Athlete Spotlight: Sophie Menon

By Anushka Vasudev & Lucy Yao Staf Writers

Junior Sophie Menon is a tri-sport athlete, balancing nationally competitive gymnastics, MSJ Varsity Cross Country, and pole-vaulting in MSJ’s Track and Field team. Since she was young, Menon has experimented with all felds of sports, always keeping an open mind to pursue new athletic opportunities. At the age of six, Menon began gymnastics, quickly falling in love with the sport. She has grown to compete at its highest level, placing third in Nationals last June, even forming her own Excel Diamond Team — the most prestigious team of a club — at the gym she trains, Bay Aerials Gymnastics.

Upon entering high school, Menon carried over her open-mindness and ended up joining cross-country and track and feld in her sophomore year. Like many other cross country athletes, Menon found the transition to joining track and feld fairly seamless. However, she specifcally chose the pole vaulting event after her mom said that Menon’s experience in gymnastics could help her achieve the high jumps and leaps in air required for this sport. “[It was] a chance to see how I could push my body in ways that I never had gotten the chance to before and I kind of fell in love with it,” Menon said. In pole vaulting, Menon was last year’s MVP in feld events and was one of the only two sophomores who made it to the CIF North Coast Section Meet of Champions. Despite simultaneously playing three different sports, Menon fnds that the unique characteristics of each complement one another and ultimately help her become a better athlete. Cross country has helped Menon improve her endurance, a skill which has proved useful across all her physical activities. At the same time, doing gymnastics built up her physical strength and increased her aerial awareness, which are also crucial aspects of pole vaulting.

Besides the physical abilities, each sport has also pushed Menon mentally. Gymnastics, in particular, has challenged Menon in her discipline as an athlete. Not only were there mental hurdles such as gaining her own self-confdence, but she also had to face some of her favorite coaches leaving after having been with them for nearly a decade. “Having to battle [that] out on top of coming out of COVID, taught me a lot of perseverance and how to stay strong when everything feels like it’s go- ing wrong, when you feel like you’re losing the sport you love,” Menon said.

It was also this very same perseverance and discipline that ended up pushing Menon all the way to Nationals. Last June, after Menon won frst in the All-Around category at both the regional and state level, she felt prepared but still spent the break between the two competitions in the gym, perfecting the little techniques and skills that would enhance her overall performance. However, during her frst event, Menon did not do that well, and she did not score as high as she had hoped. Menon realized that she needed to perform much better in her following three events, so she focused on picking herself back up, despite the unexpected fallback. In the end, these struggles were what made Menon into a better gymnast and competitor, ultimately culminating in her third place victory in Nationals.

On a daily scale, balancing three sports along with her schoolwork has defnitely been another struggle, but to Menon, it’s entirely worth it for both the achievements and personal growth. Daily practice for Menon can sometimes go until 9:30 p.m., along with occasional multiple-tournament weekends. Although track and cross country are seasonal sports, she still does gymnastics year round, with most competitions occurring in the Spring, requiring her to be effcient about her other work during the limited time she has between and after daily practices. “It helps me get less distracted from the other things in life like social media ... I know it’s different for everybody but it motivates me to speed up my work in other areas because I only have so much time to fnish it,” Menon said.

With such an intense schedule, it is easy to get lost in the rigorous training needed to achieve consistency in a sport. However, Menon realized that while consistency is necessary, it’s equally important to take breaks so that she can come back better and stronger. Thanks to this growth mindset, Menon is able to maintain a healthy time balance to continue her passions. Every practice is seen as a way to improve and keep pushing herself — and the human body — to new heights. There are stressful times, but nonetheless, Menon fnds a valuable outlet and sense of community in all three sports. “It’s not a chore. It’s not something that I’m forcing myself to do. I genuinely love to do it,” Menon said. �

Girls Track & Field