Championship Bond
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Michelle Atherley is a star on the track, a national champion whose dazzling resume at Miami includes recognition for both her indoor and outdoor accomplishments, along with her work in the classroom.
A pentathlete and heptathlete, she prides herself on being able to compete at the highest level in a variety of events, a fact Atherley celebrates on social media where her Twitter handle cheekily acknowledges she does it all.
But for all her athleticism, there was a moment last spring where even Atherley couldn’t help but be in awe of one of her fellow Hurricanes, tennis player Estela Perez-Somarriba, whose compelling performance in a grueling three-hour national championship match captured Athereley’s attention, even as she was competing at an NCAA event of her own.
“I still get chills remembering that. We were all in a tent, huddled around a phone, watching her go back and forth, really,” Atherley said. “We’d watch our teammates warm up and compete, then we’d watch Stela go through her match. I know exactly what she means when she talks about how much effort and hard work goes into getting there.
“Seeing her go through that was amazing. We were all cheering for her. As soon as she got the win and she dropped to the floor, the amount of emotions that run through you, it’s amazing.”
If anyone at Miami could have understood Perez-Somarriba’s joy after fighting off match point six times to win the national title this past May, it’s Atherley, who won a national championship of her own in March when she posted a Miami-record score of 4,547 points in the pentathlon to cap her final indoor track season.
And while at the time, the two athletes may have known each other in passing, in the months since, Atherley and Perez-Somarriba have forged a bond that could make a difference when each attempts to repeat as a national champion this coming spring.
“She’s amazing,” Perez-Somarriba said of Atherley. “We’re really able to talk to each other about all the expectations for both of us. I don’t feel like I can really talk to anybody else about that. We know about the hard work, what you have to overcome, and again, the expectations. You win an NCAA title and then what? You still have one more year and people ask what you want to do, what you want to accomplish and she understands all that. It’s nice.”
Said Atherley, “It’s really a mutual understanding when we talk and when we see each other. We have conversations about our futures and what is happening right now and what’s expected of us. It’s different from anything else I’ve experienced before, but she gets it.”
For Perez-Somarriba, the defense of her title will officially begin January, when the Hurricanes return from their winter break and head to the Bahamas to open the season against Florida, Texas and UCLA at the inaugural Pink Flamingo Invitational at Baha Mar Resort in Nassau.
Both she and Hurricanes tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews expect the senior will face some serious challenges from upset-minded competitors from the ACC and beyond, all intent on notching a win over a championship-caliber player.
“I know what she needs to be aware of. I know what’s around the corner and where her antennae need to be up,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “But Stela handles every day like nobody I’ve ever seen in my coaching career. Her attention to detail is so amazing you can’t even put it into words. … She understands she had a target on her last year and the target has now gotten a little bit bigger. We’ve talked about that. … But I’m trying to keep the focus on the fun and the enjoyment of this being her senior year, the camaraderie of giving back to her teammates and trying to teach the younger players. … With Stela, I’m just like, ‘Let’s enjoy this. It’s your senior season. This is truly the best time of your life. Let’s continue working hard.'”
Atherley, meanwhile, will have to wait a bit longer to get back on the track.
Because she has exhausted her indoor eligibility, she’ll return to action in March when Miami opens the outdoor season at the Hurricane Invitational.
And it’s then she’ll begin her quest for a national title in the heptathlon, a championship slightly different than the one she’s already won and like Perez-Somarriba, she’ll be on all of her competitors’ radars.
The expectation, though, from both Atherley’s coach and Perez-Somarriba’s is that not only is each athlete equipped to handle the challenge ahead, but that having each other’s support and friendship will only help on the journey that awaits.
“It’s really cool to see kids from two different countries, two different events, two completely different young women just support and inspire each other,” said Amy Deem, the Hurricanes’ director of track and field. “It’s something really cool. … There is a level of expectation to repeat and it presents a whole other level of mental preparation and that’s where those two, even in different sports, can help each other.”
