High Jumps a Lasting Legacy for Lisa Ramos July 1, 2020
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High jumps a lasting legacy for Lisa Ramos July 1, 2020 By JEFF CORDES Express Staff Writer As a Hailey teenager, Lisa Bernhagen had the kind of uncommon athletic talent that was evident in her first love, volleyball, and most famously in the sport where she made her mark, track and field. She was less enthused about the limelight and acclaim that came with being one of the best Idaho high school athletes to ever compete in track and field, in particular the high jump. “I was not a kid who wanted to be looked at,” said Lisa Bernhagen Ramos, now 54 and the mother of two grown children, speaking last Wednesday from her home in Tampa, Fla. But just having the opportunity to achieve and succeed was fertile enough ground for Bernhagen, who electrified the Gem State track world from 1981-84 with a series of big- time performances that still hold up in the record books. She thrived on challenges, though, and found ways to handle all the nerves that came along with competitions as she grew older and expectations for excellence grew. Opportunity motivated her. And opportunity stared Bernhagen in the face for the final time as a Wood River High School senior star during the 1984 Idaho A-2 State Track and Field Championships in front of a fervent and sophisticated crowd of track fans at Boise’s Bronco Stadium. She had done just about all she could for the Wolverines over four Idaho High School Activities Association state meets before the Boise crowd. An individual star, she had won 11 gold medals in her 14 events from her freshman through senior seasons—four golds in high jump, and seven in the sprints. She led Wood River’s girls to a pair of second- place team finishes, and two third places. She had one event to go. For her first time ever at state and for the final girls’ event of the 1984 meet, Bernhagen was assigned the anchor leg of the Wood River 4x400-meter relay. Everything before for Bernhagen at state had been individual efforts. Juniors Kathy Lickliter and Kim Csizmazia, and senior Dana Pidgeon, put Wood River in second place among eight teams entering the final 400-meter lap. The anchor runner was Bernhagen, who had won the state 400-meter dash as a sophomore and a junior. It was the fourth time in the mile relay at state for Pidgeon, whose best placing was second as a freshman. The previous year, Wood River had placed 10 seconds behind record-setting Jerome in the relay. Yet Middleton’s lead was substantial at the final baton exchanges. How much of a lead? Observers differ. Wood River girls’ track and field coach John Hopkins last week remembered the margin to be 50 to 60 meters. It did seem insurmountable. Bernhagen Ramos, asked recently, suggested it was 30 meters. Middleton fans were watching their anchor runner, but, to be sure, most of the crowd was watching Lisa Bernhagen to see if she had any chance. “It was the last event of my last year. And I always put it all out there,” Bernhagen Ramos said. She was more emphatic at the finish line, then telling Twin Falls sport reporter Larry Hovey, “I knew I was going to catch her.” She did with a homestretch kick, helping Wood River (4:05.34) to a nearly one-second victory over Middleton (4:06.30). The final time broke Jerome’s one-year-old classification record of 4:05:85 and became a State A-2 standard that stood for nearly 25 years. Hopkins, who guided Bernhagen through her high school achievements, said, “The entire grandstand stood and cheered and clapped recognizing what a phenomenal performance they had witnessed. “It was a highlight of my career to see Lisa’s heart and determination carry her team to a team victory that she shared with everyone.” The media including Hovey descended upon Bernhagen afterwards. Hovey asked her, flat out, if she was still uncomfortable with all the attention she had received since winning her first two gold medals in high jump and the 200-meter dash as a freshman. “Yes, and I’m even more ill-at-ease now than I was then,” the 18-year-old star replied in all honesty. Then she slipped away from the acclaim on the warm May afternoon and found a hose and to spray celebratory water on her happy Wolverine teammates. Here’s the final tally for Bernhagen on that memorable May weekend in Boise: For her Friday morning eye-opener, she won first place by five inches in high jump with a successful 6-1 leap on her second try, breaking her own Idaho overall record of 6-0 1/2 set at the 1983 state meet. She made two attempts at 6-2 3/4 before calling it a day, having battled knee tendinitis all spring. For comparison, the 1984 girls’ high jump winner that day for the bigger schools, Twin Falls junior Amber Welty, won her title at 5-6 1/2. Remarkably, Bernhagen still holds the overall Idaho state girls’ high jump record, 36 years later. It is the oldest of all Idaho state track meet overall records, boys or girls. On Saturday, after winning the state 100-meter dash for the first time in 12.63 seconds, Bernhagen broke her own three-year-old 200m dash record with a 25.14-second clocking that remained the overall Idaho girls’ record for 28 years. It is still the A-2 mark. It was Bernhagen’s fourth straight 200m state dash gold medal. She said, “I wasn’t great at starts, so the 100m was a challenge. And the 400m wasn’t my favorite—it was always a tough, tough race. But I loved the 200m. I could be in full stride at the turn.” That day, Bernhagen ended up beating Kuna’s fine senior sprinter Tina McCombs twice, 12.63 to 12.87 seconds in the 100m, and 25.14 to 25.90 in the 200m. McCombs had been the top qualifier, which gave Bernhagen extra incentive to break the 25.3 overall state record of Twin Falls Sally Butts. Bernhagen, who had been featured earlier in the spring in the Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd column, faced excellent competition all through her state meet career. Paula Pettingill, the Burley senior high jumper who placed second at 5-8 behind Bernhagen in 1984, became an NCAA champ at Weber State. McCombs won the 400m in 1984 with a 57.37 time that remains the State 3A classification standard. And Shelley’s Kara Hatch, the 100m winner in Bernhagen’s first three years, still holds the State 3A record of 12.31 set in 1983. Bernhagen, named to high school All-American teams from 1982-84, finished her state track meet career having won 12 of her 15 events including the ultimate mile relay, and scoring 140 out of a possible 150 points for her school. In 1983, having won its first district title since 1970, Wood River’s girls’ team came close to winning state but fell by a 77.5 to 76-point margin to Emmett. That was the year Bernhagen cleared 6-0 for the first time, in a stiff wind at Jerome. She was voted into the Idaho High School Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1999 and, this year, has become one of the inaugural inductees into the Wood River High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Receiving her school’s coveted Allan Patterson Award athletic as a senior, Bernhagen said, “I enjoyed representing Wood River.” Early years, later successes Born in Madison, Wisc., Bernhagen lived there and in Aspen, Co. before her mother Linda, separated from Lisa’s father David, brought Lisa and sisters Holly and Candi to Ketchum in the mid-1970s. Lisa skied and figure skated in her elementary school years, and started doing volleyball, basketball and track after the family moved to Hailey when she was in the sixth grade. Linda married again, to Hailey’s Dave Cropper. Track coach Hopkins started coaching Lisa in her freshman year. He said, “Lisa’s reputation preceded her since she set some records in middle school and did very well at the Hershey track and field competition.” Volleyball was fun for her. “I loved the team atmosphere and chemistry of volleyball. I tried to put 100% into practice and games to help my team,” said Bernhagen Ramos. High point of Bernhagen’s prep volleyball experience came in her junior year, playing for Dave Neumann, who coached Wood River to state championships in 1977-78. Surveying his talent with just three seniors, Neumann changed his offense and positioned tall and rangy Bernhagen in the key position of setter. It enabled her to set while in the back row, hit in the front and dink other teams like crazy with her height. Wood River (17-12) was a surprise success. Building momentum at season’s end, the Wolverines beat Burley 15-11, 17-15 in the district championship and then edged Middleton twice and Vallivue once during the 1982 six-team state tourney in Idaho Falls. Capturing a critical game over defending state champion Preston in the elimination round, Wood River rode its high to second place behind first-time champion St. Maries in the tournament finale. “It was so much fun, and Neumann was amazing,” said Bernhagen Ramos. “And coach Hopkins was an amazing track coach. He went out of his way to learn about high jumping, and go with me to meets and to the Olympic Training Center.