Flying to the top

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo courtesy of Jon Alquist Freshman high jumper Erin Aldrich jumped to a height of 6-feet, 3 1/2 inches earlier this season. That mark qualified her for the NCAA Championships in June. It was the fifth-best height in UA history.

Both were high school All-Americans, but they came to Arizona with different expectations.

All comparisons aside, though, freshmen high jumpers Erin Aldrich and Tara Flaming might be the best high jumping duo to attend the UA since Maryse Ewanje-Epee and Katrena Johnson 12 years ago.

"We've always been a great high jump school," UA track and field head coach Dave Murray said. "Erin and Tara are just continuing that tradition. From a head coach's standpoint, it's great to have them on our team."

Aldrich, a two sport athlete, was one of the top players on the UA volleyball team last fall, leading the team in hitting percentage (.300) and finishing second in kills (272).

Both were state champions in high school, with Flaming claiming the California State title in 1995 with a height of 6-feet and Aldrich posting the second-best height in national high school history in 1996 at 6-2 to win the Texas title.

Yet both came into their freshman seasons with a disparate attitude.

"I just wanted to jump higher than I did in high school," Flaming said of her goals. "I just wanted to get stronger, start lifting weights. I wasn't really thinking about going out every week and winning all the time."

"I came here with the goal of breaking the college record, and I want to break the national record," Aldrich said. "I think it's a definite possibility that I can win the NCAA's this year."

UA jumps coach John Rembao said that most freshmen enter college "feeling very overwhelmed," yet he has been impressed with the way both have handled the pressure.

"Erin was the best out of high school. I expected her to jump that high," he said. "Tara has been a pleasant surprise. She is learning to be more aggressive."

Flaming has had her laid-back attitude since high school.

"I thought she really had the potential to go as high as she wants," said Suzy Jost the track coach at Immanuel High School in Reedley, Calif. "It's just a matter of her wanting it."

Flaming, though, is trying to work on getting up for meets the way her partner in crime does.

"I think the key is to be a lot more aggressive," she said. "By being around Erin and coach Rembao I'm learning how. They're two of the most aggressive people I know."

Their best marks so far this season are 6-3 1/2 for Aldrich and 5-10 for Flaming. Aldrich has won the high jump in four of the five outdoor meets this season. Flaming has twice finished second.

Those heights are the best of any UA duo since Ewanje-Epee and Johnson jumped to heights of 6-5 and 6-4 1/4 during the 1985 season.

With Aldrich having already posted the fifth-best height in school history (6-3 1/2) and picking up an automatic NCAA qualification, one might come to think that Flaming could get lost in her shadow.

"It's tough to be overshadowed," Arizona State track coach Greg Kraft said. "Erin (Aldrich) has come in with a great fanfare, being a finalist in the Olympic high jump trials as a senior in high school, which is all but unheard of.

"Tara's quietly gone about getting better since the first time I saw her during the indoor season."

"Not really," Flaming said when asked if she ever felt lost amid the headlines around her teammate. "I never really think about it. It doesn't affect me to have a lot of attention or none at all, I'm used to both."

Since Flaming does not feel intimidated by Aldrich, one might assume that the two of them might have a relationship more along the lines of a rivalry. Yet that is not the case, either.

"There's no real competitive nature between them," Rembao said. "At least not yet."

"I just keep thinking if she can do it, why can't I?" Flaming wondered. "She always encourages me at meets. I've never been on a big team before, so it's a new thing for me to have so many teammates cheering me on."

"When she does real well it makes me feel good," Aldrich said. "I know things are going to go well for me, but to see it go well for her, it really fires me up."

Rembao sees the relationship as one of common respect, with Aldrich acting more as an inspiration than a rival.

"She (Flaming) sees how worked up Erin gets every weekend and is trying to be the same," he said.

"I don't try to give any tips or anything like that," Aldrich said, defining the limits of just how much she helps her teammate. "I don't want to set the standard where the athlete with the higher mark is supposed to help coach the athlete with the lower mark."

Despite all of the differences in their attitudes and immediate goals, both had similar introductions to the high jump when they were younger.

"In seventh grade I was taller than everyone at my school," Aldrich said. "They wanted to put me in all of the sports due to my height. One of those sports was the high jump. I found out that the high jump was my gift."

"I had a teacher in the fourth grade, and she did it (the high jump)," Flaming said. "She got me into it by just dragging me out there one day and telling me to do it. I turned out to like it."

"(Flaming) did not really excel until high school," Jost said. "She cleared 6-feet twice during her junior year. I think that was the highlight of her career."

While they may have been introduced to high jumping the same way, the way each of them approaches the event competitively is different, according to Rembao.

"Erin is looking out at the open high jump world when she's competing, while Tara's just looking at jumping right then and there. Erin feels that she is competing against everyone, while Tara is more focused just on getting the job done."

Both Aldrich and Flaming are looking toward the end of the season, yet their ultimate career goals aren't quite as far apart as they might think.

"Definitely 2000," said Aldrich of her Olympic dream. "It's a good chance for me to win. I can't wait, I love Australia. I hope she will (be there). I don't know what she's thinking, but it'll be great for two UA athletes to be competing in the same event in the Olympics."

"I (ultimately) want to be in the Olympics," Flaming said. "It'll take a lot more lifting weights, and I'll probably have to be more aggressive like Erin, too."

"The way to be the most successful is to be aggressive, to be able to take control of the situation," Aldrich said of her philosophy.

That belief has helped to make Erin Aldrich one of "the best high jumpers in the country," according to Kraft.

Someday, Tara Flaming may receive similar praise. But she'll take her time getting there.