THE ANSWER TO the obvious question posed to Ella McRitchie makes sense.
With her choice of just about any college track program in the country, why did one of the nation’s top prep vaulters decide to cross the country from Bainbridge High near Seattle to continue her career at Harvard, a school that doesn’t even offer athletic scholarships?
Well, because she could.
“I wanted to do both track and academics, not have to take away from anything,” says McRitchie, our No. 2 prep vault All-America for ’24. “I felt this would be a good place, there are good resources for both. After track I want to go into trauma surgery and there are a lot of great opportunities here.”
The world needs geniuses and this one also happens to be a 14-4½ (4.38) vaulter who won at Nike Outdoor Nationals in June and placed 3rd (2nd prep) at the USATF U20 meet.
But there is also truth to the “not have to take away from anything” line. Harvard track is currently best known as the alma mater of Gabby Thomas, but it’s starting to build something bigger. McRitchie is part of a recruiting class that includes Norwegian high school vault champion Philip Andreas Kubon (a 17-4½/5.30 performer). McRitchie joins a stable of women that includes a 14-footer (Anastasia Retsa) and a 13-footer (Lilly Hodge).
“We’re starting to become a bigger pole vault school,” McRitchie says. “It’s nice being a start of that.”
Obviously McRitchie’s presence takes that to a new level.
“It’s a game-changer,” Harvard vault coach Brenner Abbott says. “Getting someone like Ella, of her caliber, will definitely draw attention. If she comes here and improves, which is the plan, hopefully it will open more eyes for schools like Harvard.
“It’s a cool time in our school history. Even a decade prior people thought they couldn’t have a national-level athletic experience, that they were sacrificing their athletics for their academics. Since we’ve had some good people like Gabby Thomas, some national champions, people are realizing they don’t have to sacrifice their academics for athletics.
“Ella is a good example of that, she wants to be good at both. The better athletes we get, the better athletes we’re going to get in the future because people realize you can have both.”
That’s already happening in the vault.
“There is no reason this place shouldn’t be a vault powerhouse,” Abbott feels. “We have the facilities, we’re a pretty good school. We need the numbers and the training partners.
“But having Ella and Philip here at the same time is going to build a really good program. Our best years are yet to come.”
McRitchie is living that as she makes an adjustment to college that is tough for anyone, and perhaps more so at Harvard.
“Mondays I’m out of the dorm for 14 hours, going to classes, practice, volunteering, all that stuff,” McRitchie said. “You have to be conscious of time, it makes it so I value my little moments. Every day I cross the Charles River to go to practice and there’s this gorgeous sunset. I take pictures of it every day. That’s a highlight.”
Says Abbott, “The team absolutely loves her and she’s a workhorse. There are going to be bumps in the road because of a new routine and new classes, but she’s doing well.”
On the track, the focus of that work is channeling her substantial raw power.
“It’s teaching her to use elastic energy instead of muscling through her vaults,” Abbott explains. “She’s a big, strong kid and she can muscle through big poles and jump good heights. But to get to the next level, we need more elasticity, more relaxation, rather than sheer willpower and muscle. She has both of those in excess, to say the least.”
McRitchie is all in on that.
“He’s got a big focus on elasticity,” she says. “I have a lot of strength, sometimes that can be either a positive or negative. I’m working on being more elastic so I can add more power to my vault.”
Her goal is 15-feet (4.57) this season, and while her coach has a more modest goal of a PR, McRitchie is already moving in that direction.
“In practice she’s jumping some heights from a half approach that would rival her long-approach personal record,” Abbott says. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but I think she can be an All-American her first year.”
McRitchie also has that goal.
“I’d love to place at both indoor and outdoor NCAAs,” she says. “There are also more process-oriented goals. I’m learning how to balance everything here, working in labs, classes, climate. [The weather is) interesting, but it’s not worse than Seattle. It is taking some getting used to.”
Harvard as an emerging vault power might take some getting used to, but that’s happening quickly.