Claudine Andre earns A-10 and ECAC titles in high jump
High jump record holder and senior Claudine Andre has culminated her track and field career by emerging as one of the Atlantic 10’s top athletes, capturing two high jump titles in three weeks.
After setting personal and school records at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships with a height of 5’9 1/4 feet, she took home yet another gold medal at the 2018 ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with a height of 5’8 3/4.
“Claudine is such a fierce competitor, but she’s also a great teammate,” head coach Melody O’Reilly said. “When she excels the way she is now, it just inspires everyone else on the team to perform better.”
Andre’s contributions have helped propel a young team to a ninth place finish out of 13 in the A-10 Championships, and a 23rd place finish out of 44 teams at the ECAC Championships.
Andre credits her success to a mindset dedicated to personal improvement. Instead of comparing herself to others, she competes against herself, trying to break her own previous records.
“For me, every time I go out I want to compete,” Andre said. “I just really want to focus on bettering myself, so getting a PR is always a huge accomplishment.”
While Andre simply saw this honor as a sign of personal improvement, O’Reilly again pointed to Andre’s impact on her teammates, describing a scene of teamwide euphoria.
“Everybody was just waiting for her last jump,” O’Reilly said. “And when she went over the bar, the team just erupted into this loud scream, and it was just so amazing to watch her do that and see so much support for her and the team.”
Andre has attained numerous honors throughout her years at St. Joe’s, beginning with the 2015 SJU Best Freshman Award, all the way up to being immortalized in the St. Joe’s athletics record books for her high jump. While success has never been foreign to Andre, both her and O’Reilly identified mental growth that have helped her become the physical force that she now is.
“She’s matured with the sport,” O’Reilly said. “She’s always had a great work ethic, but now I see focus with it and I think that’s why Claudine is excelling the way she is right now.”
The senior standout will move into her final season at St. Joe’s, with outdoor meets beginning March 24. Andre said she is not looking forward to any specific meet, but she is excited for all of them. O’Reilly pointed to the NCAA preliminaries in Florida as a goal she has for Andre.
Regardless of the athletic success or honors Andre achieved or will achieve, O’Reilly will continue to rely on her to lead by example both in her mindset and in her performance.
“She just has a way about her that pulls everybody in,” O’Reilly said. “She’s soft spoken but she has a great attitude. People love Claudine for who she is and she’s a great leader.”
Her likeable disposition off the track as well as her thirst for success on the track is a mold that many of her teammates can look up to.
“I expect nothing less than greatness,” Andre said.
