By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – The expression ‘scaling new heights’ has many connotations to many people but not all reflect on the three words in the most literal sense.
Shrewsbury’s Rino Tonelli is a major exception.
The six-foot sophomore and criminal justice major at UMass Lowell and Shrewsbury High School (SHS) graduate knows a thing or two about reaching heights. Tonelli is a champion high-jumper who has conquered heights that to mere mortals seemingly defy logic. His latest conquest was a personal best 6’9” leap at the New England Championships at Jess Dow Field in New Haven, Conn. last month that earned him first-place championship status. The height was an inch and a half greater than what he had cleared at the America East Championships a week prior.
Jumping over a raised bar taller than he is has not always been in Tonelli’s DNA. In high school, he was an accomplished athlete in baseball and was a successful four-year wide receiver on the varsity football team. It wasn’t until his sophomore year that his mom, Christine, a standout high jumper herself at UMass Amherst, encouraged her son to give track and field a chance. It was then that a key influence began to shape his future teaching techniques and the mental aspect that is so vital in the sport.
“Martha knew I had potential, “said Tonelli of revered SHS coach Martha White. “I was really against it (high jump) and didn’t want to do track initially. Martha knew that I had potential and I knew I was fast but I had no idea what was involved in the high jump but decided to give it a try. The first day of practice I was terrible. I was the worst one on the team.”
It was then that another key influence emerged. Successful jumper junior Brendan Hicks took Tonelli under his wing and, along with White, began to show him technique and acquaint him with the overwhelming mental struggles that can accompany the sport. Before long, Tonelli was scaling the bar at 5’6” and later upped it to 6’2”.
“As soon as I started doing the high jump, I knew this was the thing I wanted to do,” he said. “It just clicked with me right away. I found something that I was good at and I knew I was good at it. That’s when I decided run with it.
“It took a lot of hard work and just kind of beating your head against the wall when things don’t go right. It’s a very mental sport, probably the most difficult I’ve ever participated in. You work so hard at the little technical things and I’m still learning them. Over time, you build it up and learn to tweak the little things.”
Tonelli went on to forge a successful career as a Colonial athlete and currently holds the school outdoor high jump record of 6’5”. His years at SHS made a lasting impression on Head Boys Outdoor Track and Field Coach Ian Butterfield.
“Rino was athletically gifted. He had the ability to take feedback and translate it to what his body needed to do very easily,” recalls Butterfield. “His commitment level was very high throughout his time in high school. Being the best high jumper, he often had to wait until the other jumpers were finished practicing just to get his time on the mats at his heights. He would spend the time preparing himself with drills and helping his teammates with feedback.
“When Rino competed in the high jump, he would definitely go into what athletes call ‘the zone.’ His intensity and focus would be obvious. He’d get frustrated with any miscues or mistakes, but he would find a way to get that energy refocused on his next attempt. His attitude was always excellent. Winning or losing, he always respected his competitors by congratulating them on their performance.”
Once his SHS days concluded, Tonelli would go on to be a major contributor on the UMass Lowell track and field team. He and teammates Gilberto Brown and Oluwatoni Onikeku, known as Toni to his friends, would forge the strongest of bonds both on and off the field. They were never competitors, as such, but did push each other to be the best each could be. Within no time, the three became a trio of athletes who enjoyed unprecedented success. Tonelli also credits assistant coach Patrick Swett as being integral in his development.
“Rino’s a very competitive kid which is what you want to see but sometimes we have to rein in his emotions because if he gets frustrated over a jump, that doesn’t help the next time,” said 13-year UMass Lowell track and field head coach Gary Gardner, who has helped over 160 athletes attain All-American honors while sending two to national championships. “But he’s gotten better with that and has moved on to where he focuses well and that’s what we want to see.
“He’s just a really nice kid who has become a solid role model for the younger kids. Others see the intensity that he brings and want to do the same. As a coach, that’s what you want to see.”
Tonelli agrees with his coach that the mental aspect of jumping can be the hardest hurdle to scale. Through maturity and influence from Brown, Onikeku and others, he has learned that keeping emotions in check is vital.
“The mental thing is the hardest to do because when something’s not going right, you feel like everything’s not going right and it gets to you. But when it does go right, there’s this zone that makes you feel like you’re on top of the world and it’s great.”
At six-foot tall, it would seem that his height would be an advantage, but not so, according to Tonelli who says taller is better and knows he needs slightly more push than his River Hawk teammates. “The whole thing of high jump is to get your hip to the bar just to be able to fall over without having some part of your body hit it. So the taller you are, the higher your hips are off the ground, the easier it is. That’s probably the biggest physical problem I have.”
But it was a late-day telephone call that Tonelli received in July of last year that would change everything. Toni was swimming with friends in the Deerfield River near Stillwater Bridge when the friends elected to swim across to a well-known rope-swing. Toni struggled, slipped beneath the surface and drowned despite heroic efforts by one of the friends to save him. The 20 year-old senior political science major from Fitchburg was gone leaving friends and family shattered.
“Losing Toni was so hard for all of us. It was so strange when I got a call from Vlad (Popusoi) who is a pole-vaulter on our team,” Tonelli explained. “He was with him that day and he called me that night and told me that Toni passed away. I first thought he was joking because Toni jokes a lot and I then told him to stop joking, it wasn’t funny. It took 10 minutes of his trying to convince me before I knew it was true.
“Then it just hit me. I was outside playing basketball and I just threw the ball and ran upstairs and was bawling my eyes out. I told my mom and she started crying too because she really loved him. He was always the kid that I wanted to be because he was so good. He was amazing as a person and an athlete and it really hit me and all of us so hard.
“We (the team) still haven’t gotten over this and it’s so weird to talk about him in the past tense. But it did bring us together. When we competed he was with us all the time. Everything we do is to honor him and remember him.”
Teammates honor Toni by wearing headbands, bracelets and patches on their uniforms, but the hurt of losing someone so close continues to affect the team.
“It’s been really tough because Toni, Rino and Gilberto were together every day, spent a lot of time and traveled together,” said Gardner. “It’s hard to lose someone close like that, especially being the same age. It’s been a long and trying year but we’re moving on because that’s what we have to do.”
For now, Tonelli is home for the summer spending time with friends while working at a local marina. When asked how long high jumping will remain an integral part of his life, he is quick to emphasize that not jumping is unlikely to occur.
“There are track clubs, some professional, and some amateur. We’ll see. But jumping has become such a huge part of who I am, I don’t expect to say good-bye to it anytime soon.”
Photos/submitted