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EDWARDSVILLE – When area track and field experts consider rising stars in the sport at the junior high level, St. Boniface’s Amelia Hylla has to be considered in that group.
Hylla is a track and field sensation in her first season after a long gymnastics career.
Hylla won three events in the recent Madison County Catholic Schools Conference Meet in Edwardsville, taking first place in the 100 meters with a time of 13.59 seconds, the high jump with a leap of 4’ 7”, and the long jump, going 15’ 8.” Edwardsville. St. Boniface won the girls meet with 84 points.
Hylla was one of three girls and three boys who qualified for the SIJHSAA Class-S State Track and Field Meet. Amelia was sixth in the high jump (4-8); third in the long jump (15-3.75); and 12th in the eighth grade 100 (14.55). Hylla cleared over 5-foot in the season, which would position her as a legitimate high school high jumper.
Amelia had never been part of the St. Boniface track and field team until her eighth-grade year. She had not played any other sports at St. Boniface because she dedicated herself over the years to gymnastics. St. Boniface head track and field coach Angie Pifer said Hylla has great potential as a track and field athlete and is a “natural talent.”
“Amelia’s dad contacted me to ask if we could somehow allow her to be part of a school team before graduating from eighth-grade,” Coach Pifer said. “He thought she’d do well in the high jump. Having worked with a few gymnasts in the past we knew the power they can have and thought she would also be a good fit for the high jump, the 100-meter dash as well as the long jump.
"Amelia enthusiastically tried all three events and once she got the hang of the starting blocks and perfected her steps in the high and long jump there were records to be broken. She has a very bright future.”
