'It’s like taking a breath:' Tri-County's Averie Denelle relishes technical high jump

BOSTON - Averie Denelle floats in the air for an eighth of a second.

She knows whether the bar will stay up based on her take off.

“You feel all of the mechanics fall into place, and your brain just shuts off and knows what it’s doing,” the Tri-County senior said. “It’s like taking a breath after holding your breath underwater for a really long time.”

Denelle’s latest exhale cleared 5-feet, 4 inches to win the Division 5 state championship Wednesday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston to qualify for the Meet of Champions on Feb. 24. She’s been over 5-6 this season, for a time the top mark in the state and ranked 12th in the nation.

“She doesn't care about her placement,” Tri-County coach Benjamin Alden said. “She just wants to be better.”

Physics and geometry

The high jump is an event of inches and angles. Denelle fixates on its intricacies and the minute adjustments necessary to reach the next level.

“She is a student of the sport. She's the kind of kid who if we said that she could high jump every day, she’d high jump every day. There's part of it that she just loves this a lot and she wants to get better at it,” Tri-County coach Seth Curran said. “It's not common, really. I've coached much more mediocre high jumpers than good high jumpers.”

She marries that scholarship of technique with an innate awareness in the air. Denelle practiced gymnastics for 12 years. It’s where she learned to propel herself into the air. Denelle possesses an awareness of both her body’s angle and its location relative to the bar in order to ascertain when to execute what they call the “mouse trap” to make it over.

“To have someone know when they're over the bar is unteachable,” Curran said. “They just know it.”

Catch them inf you can: Don't miss these 21 athletes at the MIAA indoor state track & field championships

She didn’t at first. Denelle began high jumping during the outdoor season her freshman year.

“I was mediocre at it,” she admits.

Her friends stuck with the event, so Denelle continued. She grew to love it.

“I like technical. I love that it’s a technical event. It takes a lot of time, and I love that you have to be really committed to it to perform at your best,” said Denelle, who is in the legal and protective program at Tri-County. “It’s really funny because I’m kind of all over the place. But then I walk into track, I’m very serious.”

When she needs to be. In addition to her physical gifts, Denelle maintains an acute emotional awareness. She knows when she is stressed or when she needs to be goofy and relax and how her mood and environment impact her ability to succeed. Sometimes that involves listening to music on the bus or before an event. It occasionally involves being alone or seeking out teammates to be bubbly around.

“It’s her acknowledging, self-advocating and then following through on that,” Alden said.

Denelle embraced her role as Tri-County’s captain this season, acknowledging people look up to her.

“I strive to be a role model to others. I want people to look at me and go ‘she wants it, she works for it,’” she said.

Her favorite animal is a frog, nature’s purest leaper. Denelle wears green and orange high jump spikes. Frog tickers adorn most surfaces she can find.

“It was such a random like, oh my god frogs are so adorable,” she said. “It’s so fun.”

'She wants to go bury them in a grave'

Until it’s time to be serious. Denelle approaches a jump with shark-eyed focus. She leans back and wiggles her fingers before bending backwards three times and beginning her approach. Her right arm goes over the bar first followed by her shoulder then ideally her back and feet.

“She’s got good speed to the bar and good fast-twitch muscle development. She’s also a killer. She doesn't like to lose,” Curran said. “She has the right amount of stubborn and the right amount of flexible so she can in turn will calcify when the stakes are the highest.”

Typically Denelle clears challenging heights on her third attempt. Jumpers are eliminated after three consecutive misses, gasping for air. She breaks through when she needs to.

“It’s not only because she knows the stakes are high. It's because she knows that all these other girls in the event are gonna say, ‘good job’ at the end, and she doesn't want a pity, ‘good job,’” Curran said. “She wants to go bury them in a grave.”

When Denelle does miss, she’s receptive to coaching. She implements suggestions in between jumps, honing her technique on the fly.

That drive allowed her to qualify for Nike’s Indoor Nationals in New York in March. To register, Denelle needed to select a club name since she can’t represent Tri-County. She chose Leapfrog Track Club. Now every Tri-County athlete that follows her and reaches the national stage will likely compete under that banner.

What's next? Check out the 2024 MIAA winter state championships schedule

“I hope that people know that when they join that club. They've hit maybe the next level of their track adventures,” Denelle said. “They went up a level.”

Green shoes optional but encouraged.

Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Tri-County's Averie Denelle wins Division 5 indoor girls high jump