Lilian Turban will spend most of her day above the clouds in her journey from Hawaii to Estonia.
Perhaps somewhere in that day-long trip home, she’ll be able to reflect on the heights she reached in her sophomore season in the University of Hawaii track and field program.
But as of Monday — two days after placing fourth in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to become the first Rainbow Wahine All-American since 2010 — Turban was still trying to take in the events of her weekend in Austin, Texas.
“I feel like it still hasn’t sunk in properly,” said Turban, who will make stops in Los Angeles and Frankfurt, Germany, on her way home. “It doesn’t feel real, but it’s definitely really awesome.
“I could not see that coming in my wildest dreams. My goal for this season was just to make it to nationals, but to place and get All-American, I cannot wrap my mind around it yet.”
The first UH athlete to qualify for the final round of the NCAA Championships since 2018, Turban earned a place in Rainbow Wahine history as the program’s sixth All-American by clearing a personal best 6 feet, 11⁄2 inches (1.87 meters) in the national meet on Saturday at the University of Texas’ Mike A Meyers Stadium and Soccer Complex.
Charity Griffith of Ball State won the event at 6-4 (1.93 meters) followed by Lamara Distin of Texas A&M, Elena Kulichenko of Georgia and Turban, with their finishing order determined by the number of attempts at 1.87.
Turban cleared the height on her third and final
attempt, watching the crossbar wobble but settle back onto the stand as she landed, giving her a spot among the top four out of 24 qualifiers for the NCAA finals.
“I knew I could make it just because the first two
attempts were really close,” Turban said. “I went really high and just came down on the bar. That happened on the last attempt as well, but that time the bar jumped but it stayed on.”
With her finish, Turban became UH’s first All-American since Amber Kaufman won the NCAA high jump
title in 2010 and joined a club comprised of Gwen Loud (1983, ’84 long jump), Cheryl Smith (2001, 10,000 meters), Annett Wichmann (2008, ’09, heptathlon),
Emily Shepard (2008, high jump) and Kaufman (2008, ’09, ’10, high jump).
Turban had placed first in the high jump in seven consecutive events this season, starting with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Indoor Track and Field Championships in February and culminating with the Big West outdoor title in
mid-May in Fullerton, Calif., where she set her previous collegiate personal best of
6 feet, 3⁄4 inches (1.85 meters).
She earned a trip to the NCAA Championship First Round meet for the second straight year and checked off one of her primary goals for the season when she again cleared 6-3⁄4 to place third in the meet and become the first UH athlete to qualify for the national meet since Lily Lowe advanced out of the regional in 2018.
She had competed in multi-events as a freshman and qualified for the NCAA preliminary round in the high jump and placed 22nd. Prior to this season, Turban and the UH coaches agreed that she would focus on the high jump in her sophomore year.
Even so, she continued to take turns in the hurdles, javelin and shot put in
practices along with her high jump workouts. After winning her first Big West
title in the high jump, she added a surprise bronze in the javelin during the conference meet.
“That was amazing honestly,” Turban said. “I went in with no expectations and since I had already done my job in high jump, I kind of had no pressure and that made it possible to perform well in javelin and shot put as well.”
As she continued to push toward her goals for the season, Turban also gave herself permission to rest during the season.
“I learned to listen to my body and just accommodate what I was feeling and just being smart,” she said. “I think that was a really
important aspect of making it this far this season.”
But giving herself a break necessarily didn’t mean taking time off. She made daily visits to the training room for preventative treatments to keep herself primed to compete.
“This was a huge lesson I learned last year. I had a bunch of different injuries and I would still keep pushing because I thought the more I practice the better I am. But this season I really focused on staying healthy because I’m learning that if I’m not healthy I won’t even be able to be on the field.”
Turban’s performance capped UH’s 2022-23 athletic calendar and she plans to give herself some time to catch her breath at home before ramping back up for the Under-23 European Championships in Finland in July.
A couple of years after reaching out to UH coaches Tim Boyce and Madeleine Carleton as she pursued competing in the U.S. in college, Turban has some time reflect on just how far that decision has led her.
“I don’t think about it too much because now it feels normal and it feels natural that I’m supposed to be here. I cannot imagine myself being anywhere else, Turban said. “But I guess sometimes you just have to take a moment and appreciate where I am and how I got here and I’m definitely grateful I made this choice.”
