Long Jump: Speed, Strength, Technique

Written by: Taylor Bell

They line up, sweaty, rosy cheeks. They start jumping off of one foot into a sand pit, looking like angry little kids.

But wait a little longer, (after their run around the track), and they come back, running full speed down a thin, cement runway.

Leaping into the air, they soar, landing not-so-gracefully in the sand pit. This is long jump.

Long jump is a track event at East. And it’s just what it sounds like.

The jumper runs down a runway, takes off from a designated line and lands in a pit of dry, golden sand.

They practice behind the field. Hidden from the other track events. But these jumpers work just as hard.

It all seems easy, but the difficulty is often overlooked. It takes more dedication, and more focus than some other sports.

“ (In warm up) We do three threes, which are three standing jumps into the pit,” sophomore Cecilia Kurlbaum said “three short approach one legged jumps into the pit, and three short approach jumps into the pit.”

Three threes mean that you stand on the very edge of the sand pit and jump as far as you can three different times, which is just a warm up.

A short approach is a warm up that starts from the third line from the sand pit.

Most short approaches are basically bicycling in the air, or switching your feet before you land. Others are just taking off of one foot. This is to work on technique.

When you think you track you think of running, but long jump focuses more on the technique to make sure the jumpers go as far as they can.

“During practice we don’t run very much,” sophomore Elizabeth Young said “at most maybe one and a half to two miles, but it’s split up.”

The dynamics of long jumping is a little more complicated than just running and jumping.

“I got disqualified (at the first meet) every time,” Young said “ because if your foot is even a little over the (take off)line, it doesn’t count.”

You take off of one foot and then throw yourself forward, and ideally land with your feet parallel. The key is to not fall backwards when you land in the sand pit.

“They measure from the closest place your body hits the sand from the take off line,” Kurlbaum said “but you can fall or take a step forward”

Thursday 29 was the JV team’s first meet. East faced up against Shawnee Mission South.

“The meet went well,” sophomore Mary Grace Poskin said “I beat my personal record, but this is just the beginning of the season.”

“It’s not as intense as running,” Poskin said “but you learn a lot. I never thought long jump would have that much technique, but it’s actually hard.”