Holly Breaks High-Jump Record
    By Jessica Ray, Staff Writing ~~The Monahans News, February 25, 2008

After Fort Stockton's weekend Comanche relays, Monahans high- jumper Kati Holly has made school history with a record jump.

Again.

Holly set a new school record with a 5-6 high jump as a freshman in the 2006-07 track season. Now a sophomore, Holly has broken her won record with a jump of 5-8.

To put that into perspective, the winning jump at the state level last year was 5-7.

Holly placed fifth at last year's state meet with 5-4 jump, according to UIL records.

And the season is just getting started.

Needless to say, Holly took the gold this weekend at the Comanche relays.

She joined Emily Eisenrich of Andrews as the last standing after the bar was raised to 5-4 in her first attempt, while Eisenrich cleared it in two.

At 5-6, Holly hit the bar on her first run, but came back to clear it and prepare for the 5-8 jump, finishing two inches higher than region rival Emily Eisenrich.

"Whenever we're jumping against each other, it pushes both of us because we both wanna beat each other," said Holly of Andrews' Eisenrich, who joined her in representing Region I at the state level last year.  Eisenrich placed first at last year's regional meet, clearing 5-4.  Although Holly also cleared 5-4, Eisenrich placed first on attempts.

At state, Holly cleared 5-4 for fifth place, while Eisenrich placed eighth at 5-2.

On Saturday, three of the last four jumpers, Holly, Kali Lewis and Jordan Latham, were from Monahans.  They placed first, third and fourth, respectively.

Holly has the support of her teammates and an enthusiastic family.

During the meet, "Greg (Kati's dad) called me when I was in Wal-Mart, and I was jumping up and down in the aisles, and Kristi ( Kati's sister) was going 'calm down!'," laughed Holly's mother, Keli.

While it seems clear that Holly has been working hard in the off-season, she reports she just picked it back up a week ago, right after basketball season.

"Right after basketball we had to go straight to track, so that was kinda' hard.  We were sore," said Holly.

Besides the high jump, Holly is also active on the varsity Lady Lobo volleyball team.

Did we mention she also triple jumps?  She placed in that, too.

See the full results of the Comanche Relays.

keyed by Jennifer Lario, Junior 07-08