A junior in high school, Danielle Bates has risen astronomically in the track world. Standing at 6 feet tall she has broken many records at Timberlane High School. Danielle grew up playing soccer. She has now grown into an impressive track star and only looks forward to accomplishing more.
The previous record before Danielle Bates at Timberlane High School for high jump was 5 feet and 7 inches by Chrissy Flathers in 1997. As a sophomore, Bates was able to break that record and jump a height of 5’ 8”. Now, this year, she has broken her own record and jumps an amazing height of 5 feet and 9 inches, or 1.75m. She has gone above and beyond and hopes to break her record again this spring. When Bates was asked about her plans for her future she responded with “My plans for my future is to go to college for track and hopefully take track to the next level past college.”
Bates also performs in other events besides high jump like the four by four relay race, long jump, and the triple jump. In those events, she is also a high performer and among one of the best in the state. But her main event is high jump and she hopes she can take it far in her track career. With the spring season heading towards us Danielle says, “Our first meet of the season will be at Coe Brown. The next big meet will hopefully be Penn Relays”.
When Danielle was asked about types of support she gets, she mentioned that she has teammates, coaches, and friends that give numerous hours and help her train. The best price of advice she has gotten was, “Have fun and enjoy it. If you aren’t having fun while competing and practicing then why do it?” Outside of her regular season, she trains with her teammate Charlotte Beaudoin who is another record holder at Timberlane Regional High School. The two of them trained the entire summer doing skills and drills work outs before the fall season.
Before meets, Bates was asked if she has a particular routine. “I always have a black iced coffee and a plain bagel with nothing on it. For about 1-2 hours before we warm up I will listen to music to try and focus.” Explained Danielle. She also ran through her usual warmup “warm ups usually involve jogging, some strides, stretches, and backbends. I then get my mark and do a few run throughs and practice jumps over the bar”.
Overall, the community looks forward to seeing what Danielle Bates can accomplish. People are very outspoken of their support and happiness they have for this athlete.
