Girls Track: Lake Forest’s Carmichael — bound for Memphis — is geared, poised to soar to even greater heights
by bill mclean Contributor February 7, 2012 10:18PM
Lake Forest's Carolina Carmichael, seen here making a height in the state pole vault last spring, has signed a national letter of intent with the University of Memphis. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 11, 2012 8:26AM
As Lake Forest High School’s Carolina Carmichael NASCAR-ed her 5-foot-4 frame atop a runway in the pole-vault finals at last spring’s Class 3A girls state track and field meet, her staunchest fan had a tough time sitting still.
The antsy fan, inside O’Brien Stadium in Charleston: Ofelia Carmichael, Carolina’s older sister.
“I was squeezing my bleacher seat so hard,” recalled Ofelia, a 2011 LFHS graduate and standout freshman pole vaulter/hurdler at North Central College in Naperville.
“My adrenaline was probably pumping as fast as Carolina’s was.”
A blurry Carolina Carmichael, then a junior, planted her brand-new pole, soared and cleared 12-feet-3.
A school-record height.
And high enough for state runner-up honors, a year after she took third in the event.
“I’m not sure if I screamed for joy on my way down,” said Carolina, who finished behind then-senior Taylor Kirby of Normal (12-6). “But I do know this, for sure: I was smiling and happy, so happy, as I was falling.”
As happy as big sis was.
“Carolina and I … We’ve got that sister thing going, that connection where we know what the other is thinking without having to say a word,” Ofelia said. “I went up to her (after the 12-3 at state), looked at her and then hugged her.
“I was proud of her, incredibly happy for her.”
Carolina Carmichael’s final LFHS track and field season is just around the corner (of a pole-vault landing pit).
Clearing a state-record 13-3 in May would be nice.
But so would a height of 14 feet.
It’s not at all unrealistic, given that Carmichael — second at the U.S. Junior Olympics in 2010 — has worked extensively on her speed, strength and technique in the offseason.
Her offseason coach?
Another Carmichael: Toni, Carolina’s mother. Toni is a Mundelein Mambas track club coach and serves as a track and field coach at Mundelein High School.
She excelled as a heptathlete and hurdler and represented the USA Track and Field team at international events.
One of Carolina’s favorite pieces of clothing is a red USA Track and Field T-shirt, worn by her mother.
“Carolina,” Toni said, “has that drive, is so easy to coach, is mentally tough. When she trains, she gets in an attack mode and stays in it.
“She has,” mom added, “matured so much in the last year.”
Next year, at this time, Carmichael will be pole-vaulting and getting to know all kinds of clouds as a University of Memphis Tiger.
She signed, on terra firma, a national letter of intent on Feb. 2.
Her path to Memphis began in Wichita, Kan., last summer, on a 106-degree day. Carolina and Toni met Dennis Frazier at a national meet there. What they found out: Frazier’s son, Tyler, coaches pole vaulters at Memphis.
Dennis Frazier and the Carmichaels talked Division-I talk.
The Carmichael family did some research and contacted the school.
Carolina visited the campus last fall and watched the women’s track and field team participate in an “easy” practice.
That’s what some of the Tigers called the practice.
“It didn’t look easy to me,” Carolina recalled, laughing. “But I loved my visit, loved everything about it. I didn’t want a program that had a jumps coach; I wanted a program that had a pole-vault coach. Coach Frazier is that. The entire coaching staff there has some high goals.”
That same staff, no doubt, is thinking 2016, when a bunch of athletes will get together and compete for prizes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The prizes: Summer Olympic gold, silver and bronze.
Two years ago Carmichael, along with her sister, vied for medals — state gymnastics medals.
Lake Forest finished eighth at state in 2010.
Carolina then entered her sophomore track and field season, hurting and hobbling. Gymnastics had done a number on her, especially on her back and an ankle.
Track was her future, she later figured before the start of the 2010-11 gymnastics season.
Farewell, gymnastics.
“We were heartbroken when she didn’t come out for gymnastics (her junior year),” said Scouts gymnastics coach Robin Straus, whose 2010-11 squad finished runner-up at state. “But we understood; she wanted to be healthy for track.
“Her swings, on bars, were beautiful,” she added. “So were her lines and her bails. Carolina was a joy to coach, a joy to have in the gym.”
Nathan Sweet now gets to enjoy watching, and guiding, Carmichael. He succeeded Steve Clegg as Scouts track and field coach last month.
Prepare to look up at meets, Coach.
Way up.
“Carolina has a lot going for her,” said Sweet, also the boys cross country coach at the school. “Genetics and willpower, plus an outstanding work ethic. But here’s the thing about her, the thing that really impresses me: How easy Carolina makes pole-vaulting look, how fluid she always looks.
“You don’t see that often, especially at the high school level.”
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