to cope. The biochemistry major has her sights trained on medical school, but she says there have been practical applications. "It's been helpful to take some of the anatomy classes so I can understand injuries better and how to treat them. It's helpful because you can understand the physical therapist better with that background."
As far as her expectations for Saturday, Corbett says she really doesn't have any. "It's hard to say. I only jumped at one meet before conference this season, so I really don't know, but I'd love to go 6-2. That would be awesome."
#GoCatsGo
But nothing beats the joy of simply competing.
"Having been able to get in more competitions, conference and regionals and now heading to national, it's just exciting," said Weese, a four-time All-America as a Bobcat himself. "It's great to see her compete so much."
Already a two-time Big Sky Champion, Corbett punctuated an inconsistent competition schedule this spring with a signature moment at the 2021 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She won her third Big Sky Gold Medal with a jump of 5 feet, 10.75 inches, and followed that by clearing 6 feet to break a 36-year old school record. It also stands as one of the 10 best jumps in Big Sky history.
Then, as if to show there's plenty left in the tank, she shared first place at the NCAA West Regional Championships by clearing 5 feet, 11.5 inches. Her regional performance advanced her to the 2021 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where she'll compete Saturday, June 12, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The women's high jump is scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm MT.
"It's been so exciting to see all that she's done this year," Weese said.
In addition to setting personal and school high jump records, Corbett became the first Bobcat woman in history to advance to the NCAA Championships.
That adds significance to Saturday's proceedings, but Weese isn't concerned that the moment could overwhelm the Bozeman High graduate. "I don't think I've ever seen Lucy lose her composure," he said, "and it doesn't matter what kind of competition she's heading into. She's pretty level-headed, and I think that's her biggest strength."
Corbett's path to Saturday's national championship event has been anything but straight. A native Californian, Corbett moved to Bozeman before her senior year in high school in the summer of 2017. The move came in unorthodox fashion.
"My brother lived here, and I wanted to come to MSU so I thought I'd try to get residency," she said of her decision to move to Bozeman. "So I moved in with him, and my parents moved up a little later. It was fun, and my sister lived there too, she's also older, so it was really fun to live with them."
Corbett's brother "came here for college because he had a few friends that came up here, and my (older) sister wasn't going to go to school but she was going to move out of the house so she moved in with my brother. And the rest of us liked it, so we kind of just followed them." Corbett's younger sister Mary is a distance runner at Montana State, as well.
In spite of moving to Bozeman without a conventional family support system, Corbett said the transition was made easier by her teammates at Bozeman High. "I made some friends when I moved here, and there's a lot of outdoors stuff to do in Montana, for sure," she said. "I like that group a lot. In the winter I joined the indoor program, so I met a few of them before the season started."
Even her arrival as a track and field star came late and unconventionally for Corbett. "I did soccer for my first two years of high school, and I didn't love it that much so junior year I thought I'd go out for track instead," she said. "I remember our sprints coach had some really hard workouts so I tried out for the high jump and was like, 'Oh, I'm pretty good at this,' so I stuck with it. I had a coach tell me if I kept going I'd be able to do it in college."
Without a traditional spring season behind her, Corbett said much of her preparation boils down to focus and an air of normalcy. "I definitely take all of the pre-meet nutrition more seriously, but I try to treat it as a normal meet in how I think about it. I like to visualize my jumps, and then the day of the actual meet I try to sit down and close my eyes for a minute and try to calm the adrenaline. And then I take a (practice) jump."
While dealing with injuries throughout the 2021 season, Corbett leaned on her academic experience to cope. The biochemistry major has her sights trained on medical school, but she says there have been practical applications. "It's been helpful to take some of the anatomy classes so I can understand injuries better and how to treat them. It's helpful because you can understand the physical therapist better with that background."
As far as her expectations for Saturday, Corbett says she really doesn't have any. "It's hard to say. I only jumped at one meet before conference this season, so I really don't know, but I'd love to go 6-2. That would be awesome."
#GoCatsGo
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Monday, May 16
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