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Caroline Ehrhardt has leaping hopes for Pan Am Games

The 2015 Pan American Games could not have come at a better time for Espanola native and Track North product Caroline Ehrhardt.
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Triple jumper Caroline Ehrdardt is heading to the Pan Am Games. She's seen here in 2010. Photo from carolineehrhardt.com.
The 2015 Pan American Games could not have come at a better time for Espanola native and Track North product Caroline Ehrhardt.

Recently graduated from the University of Western Ontario and having clearly established herself as the best female triple jumper in the country, Ehrhardt produced a personal best leap of 13.08 metres earlier this month.

"Each meet, I find myself improving," she said early Tuesday morning. "I'm so used to not seeing improvement at each meet. There's so many different things that this could come down to. I am taking it easier on myself. I've kind of learned to relax and have fun with it."

For the athletic phenom, who accelerated on an incredible scale throughout her high school career, reaching at crescendo at the 2009/2010 OFSAA championships when she established new Canadian interscholastic records, living through the inevitable plateau was not easy.

It reached a point of crisis in early 2013. "I wanted to walk away from school, let alone the sport," she said. "It struck me that the thing that once made me so happy was now making me sad." It was time for Ehrhardt to grow, moreso as a person than an athlete.

"I began to forge an identity outside of track, that really helped,” she said. “I talked to quite a few people - family, friends, coaches. The message from them was simply that they wanted to see me happy."

These days, the Ehrhardt smile is as radiant as ever, even moreso when it was officially confirmed this past Sunday that she would be among the Canadian track and field delegation competing on home soil.

"I was confident, but I didn't want to get too confident too soon," she said. "When it comes to making these teams, you just never know. I wasn't getting excited before seeing my name on the list."

With the competition only weeks away, the four-time reigning national champion is seeking to reach new heights in Toronto. "I would like to make the top eight," she said. "I think I will have to PB to do it, but it should take in the low thirteens."

Without the pressures of university studies, Ehrhardt is focused on her twice a day workouts, and expanding her horizons. "I want to move myself along in terms of my writing career," she indicated. "Even public speaking - it really helps me to reflect on my own experiences."

Where at one time, there were thoughts that not jumping 13.50 metres upon completing her university degree would be grounds for retirement, Ehrhardt is far more reflective these days.

"I'm not jumping 13.50, but I feel good about where I'm at,” she said.

The timing could not be better.

Joining Caroline Ehrhardt at the Pan American Games is Lively native Ross Proudfoot, also named to the Athletics Canada lineup, competing in the 5000m race. As well, local boxing coach Gord Apolloni will be working with the Canadian pugilists, along with Laurentian Sports Psychology professor Rob Schinke.

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