One of the great CIAU high jumpers. A three-time CIAU national high jump champion. CIAU and UBC high jump record holder. Gold medal winner at Canada Games, National Indoor and Canadian Senior championships.
Based upon over 30 years of CIAU (now CIS) records it could well be said UBC's Jeannie Cockcroft stands as the best female high jumper in Canadian university history. Not only was she CIAU national record holder but was also three times CIAU national high jump champion. These three CIAU gold medals are the most ever achieved in women's high jump competition at these national championships. Her personal best of 1.94 metres, which is the second best mark recorded by any female jumper in Canadian history, is a UBC record and the highest jump ever achieved by a Canadian university female athlete.
UBC has had some notable jumpers over the years; Eleanore Cave, Debbie Brill, Brenda Staffanson and Tami Lutz but Cockcroft, with the heights she achieved and her CIAU victories, is undoubtedly UBC's all-time best!
Jeannie graduated from BC’s South Delta High School where she participated in several sports including track, achieving distinction by winning the BC Inter-high school high jump championship in 1983.
In Jeannie's first year at UBC, 1983/84, she finished second to teammate Tami Lutz in the high jump at the Canada West Championships, both jumpers achieving the CIAU qualifying standard of 1.73 metres. Later at the CIAU championships, UBC under coach Lionel Pugh, displayed the two best collegiate female high jumpers in the country with Lutz winning the gold and Cockcroft finishing with the silver. This was just the beginning for UBC's Cockcroft!
The next season, 1985, was a "classic" in the annals of UBC athletics. In February, "Jeannie Wins" reported the Ubyssey as the UBC Science student won the Canadian (open) Indoor Track & Field championship recording her then personal best of 1.88 metres, the highest jump yet recorded by a Canadian university female athlete. This achievement was followed by another 1.88-metre performance at a Canada-US meet. At this time only two jumpers in Canadian history had bettered this mark, Debbie Brill and Brigitte Reid.
At the 1985 CIAU championships, Cockcroft was the bright light for UBC winning the women's high jump competition with a new CIAU record of 1.86 metres. She along with Simon Hoogewerf were UBC's two gold medal winners at this assembly of Canada's finest university athletes.
Jeannie's next 1985 victory was at the Canada Games in which she finished first with a leap of 1.85 metres, a mark which remains a Canada Games record. She also participated in the World Cup of Track & Field in Australia in addition to representing UBC at the 1985 World Student Games in Kobe, where she finished seventh.
In March of 1985 Jeannie was selected co-winner (with diving's Nancy Bonham) of the Marilyn Pomfret Award as UBC's Female Athlete of the Year and announced that with this great honor she was now seeking a place on Canada's Olympic team. With this also came the prophetic statement, "I'm going to be competing forever."
The year was far from complete as Cockcroft achieved the amazing height of 1.94 metres at the 1985 Canadian Track & Field Championships, a new UBC record, a new record for Canadian university women and only four centimetres below the all-time Canadian record set by Debbie Brill. Since this time Cockcroft's UBC and Canadian university records remain untied and unbroken.
Cockcroft completed this amazing 1985-year by being named the Sport BC University Athlete of the Year and announced she was dedicated to putting something back into UBC track and field.
"Track Birds Look Good" announced the Ubyssey, as it previewed the upcoming 1985/86 year. "The team's star female athlete is Jeannie Cockcroft. She has developed into one of the finest high jumpers in the world." However this season saw Cockcroft besieged by injuries - specifically a severe chronic knee injury. The best she did this season was a second place finish to UBC's Lutz at the Canada West Championships. Following this meet, Cockcroft, in consultation with her coaches, decided to sit out the rest of the season but despite this, the domination of women's high jumping by UBC was becoming apparent.
Early in 1987 at the Golden Bear Open meet in Edmonton, a healthy Cockcroft easily won the women's high jump with a leap of 1.78 metres. She continued to regain her world class form as she won the Canada West preview meet in February with a jump of 1.81 metres and came second at the National Indoor championships with a jump of 1.86 m.
In March of 1987, the Ubyssey announced; "UBC track women triumph" as sprinter, Joanne Gaspard and high jumper Jeannie Cockcroft were gold medal winners at the CIAU national championships. This was the second time Cockcroft was CIAU high jump champion and it was her third CIAU medal in three years.
Jeannie's ninth career victory took place in June of 1987 when she won the Harry Jerome Classic with a jump of 1.80 metres. The next season, 1987/88, Jeannie Cockcroft was again winner of the Canada West high jump championship pacing the UBC women to a third place finish. At the 1988 CIAU national meet at Winnipeg, the Ubyssey reported, "The jumpers have kept the UBC team at the top of the polls all year and at this meet they did not disappoint." UBC's Cockcroft and Lutz finished with gold and silver, once again dominating the university scene. Cockcroft's victory was her third CIAU high jump title, which remains a CIAU women's high jump record. Moreover she qualified for the 1988 Olympics by virtue of her bettering the qualifying mark of 1.92 metres.
Following the 1988 UBC season Jeannie was honored for the second time as UBC's Female Athlete of the Year, sharing the Marilyn Pomfret Award with field hockey's Melanie Slade. Cockcroft, is one of the very few athletes to ever win this Pomfret Award more than once.
While a student at UBC, Cockcroft's list of distinguished athletic accomplishments include: three CIAU national titles, victories in the 1985 Canada Games, Canadian Indoor and Canadian Senior Track championships, BC University Athlete of the Year and two Marilyn Pomfret Awards in addition to her Olympic qualifying achievements and her several records.
In 1990 she was both Canadian national and indoor champion and a member of the Commonwealth Games team. While she maintained this high level of athletic achievement (she has jumped 1.80 m or better in 23 meets) she also earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 1989 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992. Through her UBC career she was presented with four athletic scholarships as well as the University Academic Scholarship in 1991. By 1995 she attained her Masters of Library Science and is currently employed at the Vancouver Public Library.
Despite the fact that a 1993 knee injury elicited the thought that she would never jump again, she in fact rebounded to become BC outdoor champion in 1996. In 1997, at age 32, she was the fourth best jumper in the nation, finishing in that position at that year's National Championships.
Cockcroft thinks very highly of her coaches Wilf Wedmann, Lionel Pugh and her coach from 1985 until 1999, UBC's Carmyn James. Coach James maintains that Jeannie possesses the dedication, discipline, desire and determination that keeps her at the top of her sport and in so doing serves as a positive role model for younger jumpers.
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
