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This is the last of three stories on the UC student-athletes who achieved All-American status during the 2014-15 school year.
By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI -- Erika Hurd's mind jumps from topic to topic so quickly it's hard to keep up with her. In the space of a few minutes, she talks about her interest in Sophia Loren, Barbra Streisand, Buddha, Our Lady of Guadalupe, tattoo design and striping cars.
Hurd is a University of Cincinnati junior high jumper who says she cares more about jumping well than she does winning, doesn't like to practice, and is still having trouble coming to grips with an official's decision in the indoor NCAA Championship that she believes prevented her from making her best jump, even though she achieved second-team All-American honors that day.
"If I jumped six feet and got second team, I'd be perfectly fine," Hurd said. "All I care about is jumping what I'm capable of jumping."
Hurd arrived at UC three years ago from Manchester, Maryland, after a solid, but not spectacular high school career. Track and field are in her blood. Her father, Maynard, and her mother, Diane, both competed at Frostburg State (Md.) and both gained Division III All-American status. Her father was a hurdler who won five Division III national titles and was a five-time All-American. Her mother was a sprinter and an 11-time All-American.
It didn't take Hurd long to discover that the demands at the Division I collegiate level were a lot higher than what she was used to. Before she ever got the chance to jump in practice, she had to undergo a vigorous conditioning program that had her questioning if she was equipped to handle it.
"In high school, my highest jump was 5-8," she said. "That's good for high school, but if you're going to be a top dog, you would be jumping like 5-10 in high school or 5-11. Coming in, I knew I still had work to do. When I was a freshman, they put us through the guillotine. It was crazy. I had never been through a training program like that. I would call my dad after every single practice, like I don't know if I can do this. This is just so hard."
But she never thought about giving up. She wanted to study fine arts in UC's highly respected College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, even though she hadn't been accepted out of high school. She had to earn her way in based on her academic performance as an Exploratory Studies major during her freshman year.
That determination has characterized her three years at UC as she has developed into an All-American while moving to within one year of graduation.
While she was struggling with conditioning, her dad kept telling her that when she finally got the chance to jump, she would show the UC coaches what she could do. That's exactly what happened. And when it did, she understood what all that hard work had been for.
"My first track meet ever, I jumped my (personal record) of 5-8," she said. "I was just like, oh my gosh, all this is working. My freshman year I ended up jumping 5-10. My sophomore year I stepped up a notch and I jumped six feet. As a high jumper, you're golden when you hit six feet. I jumped that at the Drake Relays and I won Drake. I never expected that. I didn't think I was going to jump six feet until maybe I was a senior."
Despite the improvement she made as a sophomore, she failed to reach her goal of qualifying for nationals in the outdoor high jump, which led to some soul-searching.
"If you're jumping six feet, you should make it and I didn't make it," Hurd said. "I remember I wrote down in a journal my exact feelings. I wrote that I was disappointed, I worked so hard and I still didn't make it.
"So then, over the summer, I said, `Erika, you have to step it up.' I said, `You just can't not reach your potential.' My parents were track athletes in college, too, so they know. They said, `Erika, the worst thing you can do is not reach your potential,' because my dad was a hurdler and he said, `I always wondered what I could have done, what times I could have run.' Over the summer, I would look at my journal and I was like, I can't believe that I wrote that. I don't want to feel like that again. So I would train."
She worked with UC strength coach Kelly Powers and when pre-season conditioning started, it was easier than it ever had been for her.
"I went out there (last fall) and jumped 6-1 ¾," she said. "It was freaky. I said I can't believe I'm a 6-1 jumper. I said, 6-feet was the golden mark. Six-one? You're pretty sweet."
She qualified for nationals March 13 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, only to be hit with another obstacle that she admits she didn't fully overcome. In the high jump, each competitor is allowed to put down two marks, one where she begins her approach, the other at the start of the J-loop she makes that leads into her jump.
Hurd made sure that she put her second mark down so there would be no mistaking it. She not only printed her initials in bright pink letters, she elevated it off the ground so that she could see it. But for some reason, the official picked up her mark, claiming that it was not initialed, and he would not let her put down a new one.
Without her marks, she was thrown off stride.
"She just couldn't use the mark as a guide," said her coach Chris Wineberg. "That's what she typically focused on during that run and it wasn't there. It really hurt her concentration on where she should drive out, what is the straight line that she takes before she starts her curve."
"It shook me," Hurd said. "It shook me a lot. I know I'm a strong individual, but I worked so hard to get to nationals. I always wanted to be an All-American. I just wanted to get top eight in the country. I just got so upset. I just couldn't get it together. I just kept thinking they just ruined my chance to jump well."
But the mixup did not ruin her quest to reach All-American status. She still finished in a tie for 15th with a jump of 5-8 to receive second-team All-American honors.
This weekend Hurd will get another shot at a spot in the outdoor nationals, which eluded her last year. She's one of 15 UC athletes to qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in Jacksonville, Florida.
"Last year it took 5-9," she said. "And you've got to be clean all the way through, so I'm nervous. I've got confidence, complete confidence, but I'm still nervous."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com as featured columnist in January, 2015.