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The jumpers had another successful meet today! Tyler Precia took fourth in the triple jump with a jump of 43'10.25". He continues to improve and will look to go over 44' soon!
Kadon Kauppinen had another incredibly strong day with another jump well over 22' and took third overall in the long jump. He hoped to accomplish a jump over 23' today but with also doing the triple jump for the first time this year (40'9") and running two relays he did VERY well!
On the girls side Ashley O'Connell jumped a 16'10.5" (taking 9th) but didn't hit a board in prelims and had to jump finals after her first 200 of the season. Overall I feel she could've gone farther but we
figured out some invaluable approach variables that will greatly assist consistency moving forward! Lastly, Jada Schuh and Kasy Walk-Daniels went 35'.5" and 34'.5" respectively. Jada narrowly missed finals. Her performance was roughly two feet longer than her jumps last year at the same event. She is hitting her stride nicely! Not making finals can be difficult for an athlete but I couldn't have been prouder! Kasy jumped over 34' for the second time in her career and both have happened this year! For years I have believed that Kasy could be a 35-36 foot triple jumper and I feel like that is going to become a reality soon!!!
A few side notes:
1.) In the triple jump there were a large number of athletes jumping from the 28' board that couldn't make the pit. As coaches we need to put our athletes in a place to succeed, but most importantly perform events SAFELY. These athletes should have moved up to the 24' board and I was completely shocked that their coaches didn't move them. If your athlete isn't making it into the pit by four feet (minimum) MOVE THEM UP if possible!
2.) Don't overwork your kids in March and early April even when the weather is as poor as it is and you're itching to see them compete. I saw a number of jumpers today that we've seen a few times already this year at other events doubling the long and triple AGAIN. These athletes are already (obviously) in pain and only experiencing poor jumps. Be CAUTIOUS until May when you need to put together a conference, regionals, and/or sectionals lineup. We doubled Kadon today but that won't be happening again for a VERY long time. It was simply to see what he could do; but was also done with a plan in place for his training regimen this next week.
3.) If the rule is no "piggy backing" DON'T ALLOW YOUR KIDS TO PIGGY BACK UNLESS GIVEN PERMISSION.
4.) If your athlete throws a fit at the pits hold them accountable!!!! An athlete today jumped and immediately picked up sand and threw it. In the process he hit some spectators in the face. Absolutely pathetic! That kid would have been scratched the rest of the meet on our team, and possibly wouldn't have jumped a few meets for me moving forward. As well, there were a large number of jumpers that used profanity if jumps didn't live up to expectations. Again, unacceptable. Preach class to all athletes!
We have a meet scheduled for this week but we're already expecting another cancellation... we'll see...
To everyone else out there being affected by poor weather - good luck this week! I hope that your athletes get to compete soon after putting in so much time and dedication over the past 5 weeks - they deserve it!