On Dec. 18, she leaped 36-4 1/2 in a DVGTCA meet at Lehigh University. She has won meets with efforts of 36-6 3/4 and 35-8 1/4.
All the measurements are farther than her best outdoor jump from last year, a 35-4 effort that resulted in a sixth-place showing at the district meet.
``She has good bounce and she makes it look so simple,'' Phoenixville coach Jay Carlin said. ``She can really get up. She is a hard worker and that helps out a lot.''
Track and field is a year-round pursuit for Bonds, who worked with Phoenixville assistant coach Talen Singer during the off-season.
``I practiced all summer and fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays,'' she said. ``Basically making my form better, lengthening my jumps and getting stronger.''
While it has been in the last year that Bonds became an accomplished triple-jumper, she has always been an exceptional student.
She gets nearly straight A's, is a member of the National Honor Society and carries a course load that includes advanced placement English and European history in addition to the advanced biology.
``I'm hoping I can go to college on a track scholarship,'' she said.
Even before she joined her first track team, Bonds displayed talent in the sport.
``When I was little, in elementary school, we had all these races and I was always the fastest,'' Bonds said with a laugh.
Those experiences remained with Bonds and so did her speed, and she became a sprinter and long-jumper in eighth grade at Phoenixville Middle School.
At season's end, she had amassed the second-highest point total on the team.
``I loved it,'' she said. ``I was really excited.''
In ninth grade, Bonds discovered the triple jump. She leaped 30 feet in her first competition and the coaches encouraged her to keep jumping.
``It was something different,'' she said. ``I liked it and it was a lot of fun.''
While she mostly concentrated on the sprints her freshman year, she did finish the season with a triple jump over 33 feet and placed sixth in the Pioneer Athletic Conference championships.
Last season, Bonds concentrated more on the triple jump and won the conference title with a distance of 35-3 1/2.
``It was really, really cool,'' she said. ``It was my last jump and I wasn't winning.
``I don't know if I like the pressure, but it gets me more pumped to jump farther.''
At the PIAA District 1 championships, Bonds missed qualifying for the state meet by two inches, despite recording her personal best of 35-4.
``I was really upset,'' she said. ``It upset me, but it made me more determined.''
Working with Singer through the summer and fall, Bonds' routine included lifting, sprinting, jumping and plyometric work.
``She knows she has to do more than jump,'' Carlin said. ``She's doing so well in an event she has so much to learn. There are no limits right now. She is a pleasure to coach, and she listens.''
Carlin said a 39-foot jump is a realistic possibility before the outdoor season is over. Bonds has gone over 37 feet, but the jumps haven't counted because she has fouled. Because she already has qualified for the Meet of Champions and state meet, Bonds can concentrate on refining her technique and continuing to improve without worrying about advancing to postseason competition.
`Oh, my gosh,'' she said about her recent success. ``I'm so happy I can't describe it.''
Bonds still helps the Phantoms in the sprints. She's a 16-foot long-jumper and in the 5-foot range in the high jump. But her skills and speed are best suited for the triple jump, an event she also tries to study.
``I watch track on TV and they almost never show it [the triple jump],'' she said. ``When they do show it, it's from the back or the side and I can't see the form. It defeats the purpose.''
In between studying for all her advanced-placement courses at the weekly meets, Bonds finds time to pay attention to the other jumpers.
So far this season, however, the one everyone else is watching and waiting for is Bonds.
