Making a Leap: The Ella Scally Story

SwingRX Golf Performance is proud to bring you this week's Front Row Feature.
For more information, visit https://SwingRXGolf.com.

- - -

March 30, 2024 is a date that Ella Scally will remember for a long time.

The Miami sophomore eclipsed 20 feet in the long jump for the first time in her competitive career that afternoon during an outdoor meet in Cincinnati.

It's a moment Scally has been working toward ever since fifth grade, when she first picked up the sport of track and field.

"That's just been a goal for me forever," Scally said. "Even in high school, my coaches would be like, 'You're a 20-foot jumper…you haven't even peaked yet.'"

However, Scally's path to what was then a career-best jump did not unfold as she might have imagined.

"My freshman year at Miami didn't go as planned. I was very defeated after that year," she admitted. "You come off such a high from high school, and I came here freshman year expecting to do great. Then, I just didn't; it was really bad.

"My coach was telling me, 'You've just got to be patient. It's the transition year. You're going to be fine.'

"I really didn't believe him," she laughed.

Although Scally had posted a mark of 19-4 in high school, she went her entire freshman season without reaching the 19-foot threshold for the Red and White once. Still, while she was understandably concerned, her event coach Russ Peterson was not.

"She would cry after every meet last year and I'd tell her what I needed to tell her, but then I would always end it with, 'You're going to be a 20-foot jumper at some point, and when everybody else is surprised, I'm not going to be,'" recalled Peterson, now the RedHawks' head coach.

"Ella has the qualities physically and mentally, but she just didn't have the experience to do it yet…there's always progress being made, even when they don't know it. And as a freshman, she had no idea!"

When Scally returned to Oxford for her sophomore year, the results of her work began to show. Her first competition of the 2023-24 indoor season produced a jump over 19 feet. "That definitely gave me a big confidence boost, which I needed," said Scally.

She promptly topped that performance with a new PR at the next meet.

And then again at the meet after that.

By the MAC Indoor Championships in February, Scally had reached 19-10¼, which was good enough to put her on the podium with a bronze medal.

And then came the outdoor breakthrough at Cincinnati's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational the following month.

"It's funny because it was an optional meet, since it was still during spring break. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go, and I'm really glad I did: The weather was great and I was feeling really good," said Scally.

An onlooker in the crowd that day might have seen Scally sitting on the sidelines crouched tightly into a ball with her eyes closed before she attempted what proved to be a memorable jump.

It was a throwback to her earliest days as an athlete, back when the Fishers, Ind. native got her start as a competitive gymnast. Coming from an athletic family (including a father who played football at Indiana State and two siblings who now play football at NAIA Taylor University), Scally has been around sports literally as long as she can remember, despite eventually trading vaulting for a different kind of leaping.

"I used to practice gymnastics 24 hours a week at nine years old…but I ended up quitting the sport in fifth grade because it just wasn't fun for me anymore and I was getting stressed out with it," Scally said.

In that chapter of her sports career, Scally's gymnastics coaches would always tell her to visualize before attempting a routine or event. The mental rehearsal consistently paid dividends in her scores and results, but was something she hadn't considered translating to her track pursuits over the past decade since then.

That changed earlier this year for Scally, an Academic All-MAC student-athlete, as the topic came up in one of the Kinesiology classes for her major.

"I was learning how visualizing helps a lot in sports, so I thought I would try it out again," she explained. "One of the first times I started doing it was before I jumped 20. So maybe that helped!"

(It certainly didn't hurt!)

While Scally —and her family— were thrilled with the milestone jump, Peterson played it cool in his reaction. "We expected this," he said. "I told her that first year, 'Even when you jump 20 feet for the first time, don't think I'm going to hug you.'

"She came over and said, 'Did you see what I jumped?' She was waiting for a hug, and I just gave her a fist bump.

"I was like, 'I'm not even going to give you a high five yet. Once we get to the school record, I might open up my hand at that point and do a high five!'

"She was happy with a fist bump."

Scally, who currently ranks second in Miami history, isn't far off from that program record, which stands at exactly 21 feet. In fact, the reigning MAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week set a new PR again last weekend with a jump of 20-6¼ en route to nabbing four first-place finishes at the RedHawk Invitational, including career-best times in the 100 and 200.

"We know that she's faster. She's proving it in some of those other events, and so now it's taking that newfound speed into the long jump and just catching the board right…if [the record] happened this year, I wouldn't be surprised," Peterson said.

Scally's success in her signature event during the regular season has positioned her for a special postseason as well. Not only is she among the favorites heading into next week's MAC Outdoor Championships, but she currently ranks 21st on the NCAA Division I East Outdoor Qualifying List. The top 48 jumpers from this half of the country will advance to the East First Round of the NCAA Championships on May 23 in Lexington, Ky. Ella Scally posed

"I obviously would love to go; I check that list every week!", Scally smiled. "I think I do still have room for a lot of improvement, which is exciting."

Scally's ultimate goal before she graduates is to be among the top 12 First Round performers and qualify for the national championships, an objective Peterson believes is certainly within reach.

"A MAC championship and berth to the First Round [this month] is possible, which sets her up for NCAA finals down the road," Peterson said. "That makes those expectations realistic.

"If she ended her career with an All-American honor because she made the finals, it wouldn't surprise me."

Although the possibility of someday becoming the program's first-ever All-American in the women's long jump seems like a lofty dream when Scally hasn't even officially made it to a First Round yet, don't be surprised at all if she eventually ends up taking that leap.

Because making huge jumps is what Ella Scally does best.

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Scally and the RedHawks wrap up the regular season Friday, May 3 at the Billy Hayes Invite in Bloomington, Ind. before the MAC Outdoor Championships get underway next weekend in DeKalb, Ill. Click here to follow the live results from each meet.

Players Mentioned

Ella Scally

Related Videos