Ricciardi jumps to new heights at E. Tennessee State

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- Anna Marie Ricciardi of Canfield has enjoyed an outstanding junior year at East Tennessee State University on the women's track team as a high jumper and in the classroom as a public relations major.
The Western Reserve High graduate won the Atlantic Sun Conference indoor (5-8) and outdoor (5-7) championships in the high jump, and placed 10th at the NCAA Mid-East Regional Championships with a career-best clearance of 5-91/4.
And she was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team for the second time with a 3.73 cumulative grade-point average, coupled with meeting the regional or national qualifying high jump standard of 5-83/4. She also won the honor as a freshman.
Now Ricciardi's main objective in the high jump is to find a way to clear the bar at 5-10, which she is determined to do her senior season.
"I was extremely close to 5-10 multiple times this year," said Ricciardi, the daughter of Sam and Carol Ricciardi. "I got to the point that I was jumping 5-8 or 5-9 consistently and my confidence has definitely grown. Getting so close to 5-10 has given me a lot of incentive to try to do it."
Focuses on challenge
Ricciardi said the 5-10 height had become a psychological barrier to her and poses a big challenge that she is looking forward to meeting and overcoming.
"The only thing keeping me from jumping 5-10 is myself," she said. "If I can have the same frame of mind as I do when I do 5-8 and 5-9, then that will be enough to do it. We worked a lot on my mental game and I have gotten a lot stronger. I have no doubt in my mind [I can do it]."
But Ricciardi is really going to have to defy gravity in order to reach the 6-11/2 height cleared by Miruna Matoanu of Alabama, for first place in the NCAA Mid-East Regional Championships. Matoanu was 4 inches above her nearest pursuer and 51/4 higher than Ricciardi.
Whether or not she ever will be able to do that, she just loves doing the high jump which is her real reward.
"It has gotten to be so much fun to do. It requires a lot of mental toughness. I definitely see myself pushing to get [5-10]," said Ricciardi, who also gained two other outdoor wins this year besides in the league meet. She won in the Jesse Owens Classic (5-83/4) at Ohio State and the Western Carolina Invitational (5-7).
In 2005 as a sophomore, she won the Southern Conference indoor high jump championship and then placed second in the league's outdoor meet.
And in 2004 as a freshman, she was second in the Southern Conference outdoor meet. The league indoor meet was not held that year.
East Tennessee State switched from the Southern Conference to the Atlantic Sun Conference starting the 2005-06 school year.
Requires strength and rhythm
In addition to devising an effective psychological strategy, Ricciardi said high jumping requires strength and running rhythm.
"It's definitely [a balance] between weights and running. You want to stay strong without bulking. You have to get your body over the bar," Ricciardi said.
She said that in her running approach to the bar, she has to develop a rhythm to get her body in the best possible position to leap and throw herself over the bar.
"My approach is about [40-50 feet long]. It is a lot of if rhythm, very technical and allowing yourself to be in the right position. The running has to prepare your body to go over the bar," explained Ricciardi, who also has to change her momentum from a vertical going up to horizontal trying to clear the bar.
Ricciardi also competes in the 60-meter indoor hurdles and the 100-meter outdoor hurdles as well as the 4X100-meter outdoor relay, "but the high jump is my specialty," she pointed out.
While at Western Reserve, Ricciardi was named the Top Female Track Athlete in Mahoning County in 2003. She holds numerous school records including the 100-meter hurdles (15.9) and high jump (5-9).
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