Sinkler on track at Clemson

STAFFORD — April Sinkler had a very impressive freshman season as a track and field athlete at Clemson University in South Carolina. But the 2008 Brooke Point High School graduate was not satisfied with her performance.

Following the 2007-08 campaign at the Atlantic Coast Conference school, Sinkler ranked second in school history in the indoor and outdoor high jump for the Tigers. She also competes in the long jump and triple jump, and it was the latter event that caused her the most angst.

“My technique was not too good,” Sinkler, now a sophomore, said in a recent interview. She suffered bruises after some of her triple jumps (due to hard landings) and missed a few weeks of competition near the end of the indoor season in 2008.

But in her first indoor meet this season Sinkler set a school record in the high jump at 5-foot-10. “I felt like it was a very good achievement, but I was immediately thinking about the next height and the next jump,” said Sinkler, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and majors in pre-rehabilitation sciences.

Sinkler, who turns 20 in September, posted college personal bests of 19-9.75 in the long jump, 42-2 in the triple jump and 5-8.75 in the high jump as a freshman at Clemson.

While at Brooke Point she took first in the high jump at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in 2007 and earned all-state honors as a senior in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. She won four events at the 2007 Northwest Region meet and led her team to a fifth straight Commonwealth District title.

As a Clemson freshman she tied teammate Anastasia Wilson for first place in the Georgia Tech Invitational in the high jump at 5-8.75, at the time the second-best mark in school history. She finished tied for eighth place in the high jump with Wilson at the East Region meet. Sinkler earned USA Junior All-America honors in the long jump and high jump as she took sixth in both events in the Columbus, Ohio event.

During the indoor season last year she scored in the long jump and triple jump at the ACC meet. She qualified provisionally for the NCAAs in the triple jump after a mark of 42-2 at the Tiger Invitational in February 2008.

Sinkler said she has benefitted from the coaching of Lawrence Johnson, who became the director of track and field and cross country at Clemson in July after four years as an assistant at Virginia Tech.

“I have never had as intense training as this year,” she said. “He has a lot of credentials that are impressive.”

Sinkler said a normal day of training runs from 3 to 7 p.m. and goes from 1 to 7 p.m. on some days. She lifts weights every other day. Sinkler has 16 credit hours this semester.

The Stafford resident, who is the daughter of Randy and Vicky Sinkler, has also enjoyed getting to know teammates from around the world. The Clemson women’s roster includes athletes from Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Portugal and Canada.

“I have learned so much from them,” said Sinkler, one of two women on the roster from Virginia.

The Clemson outdoor season begins March 20 at the Hurricane Invitational at the University of Miami.

David Driver is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. He can be reached at info@staffordcountysun.com.