Lake Forest High School's Carmichael Sets State Title as Her Goal

Combining a gymnast’s strength with a sprinter’s speed, junior girls’ track star hopes to turn close calls into a pole vault gold medal at the State Meet. 

Carmichael began her athletic career as a child gymnast and did not begin competitive track until her freshman year at Lake Forest. She competed on both the gymnastics and track teams her first two years. This year she decided to concentrate on track and field. 

“Gymnastics is hard on your body,” Carmichael said. “I always had injuries coming out of gymnastics (and heading into track). I wanted to enter track healthy.”

A year ago, Carmichael finished third in the state finals and the two people who finished ahead of her have graduated. Last summer she tied for the national championship in her age group only to take second when she lost a tiebreaker. 

Her return trip to state starts at 4 p.m. Friday at the Buffal Grove Sectional meet. The qualifying standard is 10 feet, 3 inches and Carmichael has already cleared 12-0 this year.

Carmichael hopes to qualify in both the pole vault and 100-meter high hurdles as she did a year ago. Pole vaulter has also cleared the qualifying standard this season going 11-0. Other state hopefuls are —Carolina’s older sister — in the triple jump and Chelsea Hargitt in the 400, according to Scouts' coach Steve Clegg. 

Clegg also hopes to see the 3,200 relay team of , Caroline Morwede, Caitlin Sperzel and advance to the state finals as well as the 800 relay of the Carmichael sisters, Pomerich and Schmidt. 

The top two finishers in each sectional event along with anyone who meets the state qualifying standards earn a trip to the finals. Only Carolina Carmichael and Schmidt have done that. Carolina Carmichael’s best time in the hurdles (15.5) is close to the 15.1 time needed. 

“Sectionals is a meet where weird things can happen,” Clegg said. “I try to impress on them anything can happen especially in the field events. A long jumper can miss a start.” 

Carolina Carmichael remains Lake Forest’s best hope for a gold medal. “That’s my goal,” she said. Not only have the two finishers ahead of her a year ago graduated, where she tied for first.

 Carolina has melded her speed on the track with her gymnastics skills to become one of the top pole vaulters in the nation for her age. She credits the strength needed for the gym apparatus as part of the reason for her success. 

“The skills on the uneven parallel bars are exactly the same. Gymnastics also helps you feel comfortable being upside down,” Carolina said. “I love the feeling of being up in the air, turning and falling.” 

Using her speed and jumping skills in the hurdles, Carolina also knows the importance of running fast in the pole vault. “You need the speed for the approach when you stick it (the pole in the ground to ascend).” 

The Carmichael sisters come by their athletic talent naturally. Their mother, Toni, was a heptathlete headed for the Olympic trials when an injury sidelined her. Today she coaches the track teams at Mundelein High School as well as the Mundelein Mambas USATF team where her daughters compete. 

, the girls’ father, played two years of minor league baseball. After growing up in Lake Forest and starring as a right fielder for the Scouts, he played for Elmhurst College before turning pro. 

Carolina feels little pressure from her parents’ achievements nor from the fact her father’s picture hangs on the Wall of Fame outside the Lake Forest athletic department office. 

“Not so much, he’s always supportive,” she said of pressure from her father. “His picture is right over there,” she added with pride as she pointed to the Wall of Fame. 

Rob Carmichael is proud to see his daughters following in his athletic footsteps at Lake Forest. He returned with his family three years ago when he became curator of the . 

“It’s a neat feeling to see them walking the same halls and doing as well as I did,” Rob Carmichael said. “She’s taken it to a whole another level." 

Carolina is already receiving letters from numerous colleges offering scholarships. She is considering Michigan State, the University of Minnesota and Virginia Tech among others.