Two years ago, Sydnie Vanek was a two-sport athlete juggling volleyball and long jump, waking up at 6 a.m. for volleyball practice before squeezing in classes, track practice and the weight room.

She once competed at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California and drove straight to San Diego for a spring volleyball match the same day.

In the midst of all of it, she set the Arizona freshman record in the long jump at 21-5.5, second best in program history, finished third at the Pac-12 Championships, narrowly missed the NCAA Championship finals and competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Two years later, she is still moving fast. But after finishing up the fall volleyball season, she finally settled on one sport.

(At some point it came down to "what I really wanted to pursue and be really good at," Vanek said.

Her life looks much different these days, and the adjustment has not been easy.

She misses her former teammates and the team environment, but said she knows she made the right call.

She is faster and stronger, and says everything clicked at the first meet of the season. She has hit season bests in each of her last two major competitions.

Vanek won the Big 12 Outdoor Championships with a jump of 21-4, then finished third at the NCAA West Regional with a 21-9, second all-time in Arizona history. Next up is the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., June 10-14.

Arizona assistant coach Dino Dodig said she had a "championship mentality" at the Big 12 championships, taking the victory on her final jump.

What struck him was how Vanek, who had competed in only a handful of events during the outdoor season, put it all together for a mistake-free jump.

"Not being affected by emotions, by intensity, by crowd, by not being on the first place, going in the last jump, and then really making the best jump, your last one, that just proves that she's not just the one who has the talent. She also has the mental capacity to handle very stressful situations," Dodig said. "And for somebody who just started being fully back in the track and field … (it) just shows that she has natural psychological abilities to compete and to win. Obviously, that is a dream come true for every athlete, and a dream come true for every coach."

Dodig has worked with Vanek only this season, but has already seen in her a drive to be the best and a willingness to do whatever it takes.

Those qualities combine with her physical gifts, standing at least 6 feet tall with the lean, long build of a natural jumper.

"She was born to do this sport. That physique with that type of physiological advantages that she has in terms of explosiveness, in terms of the length of the strides, in terms of how she uses it when she moves is a golden combination for an Olympic athlete to have,” Dodig said. “Any athlete dreams to have that type of balance, in terms of in physique, in terms of being able to run fast, being able to cover a lot of ground with the long strides, being able to have bounds and explosive energy out of those long strides."

Dodig said Vanek still has room to grow in her technique and understanding of the event, but her natural talent, work ethic and feel for the sport have him convinced she could develop into the next top U.S. long jumper.

Before the season, Dodig talked to Vanek about being patient, knowing it was her first year focused solely on long jump.

The goal was not just staying healthy, but resisting the urge to chase results.

"Almost like chasing a perfection in terms of technique and fundamentals and allowing the results to come to us," Dodig said.

The focus was on building a complete track and field athlete, not squeezing out every inch this season. Dodig sees far more in Vanek's future than what she has already shown.

“I want to develop her in a position where, when she gets stronger, when she gets faster and more fundamentally developed, then we will be watching her getting medals at the Olympic Games," Dodig said.

That’s the big goal, but for now, it’s one stride at a time. And that means focusing on what’s right ahead of her.

Her days now revolve around training, eating, sleeping, lifting and competing.

Two years later, Vanek is still always on the move. But now all of it is pointed in one direction, and the results are starting to show.

PJ Brown is the founder of The Undercovered, a Substack newsletter covering untold stories in women's college, professional and Olympic sports. Find more of her work at theundercovered.substack.com.

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