Sharon Day-Monroe (née Day; born June 9, 1985) is an American heptathlete, pentathlete and high jumper. She is the 2011, 2013, and 2014 national heptathlon champion.
Day-Monroe was also the 2012–2015 national indoor pentathlon champion, a two-time Olympian (part of Team USA in 2008 and 2012), held the U.S. national pentathlon scoring record from 2014 until 2023, and is the first athlete to win four consecutive national championships in the pentathlon.[2] She was signed with ASICS as a professional.
Day originally excelled in the high jump. As a junior athlete, she was the 2003 Pan American Junior champion in the high jump, and in 2004, she won the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships, clearing 1.91 meters.[3][4]
While at Costa Mesa High School she was the CIF California State Meet champion two years in a row, and was coached in the high jump by her father, Eugene Day.[citation needed] Day's mother, Yolanda Day, was also an elite high jumper,[citation needed] and her sister, Jasmin Day, competed in the high jump for the University of Arizona.[citation needed] During her junior year, she defeated senior Chaunte Howard.[citation needed]
Day attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, where she won the 2005 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship while setting the then-school record in the high jump at the time, with a clearance of 6–4.[5]
She later improved upon her own school record for the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 4.75 inches in May 2008.[6] Day-Monroe also holds the school record in the heptathlon, which she attempted at the end of her college career, after also being a standout soccer player in the fall. As a forward in soccer for the Mustangs from 2003 to 2005 and 2007,[1] Day tallied 27 career goals and 14 assists in 79 appearances.[7]
Day suffered a plant foot fracture in 2005 that required two surgeries and a year of rehabilitation. All of the heptathlon events except the high jump were taught to Day by her coach, Jack Hoyt. Day had not competed in the long jump, hurdles, shot put, javelin, 200 meters, or 800 meters prior to spring 2007, but she trained for these events after her soccer season.[8]
Day-Monroe earned a silver medal in the high jump, clearing 1.89m (or 6–2.25).
She earned the bronze medal in the high jump, clearing 1.91m (6–3.25).
1.79 1.84 1.89 1.91 1.93 O O XO XO XXX
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she high-jumped 1.85m to finish 24th in qualifying.
Day-Monroe earned a silver medal, scoring 6,177 points.
At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, she competed in both the high jump, finishing 17th, and the heptathlon, finishing 10th as the top American finisher (scoring 6,126 points).
Day-Monroe won the silver, scoring 6,006 points.
Day-Monroe won the heptathlon by scoring 6,058 points.
She finished 18th at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea while scoring 6,043 points.
Day-Monroe won the pentathlon by scoring 4,567 points.[9]
Day-Monroe trained at the time with then-UCLA coach Jack Hoyt, and volunteered as an assistant coach with the UCLA team. While winning the Sam Adams Multi-Event meet at Westmont College in Montecito, California, Day achieved the "A" standard for the 2012 Olympics. She won the silver with 6,343 points[10]
She finished 16th in the heptathlon at the 2012 Olympics in London, with 6,232 points.
Day-Monroe won the pentathlon for the second consecutive year, scoring 4,478 points.[11]
Day-Monroe won the heptathlon with 6,550 points.[12]
At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, she finished sixth in the heptathlon, scoring 6,407 points.
Day-Monroe broke the American pentathlon record at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the Albuquerque Convention Center. It was the third consecutive national indoor championship for Day-Monroe, who finished with a score of 4,805. The national scoring record stood until 2023 when Anna Hall surpassed it.
Day-Monroe's total was 238 points ahead of her previous career best, and eclipsed the old record which had been shared by DeDee Nathan (set on March 5, 1999) and Hyleas Fountain (tied on March 10, 2013), by a margin of 52 points. Day-Monroe set a personal best of 8.44 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, then cleared 1.88 meters (or 6 feet, 2 inches) to win the high jump, and proceeded to put forth marks of 15.59 meters (or 51–1.75) in the shot put and 6.09m (19–11.75) in the long jump. Needing a time of 2:16.87 in the 800 meters to break the record, Day-Monroe closed by finishing in 2:13.19.[13] For her record performance, she was named USATF's Athlete of the Week.[14]
Her mark was the world-leading performance of 2014 until the World Indoor Championships, where it was surpassed by Nadine Broersen. Day-Monroe finished with 4,718 points at Worlds, including a field-leading 2:09.80 time in the 800m.
Day-Monroe won the heptathlon with 6,470 points.[15]
Day-Monroe won the pentathlon, her fourth consecutive indoor championship, in scoring 4,654 points.[16][17]
Day-Monroe was runner-up in the heptathlon with 6,458 points.[18][19]
She placed 14th in the heptathlon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, with 6,246 Points.[20]
Day-Monroe finished fourth in the heptathlon with 6,385 points.[21]
Day-Monroe earned a silver medal in the pentathlon, scoring 4,404 points at 2017 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.[22]