Freshman Selci Sirrell smashed the high jump school record in the track’s first meet at Ripon College. Breaking a school record is often the goal of student athletes, which is exactly what Sirrell did in the indoor meet at Ripon College on March 20, 2025. She broke the previous record of 5’3.5” with a jump of 5’7”.

“It is a little surreal,” Sirrell said. “I went in there just thinking I was going to do my best. I wasn’t expecting anything crazy, but it’s really cool.” 

Her coach, Matt Willett, knew she was able to break it thanks to her good results in middle school, but he didn’t expect that to happen so early in the season or so early in her career. 

“I didn’t expect it at the first meet,” Willett said. “Knowing what she did as a younger athlete when she was in middle school last year, I knew that she had jumped over five feet and I thought, ‘Okay, we got to get two more inches potentially to break that record. 
I think we can do that or three more inches.’ And I said, ‘I think we can do that, but I don’t know when.’ We just have to work and we’ll get there eventually. 
So I was surprised that it did come as early as it did.” 

Junior Tresten Sirrell, Selci’s brother, who is also training for high jump, has noticed how hard she has been working while they are practicing together. 

“She is working really hard. She is staying consistent with her schedule,” Tresten said. 

The transition between middle school and high school is hard for freshmen students because they  have to adapt to more pressure and compete against older students that are already used to it. 

“It’s certainly tougher competition, obviously, and there is more competition,” Sirell said. “I was very nervous to compete against older students. I kind of got my head a little bit but once I stepped on to jump, I felt better.”

Her coach has been impressed with how quickly she has adjusted to high school competition. 

“I think clearly she’s adapted quite well. 
The atmosphere is just much different because there’s obviously better competition and now she’s having to jump against older girls that have been in high school longer than she has, clearly from other schools that are very talented,” Willet said. “So to process that can be difficult, but she’s managed the stress and the pressure really well, I’ve noticed, which is very encouraging for her because as she goes through, there’s always going to be somebody that is going to be potentially jumping as high or higher. You have to put yourself in a good position mentally and I think she’s able to do that; I can see some good things from that. So she’s transitioned quite well.”

Her determination and success has an impact on the rest of the team. 

“She is a big part of what makes the team successful,” Tresten said.

Flexibility isn’t for everyone, but Selci has a natural ability to arch her back. This is key for her and sets her apart from the others. 

“Her natural ability is something that no coach is going to be able to just coach you,” Willett said. “Her length because she’s tall enough, but her ability to go into a backbend over the bar, the arching of her back, not everybody can do that. And her natural ability to do that while in here is very unique and puts her in a position to go very high over bars because you have to find that extra and that’s that arc in the back. And that’s a natural thing. That’s not something that a coach can get to everybody, so naturally she’s very gifted at high jump. “

Selci has a lot of encouragement from her teammates and they are all very supportive while she is jumping. 

“All my teammates are really supportive,” Selci said. “Like when I broke the record, they all came around, stood and they cheered me on.”

Coaches, family and teammates are certainly really proud of her and her success. 

“I was very proud. I definitely wasn’t expecting that on her first meet as a freshman,” Tresten said.