MileSplit athlete blog entry #3 from the nation leader in the girls long jump and triple jump in Keturah Orji of Mount Olive from New Jersey.
Meet of Champs
Overall, meet of champs was an unsuccessful meet. I only qualified in the 55 meter dash and I did not make the finals by a hundredth of a second. It’s disappointing when your state does not have not only one of your best events, but both of them during the indoor season. I also heard a rumor that they are bringing the 200 meter back indoors so I probably would have qualified in that event too. But that is in the past so all I can do is move forward and hope to break some records at nationals.
New Balance Nationals
Now that my running season is over for indoors, all my focus will be towards the jumps. Sadly, our track is still covered so we do not have a sand pit or runway. We will probably roll out mats in the hallway to do run throughs and do pop ups on to high jump mats. I have to work on my knee drive during long jump and holding my legs up in the air longer. I always drop them before I need to. In triple jump, I have to focus on extending my second phase more and looking up in my third phase. I also need to work on my knee drive in my third phase too. Since we have a lot of time before nationals, we will probably go to an indoor facility with a sand pit and do some jumping drills and short approach jumps there.
How gymnastics has helped
I think the reason I picked up jumping so quickly is because of gymnastics. It is a great base for any sport. Most gymnasts are extremely strong, you learn to tolerate pain, and it involves a lot of jumping and pounding like triple jump. You also have to be coordinated to do most of the skills and committed because it takes up most of your time. Gymnasts are also flexible which helps prevent injuries and have good balance. The combination of all of these aspects helps with all sports, but especially long and triple jumping. Without my gymnastics background I do not think I would be where I am today.
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