Olympic high jumper takes leap into motherhood

She was an athlete and a model, but now she's raising the bar. Now, she's a mom.

Four-time Olympic high jumper Amy Acuff is bounding into motherhood the way she once bounded into the world of track and field. Head over heels.

Acuff and her husband, Sonora High graduate and former pole vaulter Tye Harvey, recently had their first child, a baby girl named Elsa. Acuff, 35, hasn't completely ruled out a return to competition but said it seems unlikely at this point.

"I'm pretty sure I've retired," Acuff said. "You always entertain the idea of coming back, but I doubt it. I just don't see how people even train when they have kids. We're having so much fun with Elsa."

Acuff and Harvey reside in Isleton, where she has a holistic healing business and he works as an emergency medical technician. Both trained for the 2008 Olympic Games at the Port of Stockton under former coach Dan Pfaff, who now heads the track and field program in Great Britain.

Harvey suffered an injury prior to the 2008 U.S. Track and Field Trials and announced his retirement before the Olympic Games began.

Acuff went to Beijing, where she finished ninth in her fourth and perhaps final appearance at the Olympic Games. Her best showing was a fourth-place finish at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

Acuff attended Calallen High in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was named the national girls high school athlete of the year by Track and Field News in 1993. She went on to attend UCLA, where she won five NCAA indoor and outdoor championships from 1994-97.

Acuff launched her professional career with wins at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1995 and 1997, and later won U.S. indoor championships in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2008.

In addition to her athletic endeavors, Acuff also has modeled for a number of magazines, including Playboy, Esquire, Maxim and FHM.

Former Edison standout Chris Henry has made quite an impression in camp with the Houston Texans. Whether he makes the team as a backup running back may depend on how well he plays on special teams.

Texans coach Gary Kubiak told AOL Fanhouse that Henry, who played sparingly in two seasons with the Tennessee Titans, "has a great opportunity on this team to get out there and play."

"I just like his strength and his motor," Kubiak said. "He could go all day. He's a well-conditioned and very physical player. I expect him to show up on special teams recovering kicks and those types of things."

The Sporting News noted that former Edison star Lavelle Hawkins "looks like he has made a big jump heading into his third season" with the Tennessee Titans. Hawkins is competing with veterans Justin Gage, Kenny Britt and Nate Washington, and Marc Mariani, a rookie who was drafted in the seventh round.

"This is the best group of receivers (quarterback) Vince Young has had around him since coming here," Titans coach Jeff Fisher told the Sporting News.

John Estes, an undrafted center who excelled at St. Mary's High and Hawaii, has impressed in workouts with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but his future with the team remains uncertain.

Estes reportedly dominated one-on-one drills at practice two weeks ago and played the entire second half of Jacksonville's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagleson Friday.

The Jaguars need a backup for 33-year-old veteran center Brad Meester, but Estes may have trouble making the 53-man roster if the Jaguars don't believe he can help at other interior line positions.