A Record 39 Years In Waiting For Kate Hall
Kate Hall knew what she had to do. If the Lake Region (ME) senior was going to claim the long jump title at the New Balance Nationals, she was going to have to come through with the performance of her life.
Just like she has done throughout his stellar career, Hall simply delivered.
The Maine standout leaped to not only a meet record but erased a 39-year-old national mark with a major PR of 22 feet, 5 inches. Her effort broke the 1976 record of 22-3 by California’s Kate McMillan, a silver medalist at the ‘76’ Olympics.
It was also a best by more than a foot!
“It feels amazing,” said Hall, whose previous best was 20-11. “From the past few months, I have been working towards this meet, thinking about it all year. My training was for this. I knew that if I was going to have to have a good performance. It was going to hopefully be here. I am so happy it happened here. I am in still in shock.”
Hall was put to the test on her very last attempt of the afternoon after Harvard-Westlake (CA) junior Courtney Corrin had the jump of her life with a 21-5.5 effort. Hall immediately followed Corrin and bolted down the runway, hit the board spot-on and landed into the sand pit more than 22 feet from takeoff.
“My goal coming into the meet was jumping 21 feet and winning,” Hall said. “When Courtney Corrin jumped 21 on her last jump, I was thinking in my head I need to relax and I need to get on the board and hopefully get a good jump. I knew if I could do that I could jump 21 feet. With everyone cheering me on, that really helped. I hit the board perfectly and never let myself get so much height in my life. I couldn’t believe I got 22-5.”
Hall's winning leap ties her for No. 9 in the world rankings. It also set a national junior record, one that was held by another former U.S. Olympian, Carol Lewis, in 1982. Her mark automatically qualifies for the 2016 Olympic trails, surpassing the 21-11 standard.