The CMS-ence of Amanda Mell
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Amanda Mell was mere days away from traveling to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships to compete in the triple jump when collegiate athletics were suddenly suspended in March. It would have been her second NCAA trip after qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships last May, a feat which she hoped to duplicate in outdoor season this year, but like all athletes in the Class of 2020, her personal goals were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike a majority of CMS senior student-athletes, though, Mell plans to take advantage of the extra year granted by the NCAA to spring sport athletes who lost their final seasons. A literature and history major at Claremont McKenna, she is attending law school at UC Davis next year, and hopes to compete on its track and field team in the spring, her one final chance at collegiate competition.
And if there's one thing that Mell's career has shown, it's that she takes full advantage of those final chances.
Last year, she earned her way to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the triple jump at the Redlands Final Qualifier in May. Not only was it her last meet, but she also hit her qualifying mark on her last jump of prelims, reaching a PR of exactly 12 meters (39'4.5"), which moved her up from 33rd in the country all the way to fourth. This year, she did the same thing again by hitting her qualifying mark on her last jump at the Seattle Pacific Final Indoor Qualifier on Feb. 29, jumping 11.68 meters (38 feet, four inches) to move her up to 15th nationally, inside the top-20 cutoff to qualify for nationals.
That opportunity was erased through circumstances she couldn't control, but Mell leaves Claremont with a long list of accomplishments from things she could control. In her career, she has been a SCIAC Champion, an All-Region selection, and a national qualifier. She's also been a SCIAC All-Academic team selection and a USTFCCCA All-Academic team winner, and she has been active with the student advisory board for the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the "Imagining Los Angeles" humanities lab, greatly enhancing her academic experience.
We asked Mell a few questions about her CMS experience, on and off the track below. Read on to learn more about the CMS-ence of Amanda Mell:
Q: What does it take to be successful in the jumps?
Mell: Unlike running events, jumpers get multiple chances to perform (usually four, but sometimes three preliminary jumps and three more in the finals, if you qualify). This is both helpful and stressful––although you're given a greater number of opportunities to improve, you also have more time to ruminate on your performance. Any jumping event requires mental toughness; if you scratch or don't perform well at the outset, it's very easy to get discouraged long before the competition is over. And even if you do jump well in your first or second attempt, your opponents can still surpass you later in the competition, so it's important to stay concentrated on your strategy. Especially if you scratch, you need to know why it happened. Did the wind pick up? Did you slow down before the board? Did you push out of the back hard enough? Then you have to adjust your mark or technique accordingly. But you also can't "think" your way into jumping far. I've done my best when I was both determined to succeed and relaxed and confident in my ability to execute my jumps well. Also, it's not all about winning. Jumping itself is fun; it makes you feel strong and powerful to fly through the air! I tried to stay centered by practicing drills that helped with muscle memory in between jumps, rather than sitting and watching how others did. Success in the jumps requires the ability to strike the right balance: to be aggressive, but not tense. Relaxed, but not complacent. Sometimes it's draining, but it's also so rewarding when you meet or exceed your goals!
Q: How exciting was it to be able to be to qualify for the NCAAs last year, especially when you earned your qualifying mark right at the end of the season?
Mell: Sooo exciting! Up until that point, I experienced a long string of disappointments. Freshman year, I had a hard time adjusting to college, so I didn't perform nearly as well as I had for the majority of high school. Sophomore year, I came back with a vengeance, PR'd in the triple jump and was seeded first going into SCIACs, but I scratched all of my good jumps and didn't even make the podium. In the long jump, I was still 3 inches off of my PR, so last year it was really important for me to reach my full potential. I finally PR'd in the long jump, and in the triple jump, I actually earned a national-qualifying mark mid-season at an invitational in San Diego. However, in the middle of the competition, my coach realized that there was no wind gauge; the officials forgot to measure the wind speed. To officially qualify for nationals, a jump has to rank among the top 22 in the country, but it also can't be wind-aided (over 4 meters per second). The wind didn't seem very strong, but there was no way to verify it, so my new PR wasn't even recorded. After that, I placed third at SCIACs with a mark that was still 10 inches short of what I'd jumped at the invitational, so I wasn't happy with my performance. This made qualifying for the NCAAs even more exciting, especially because I felt so much pressure to redeem myself. I scratched my first two jumps in the preliminaries, and if I'd scratched a third time, my season would have been over. But somehow, I adjusted my mark and jumped 12 meters, seven and a half inches farther than I'd ever jumped before! Previously I had been so fixated on winning SCIACs and qualifying for nationals that it distracted me from simply executing my jumps. Some of the best advice I've received is to be "normal" during competition, and it really works. By concentrating less on an end goal, I was able to stay in the moment, which helped me improve my performance significantly. And most importantly, the wind was legal!
Q: How were you able to balance academics and athletics so well?
Mell: Balancing academics, athletics, and my social life was challenging––I find it difficult to juggle multiple activities at the same time, especially if I care about them all. With practices and team dinners on Fridays and meets on Saturdays, we lost a large portion of our study time over the weekends, so I learned how to make to-do lists, prioritize my commitments, and practice efficiency. I'm sure many students would agree that it's difficult to write when you're tired, so as a Literature and History major who was training hard almost every day, I had to capitalize on the precious time that I did have to be productive. Right now, I'm working on a creative thesis based on Jane Austen's novels, which involves writing a series of journal entries and letters in the voice of a young girl born in England in 1780. Since I don't have to go to track practice anymore, I've gained a lot more time to do work, but it's harder to maintain the same sense of urgency. I miss the structure that sports provided, but next year I will be attending UC Davis School of Law and trying out for their track & field team. Hopefully, my time as an athlete is not yet at an end––at least for another year!
Q: What else were you involved in on campus?
Mell: When I came to CMC as a freshman, there was a frantic rush to submit applications at the beginning of the year, and I chose not to be a part of it. I don't apply to anything I'm not genuinely interested in, so during my junior year, when Amy Kind, the new Director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, announced that she was creating a Student Advisory Board, I (only figuratively) jumped at the opportunity to get involved. Joining the Student Advisory Board and the "Imagining Los Angeles" Humanities Lab has allowed me to collaborate with other students who are passionate about the humanities. The Gould Center provides us with more resources to promote engagement with the humanities on campus and design programming to better support humanities majors, in addition to offering us the freedom and flexibility to pursue our own creative endeavors. The stigma against a humanities degree is incredibly close-minded; studying the humanities encourages us to ask questions and adds so many layers to our understanding of morality, human beings, and the world––important nuances and alternative perspectives that we might otherwise overlook. To quote myself from my #MajorMonday post: "Studying Literature and History has taught me the value of learning about human nature, and the emotions and passions that drive us. One reason we immerse ourselves in higher education is to prepare for the workforce and a life-long career, but we should also strive to make connections with ourselves and the people around us on a deeper level, examine how society has changed over time, and determine how we can improve it in the future. Resume-building and networking may further our job prospects, but they don't always teach us about cultivating communication skills in our intimate relationships, coping with adversity, or developing good character, self-awareness, and empathy for others." Follow the Gould Center on Instagram!
Q: What has being an Athena meant to you?
Mell: Being an Athena has been so central to my life and identity for the past four years. Before I found track, I had several demoralizing experiences on other sports teams that really impacted my confidence. It's funny for me to say this as a Literature and History major, but what I like about track is its objectivity: you can't argue with numbers. It's a system that is almost totally based on merit, which is a rarity and a treasure. Track & field is such a natural conglomeration of so many different body types, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and skills that I didn't feel like I had to fit a specific mold to be accepted as a teammate or respected as an athlete. It was really important to me to find a supportive environment on a collegiate track & field team––a group of athletes who not only pushed themselves but also rooted for their teammates to be happy and succeed. I didn't do track to compete with my peers; I did it to enrich my life, and I found some of my best friends on the team, who I'm sure I'll stay in touch with long after I graduate.