Last month, a new AGHS girls’ high jump record was set during the Arcadia Invitational hosted by Arcadia HS.

Celia Filice (‘28), jumped a height of 5’7”, breaking the AGHS girls’ high jump record set in 2004 by Liz Cunningham’s jump of 5’6”.

“I was really shocked,” Filice said. “I did not think I was gonna get it, so I was just surprised.”

The first student to break the top ten in the leaderboard since 2019, Filice began jumping in middle school.

“I started because we did it in P.E., and I was just really good at it,” Filice said. “And then my teacher made me do it.”

Other sports throughout her life such as gymnastics and basketball, among others, she said, have inadvertently prepared her for the high jump.

“I would say, my brother has inspired me, because he’s always been really good at it, [and] I just want to be better than him,” Filice said.

Filice also placed 4th in the girls open high jump as the only freshman to compete in the section.

On top of the Sunday meets, Filice is at track practice four days a week for one to two hours, working on her jump.

“We run around in circles for a little bit,” Filice said. “Then sometimes I’ll jump over the bar backwards without running, then do some full approaches and run through it and just hope for the best.”

Filice doesn’t know what she wants to do after high school and if she wants to keep doing high jump, adding, “We’ll see where the wind blows.”