The girl was in tears. Elzunia Wojcicka-Lamb, California's top high school long jumper, had just finished fifth at the state track and field championships.

As always, she turned to a voice of experience, the voice of a three-time Olympian, the voice of her grandmother.

``Be happy with what you achieve,'' Ella Krzesinska told her granddaughter over the phone. ``Be happy that you qualified for state. Now you have one more year in front of you.''

A year later, Wojcicka-Lamb is in position for another run at a state title. The Hollister senior is competing in four events Friday at the Central Coast Section championships at Los Gatos High, looking to defend her title in the long jump and advance to next weekend's state meet in Sacramento.

She is following in the footsteps of not only her grandmother but also her mother. A passion for track, along with extraordinary ability, has been passed from one generation to the next.

It started with Krzesinska, a gold medalist for Poland in 1956. Her daughter, Ela Lamb, was a national record holder in the high jump. Now there is Wojcicka-Lamb, once again the state leader in the long jump and headed to Cal on a scholarship.

``I guess it's in the genes,'' Grandma said.
Wojcicka-Lamb, like her mother, was introduced to track at an early age, spending countless hours on a playground otherwise known as the University of Oregon track. It was there that Krzesinska and her husband, Andrzej, who immigrated from Poland in 1982, trained U.S. Olympic athletes.

For Wojcicka-Lamb, play quickly turned into competition. She began doing the 60-meter dash and the long jump when she was 2 years old.

``My whole family is involved in track,'' said Wojcicka-Lamb, whose younger brother, A.J., advanced to the section finals in the pole vault. ``They had an impact on my mom, and I followed.''

Grandma's gold medal

In 1956, four years after finishing 12th in the Helsinki Olympics, Krzesinska won the gold in Melbourne, Australia, with a world-record jump of 20 feet, 10 inches. In 1960, she won the silver. In between, she gave birth to Ela.

Ela Lamb was on the fast track to stardom. As a high school freshman in the early 1970s, she set a Polish national record by clearing 6 feet in the high jump and soon had a place on the Olympic team.

``She was a very good hurdler, a very good javelin thrower, and everybody was thinking she would be an Olympian and gold medalist,'' her mother said.

But Lamb's bid for Olympic glory was cut short. National coaches introduced her to a weight-training program -- she had never lifted before -- and she subsequently injured her knee.

Doctors said she needed her kneecap removed and scraped to treat a prolonged knee inflammation. But even then, they couldn't guarantee the results and suggested that the operation could even make her injury worse.

The risk wasn't worth it. She left camp after six months.

``I know how short your career can be,'' Lamb said.

Lamb found a way back into the sport by volunteering at Hollister during Elzunia's freshman year and has coached ever since.

She was at her daughter's side at last June's state track and field championships in Norwalk.

A disappointment

Wojcicka-Lamb, who had the state's leading long-jump mark of 19-11 1/2, sailed through the qualifying round, jumping 19-5 1/2, the best mark of the day. But then came the triple-jump trials, an event she rarely practices. It took a heavy toll on her legs.

``When you wake up and can't really walk, it's scary,'' Wojcicka-Lamb said. ``I was so sore the next morning; it was horrible.''

The next day in the finals, her best jump was 18-7, good enough for fifth place. She had cleared 19 feet regularly during the season.

``I was absolutely disappointed,'' Wojcicka-Lamb said.

A season later

Wojcicka-Lamb is one of the section's premier athletes and is among the section leaders in a half dozen events. At the Monterey Bay League finals in April, she jumped 20-7, a CCS record and the second-best mark in the nation.

At the same time, she is very aware of her bloodlines and what has already been accomplished.

``Because you want to live up to their standards, it's a little more pressure,'' Wojcicka-Lamb said.

Her grandmother understands this only too well. She doesn't travel from Eugene for any of Elzunia's meets because she doesn't want to put more pressure on her granddaughter.

``She gets so nervous because she likes to please me all the time,'' Krzesinska said.

So Grandma waits by the phone. Friday night, there could be a two-time CCS champion calling.