Redlands East Valley's Mikayla Vessey has bee a star in the pool, swimming and water polo, for years but now she's also excelling on the track and field team.
REDLANDS — Everyone around her at Redlands East Valley High already knew Mikayla Vessey was an incredible force in the water.
All-CIF water polo player for two straight years, leading the Wildcats to the semifinals both times. CIF qualifier in swimming a year ago and on pace to qualify in two more events this year.
But who would have guessed Vessey could be just as dangerous on land?
Well, a school security guard who watched the 5-foot-1 blonde running 40-yard sprints one day during a football weight training class. It’s the third year in the class for Vessey, who says, “I’m just pushing myself to be the best athlete I can be.”
The security guard was impressed enough to tell Vessey she should try out for the track team. Sort of in her spare time while not swimming, going to club practices and maintaining honor-roll status as a junior student.
“It was really random,” Vessey said. “I thought why not, I’ll go talk to the track coach and see what she thinks.”
REV track and field coach Andrea Johnson-Bernardy was fine with the idea, as long as it didn’t interfere with what else Vessey had going on.
“I think she was excited that somebody noticed her as more than a swimmer,” Johnson-Bernardy said. “I said let’s just try it and have fun.”
Wildcats swimming coach Troy Delmonico, who had helped coach Mikayla’s older sisters Brooke and Jamie at Redlands High last decade as they achieved swimming and water polo stardom before heading off to San Diego State, hesitated.
Not many athletes try to play two sports that are going on at the same time.
“You sure you want to print that?” Delmonico said, laughing when asked about his initital reaction when Vessey came to him with the idea.
But after reaching a deal that Vessey would get her swimming workouts in no matter what was going on with track, Delmonico began working with Johnson-Bernardy on a schedule to make it happen.
It makes for a hectic schedule, but now Vessey is not only REV’s swimming star with a school record in the 100-yard freestyle, she’s also the fastest 100-meter sprinter on the track team.
“You’re saying, ‘I know she’s a quality swimmer,’” Johnson-Bernardy said. “I knew her 40 time was pretty good, but you don’t really expect it. Then you see her race and you say, wow, she’s pretty fast.”
Delmonico said he’s most impressed with Vessey’s work ethic.
“She’s one of the hardest-working athletes I’ve ever come in contact with,” Delmonico said. “She goes to track practice, then comes over and gets in the pool. That was our agreement.
“How many high school girls are that committed, not just to one sport, but both? She’s not your typical high school athlete.”
The best part for Vessey is that with Citrus Belt League swimming meets on Wednesday and track meets on Thursday, she doesn’t have to miss competing in either.
“I definitely didn’t know what to expect, but it’s working out so far,” said Vessey, favoring a tender ankle but determined to ignore it, as well as fears she might injure herself while trying to do too much.
“I could hurt my shoulder swimming,” she said. “That wasn’t a factor for me. I can injure myself doing anything, so I might as well just try it.”
That attitude is the byproduct of being in a family with a father, Jim, who’s the freshman football coach, and two sisters and a brother (Sean, who graduated last year) who all competed in sports.
“They keep me going,” Vessey said. “I’m really close to my brother and I called him the other night and said I’m tired, I’m trying to get through the week. He said you’re fine, just keep pushing.”
And she has, overcoming a size disadvantage in both the pool and on the track.
There’s also the little matter of being deaf in her left ear, which means compensating by doing things at events like lining up in the closest lane available to the starter and paying extra attention with her eyes.
She wears a hearing aid in the classroom to help her understand her teachers. Understanding her classmates is sometimes a different matter.
“Friends will come up and whisper and I’m like, ‘Deaf ear, I can’t hear you, I don’t know what you just said,’” she laughed.
Just another challenge that Vessey tackles with enthusiasm, and with the competitive streak that makes her smile as she points out she’s the first sibling in the family to compete in track.
“I got that on them,” she said. “I one-upped ’em on that.”
See the article here at: http://www.pe.com/sports/high-school/hsg-schools/hsg-redlands-east-valley/hsg-redlands-east-valley-headlines/20120423-swimming-and-track-revs-vessey-tackles-both-with-enthusiasm.ece
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