About Trish Porter Topmiller

Athletics

When I was young, I was a total tomboy complete with competing against my brothers in all sports whether I was playing football, snow skiing or being the first girl in little league baseball in California. I had an eighth-grade P.E. teacher who told me “don’t ever become a high jumper because you’ll never be any good”.  I was diagnosed as “hyperactive and dyslexic” and caused my parents all kinds of grief. 

I was a three-sport athlete (diving, soccer and track) at Menlo Atherton High School in California. I placed third and fourth in the California High School State Championships with a best of 5′ 9 1/4″. Even though I was awarded Athlete of the Year for Northern California in 1980, I received no college scholarship offers.

I competed for the University of Oregon my freshman and junior year, and gained way too much weight to high jump well. In fact, there were a few occasions I was mistaken for a shot putter; they are not known for being tall and thin.

I left the number one college team in the nation to train for the heptathlon (seven events). In 1986 I had the thrill of competing for the United States for the first time in the heptathlon. In December of 1987 I started working with my coach Allan Hanckel.

One month before the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, I high jumped 6′ 1 1/2″ and qualified for the Olympic Trials. On the drive home I had a major revelation; “I could make the Olympic Team in the high jump”. I knew I was about one year away from breaking into the top three for the heptathlon. I discovered there is a huge difference between truly believing you can do something, and just striving for your goal.

1988 Olympic Trials 

I was 7th in the Heptathlon (Day 1:Hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters; Day 2: Long jump, javelin, 800 meters) at the 1988 Olympic Trials.

I surprised everyone, including my family, and got 2nd at the Olympic Trials. I jumped a new personal best of 6’5”, and was 7th on the U.S. All-Time list. Hearing the words, “Ladies and gentlemen the members of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team in the high jump are Louise Ritter, Coleen Sommers and Trish King.” Then jogging a lap around the track with a U.S. flag in hand to a standing ovation was beyond anything I thought possible.

1988 Olympics, Seoul, Korea 

The Olympics in Seoul, Korea, was an unbelievable time beyond my wildest imagination. It was incredible, and magical as I walked in the Opening and closing ceremonies to the cheers of the crowd going wild. 

In 1994, I had a bad neck injury (because I was being stupid during practice) that forced me to retire. Later, I found out I had multiple ligament damage. This is not what I wanted because I loved to jump, the discipline of training, and having a goal.

U.S. Masters Track and Field

At forty year’s old and after taking eleven years off from competing, a friend asked me to train and meet her at the Masters National Championships in Eugene Oregon in 2003. I spent the summer praying about it and decided to rekindle my dream and start training again. 

I competed for nine years and stopped in August 2011. I jumped 5′ 9 1/4″ (the same height I jumped in high school), was a four times World Masters Champion, World Record Holder age 40-44 yrs., and twelve times U.S. Masters National Champion for my age group.