MileSplit athlete blog entry #2 from one of the nation's top horizontal jumpers in Mount Olive (NJ) senior Keturah Orji. Last weekend at the New Balance Games, Orji opened her indoor season the jumps with a US #1 performance of 20'8.75".
Keturah Orlji (NJ) Blog Entry #2 (1/28/14)
Practice
Practice this week was mostly running again and also working on starts because I had the 55m dash at county champs coming up. I also did a lot of long jump run-throughs and six step pop ups onto a high jump mat. During the pop-ups, I focused on my knee drive.
New Balance Games
I love jumping at the Amory because there are a lot more people than the usual meets we go to. Armory meets are always crowded and there are a lot more events. Saturday was New Balance Games and I had a great jump opener! I long jumped a US#1 20 feet 8.75 inches which is the best start I have had out of all my seasons. The last time I jumped near that I felt like I was really pushing myself because of the competition in Ukraine, this jump felt much easier. Hopefully that means that I will consistently jump in the high 20’s. My first jump was a foul, second jump was the 20-8 and I was perfect on the board, and my last jump was 20-2 behind the board. When I hit that jump, I had no idea it was that far. I can never tell how far my jumps are, I only can tell which jumps are awful before they measure it. Although it was a US#1, I still have a lot of improvements. I am never satisfied unless it is a PR. I will have to work on my consistency with hitting the board, my knee drive, and getting a full extension before I land. It is hard to focus on so much stuff when you are running so fast and the jump happens to quick.
WILL CLAYE!
At New Balance Games, I met my favorite jumper Will Claye! I was especially excited to go to this meet this year because I heard Will was jumping. I had just finished preliminaries and he had come on the runway to start warming up. He looked in the zone so I did not want to bother him, but I thought I may never get a chance like this again so I went up to him and asked him for a picture. I did not know he knew who I was until after the meet I saw his interview. I did not ask him for any advice or even have a conversation with him when I met him, but if I knew he knew who I was maybe I would have talked to him. Getting a picture with him was definitely one of the best moments of my life though.
Metropolitan Invitational
I will be triple jumping this Wednesday January 29th at the Armory again. It will probably be from a 10 step approach, not a full approach so I can focus on my technique.
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