Injury never stopped pentathlete from reaching new heights

Never in her wildest dreams did Sandy Fortner envision the last year of her college career to be such a wild and bumpy ride.

Fortner, a Fort Sumner native, returned to the top of the peak at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships during the women’s high jump on Friday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

After busting her kneecap last year, Fortner broke her own UNM school record with an NCAA qualifying score of 4,147. Fortner’s score in the pentathlon is the second-highest score in the nation, during the winter track season, and was No. 2 all-time in the MWC history.

Fortner’s score was also good enough to hold off the defending MWC and NCAA champion, Amy Otis of BYU, who fell 94 points below Fortner’s mark.

Because of an impeccable high-jump performance, Fortner led after the second event of the pentathlon. She led the rest of the way.

Fortner was honored with the Women’s Outstanding Performance award at the meet’s end.
“It felt great and I didn’t even really think about my knee that much because it was such a big deal last year,” Fortner said. “The high jump was a little shocking. I never thought that I could clear 5-9, especially on my first attempts. But it’s good to know that going into (the National Indoor Track and Field Championships), that I can clear higher heights and knowing that I can beat defending national champions as well.”

UNM Track and Field head coach Joe Franklin said Fortner’s performance at the MWC Indoor Championships was tremendous.

“A lot of kids in their fifth year have different priorities, and Sandy is different because she is determined to be a great student-athlete, and she is doing that,” Franklin said. “The high jump for her was, by far, the most impressive, because she hadn’t jumped in a while and that was a life-time best for her. She got into a groove, and once she got into that groove, she just kept jumping higher and higher. If you look at the results, she backed it up the next day.”

To top off a great performance, Fortner finished in seventh place in the 60-meter hurdle, earning the Lobos, as a team, 20 points.

Fortner said having the meet at home was advantageous.

“I think it was huge, and it was definitely beneficial to sleep in your bed and have home-cooked meals,” she said. “It’s a lot nicer than eating at different restaurants and traveling. I mean, we had the home crowd here and it definitely paid for me, because I could hear people chanting and cheering on. That was something that I really needed.”