#6 - Mystery of the Missing Long Jumpers

Where Are Our Long Jumpers?

Something’s wrong with the long jump in Michigan. The feeling has nagged at me for years, and in digging up results from 60 years ago, it hit me over the head. Progress? There’s been virtually none. Look at a long jump list from 60 years ago, and the marks are very competitive if not better than what we are seeing today, even though now we have better tracks, better shoes, better nutrition, etc. (The shot put has issues too, but we’ll save that for another day.)

Let me try to illustrate this with a quick study of historical statistics. Looking at the top 50 boy jumpers of all-time in state history, only 34% have come since 2000. That’s not good. A more typical event like the 800 has recorded 60% of its best performers since 2000, indicating steady progress.

Actually let’s illustrate this in a way we all can understand. Ohio shouldn’t be better than Michigan in anything, okay? We can all agree on that, right? Sure, Ohio is a little bigger (11.78 million vs 10.05 million) and possibly has a slight edge on warm weather. Yet if you compare Ohio vs Michigan in the 3200m over the last 10 full seasons, it’s no contest. We wallop them.

But look at the long jump for those 10 years (using athletic.net, so wind-aided jumps mixed in): compare the No. 1 mark, the No. 5, the No. 10 and the No. 25. That gives us a good feel for top-end quality as well as depth; it yields 80 data points to compare from 2012-2022 (not counting 2020’s non-season). Of those 80 data points, Ohio beats Michigan 78-2.

In that time, Michigan has produced 5 jumpers who’ve gone beyond 24-feet. Ohio has more than tripled that number, at 17. Frankly, that’s horrible, and it’s no knock against our jumpers past or present. It’s an indication of a systemic problem; somehow or other, too many of our great long jumpers are missing.

Figuring out the nature of the problem is where the arguing will get fun. I’ll throw one possibility at you: a person can’t throw a rock in Michigan without hitting a great distance coach. But name a great long jump coach… I’ll wait.

Long jump is the leftover event on most coaching staffs, the “easiest” field event to coach from a technical perspective, so we let the least-experienced coach do it. Or heck, we give the kids a 10-minute lesson and then forget the event for the rest of the season. At many schools, 90% of LJ coaching consists of telling a kid how far he missed the board by.

We don’t have a coaching clinic in this state without some fabulous guidance from distance experts. Do we ever have long jump experts come in? (Honestly, I don’t know.) Maybe we’re all guilty of letting this event “take care of itself”. Maybe our best potential long jumpers rarely get the chance to learn the event, because they’re too dang busy running the 100-200-400-hurdles-and a gazillion relays? (But then, Ohio has the same events we do.)

You tell me. I don’t have the answers. But I’ll bet someone in Ohio does.

Hot Results

“State leaders” “list leaders”: Just a reminder that when we use that terminology we are referring to the outdoor lists on the Michtrack website: Boys list - Girls list.

Turns out we lied about the Lincoln Indoor being the last undercover meet of the season. On April 17, Northern Michigan hosted the Superior Dome Invitational. Sticklers who insist that everyone should be competing outdoors at this point take note that the high in Marquette that day was 33, with 24mph winds. Highlights came from Westwood’s Faith Spiroff (5-2 HJ), Negaunee’s Eliana Juchemich (37-7.75 SP) and Pickford’s David Kozisek (21-4 LJ).

Note that Kamren Flowers, who ran 10.68w and 22.20w as an Ann Arbor Huron frosh last year, is now at West Bloomfield, where he has already run a windy 10.78.

Belated news: on April 14 Dearborn Divine Child competed at the Bearcat Clash in Verona, Kentucky, where Mike Hegarty won the 1600 in 4:18.33.

Cold, nasty weather cancelled most of last Monday’s meets. Tuesday got a little better, though sprint times still suffered. One exception came from distance runner Rachel Forsyth of Pioneer, who took over the outdoor list lead in the 400 at 57.66 in a meet against Ypsi Lincoln.

On Wednesday, Concord’s Mekhi Wingfield extended his state lead in the long jump to 22-5.5, leaping into what video showed was a headwind.

Nice doubles at Jefferson, as Carter McCalister won the distances in 4:20.03 & 9:21.12. Onsted’s Emmry Ross clicked off another state leader at 400 (57.13) plus a 2:13.76 at two laps; she also reportedly hit 2:10.3 on her relay. Three days earlier she had run a hand-timed 56.8.

At Oakland’s Elaine Leigh Invite, Trent McFarland of Utica showed he is plenty ready to defend his D1 title with an impressive 1:53.34 state-leading win over West Bloomfield’s Sebastian Cervelli (1:54.41). Parker Orlowski of Adams took the 1600 in 4:17.60 and Matthew Short set a Berkley record with his 9:17.80 win at 3200.

Maya Justice of Woodheven flew to an 18-10 state leader in the long jump in her home pit at the Warrior Classic.

The sprinters at the Cougar Invite faced strong headwinds, Rockford’s Keiton Fase winning in 11.40 into a 3.6 and Allie DeLost of Zeeland East clocking 12.80 into a 1.7. Camryn Bodine of East Grand Rapids ran a short-lived state leader of 2:12.38. The mile saw nice wins from Grand Haven’s Seth Norder (4:17.57) and Jessica Jazwinski (5:05.10). Selma Anderson of Ottawa Hills ran a state leader of 10:41.05 in the 3200, with Colin Graham of Rockford taking the boys race in 9:24.84. The Rockford boys sizzled the short relays at 43.05 and 1:29.05.

Conditions in Dexter Saturday were pretty bad, as they were in much of the state, with intermittent rain, hail, and yuck. Still, Huron’s Braxton Brann showed incredible form, winning his specialties in 10.76 & 14.10. Teammate Mackenzie Robinson moved to the top of the 200 list with her 25.45. Pioneer’s Rachel Forsyth hit 2:10.29 in the 800, followed by Mia Rogan’s 2:13.81. Three others broke 2:20.

Kudos to both the Cougar Invite (hosted by Grand Rapids Catholic Central) and the Livonia City Meet (hosted by Franklin), for treating their sprinter/hurdlers like important people and providing official wind readings!

Alumni Action

Utica alum Freddie Crittenden, who Track & Field News ranked No. 8 on the planet last season, opened up in great shape, with a 13.19 in his first outdoor race. That puts him third on the current world list.

Michigan’s Stanford contingent is doing well this spring. Zofia Dudek (ex-Pioneer) has run 15:32.89 for 5K. Audrey DaDamio (ex-Seaholm) has hit 33:21.12 for 10K, and frosh Julia Flynn (ex-Traverse City Central) has run 4:25.43 for 1500.

Wayne Memorial/Ohio State alum Anavia Battle, now a pro running for adidas and training with coach Tonja Buford-Bailey in Austin, opened her season at Baylor with sprints of 11.38 and 22.58.

Kent City alum Lauren Freeland ran a PR 1500 at the Indiana Invitational, hitting 4:15.97 to win the event. That’s also where Trevor Stephenson vaulted over another 18-footer.

Legend: Reggie Jones - Saginaw 1973

At 6-3½, Reggie Jones seemed destined to be a basketball star. That was his primary sport at Arthur Eddy Junior High, though as a 9^th grader in junior high track he would usually win the 60 and 100 and sometimes the shot put.

He moved up to Saginaw High as a sophomore, making waves with a 67-yard touchdown run against Arthur Hill in an otherwise disappointing 2-7 football season. In the winter, he played forward for the basketball team. In his first outdoor track meet, he impressed by winning the 800 in 2:06.5, the 100 in 10.0, the 220 in 23.5 and anchoring the winning 4x2 (1:34.6). At the end of his 10^th grade season, he had bests of 10.0 and 22.1, placing 6^th in the Class A 100 and 5^th in the 220.

During football his junior year, he tore a ligament in his knee—it would be an injury that would come back to haunt him in the most important moment of his track career. That 11^th grade season, he still ran on it, though it hurt. He won his first state titles, 9.8 in the 100 and 21.6 in the 220, as Saginaw finished 5 points behind Oak Park in the team standings.

As a senior, Jones rode the bench in basketball as the Trojans lost 66-60 to Detroit Southwestern in the Class A basketball finals. He was obviously ready to show he could perform. Two days later, he showed up at track practice for the first time all year. That was a Monday. On Wednesday he opened his season with a blazing 9.6 dual meet victory, legal wind.

When Coach Claude Marsh asked about his goals in life, Jones told him he wanted to be a truck driver. “Coach kept trying to talk to me about track and college.” In late April, he signed with Tennessee. Then he led Saginaw to its first state title in 24 years, winning the 100 in a meet record 9.6, the 220 in 21.1 and anchoring the winning 4x2. He then went to the International Prep Invitational in Prospect, Illinois, the forerunner of today’s high school national championship meets. He placed only 4^th in the 220 at the, running 21.6. He did not make the top 5 in the 100.

Despite all his high school success, Jones stunned the world with how fast he developed in college.  As a Tennessee frosh, he led the Vols to the 1974 NCAA title, winning the 100 in a wind-aided 9.18 (after a meet record 9.34 heat) and taking 2^nd in the 220 in a wind-aided 20.0. He was named the outstanding athlete of the meet.

At the AAU Nationals, he placed 3^rd in 10.1 as Steve Williams tied the World Record of 9.9. He followed up with a 3^rd in the 200 in 20.7—he was the first American. Then, in the big U.S. versus the USSR meet, he won the 100 in the rain in 10.23 over Steve Williams, who held the World Record. The next day in the 200, he ran 20.81w to beat the Olympic champion, Valeriy Borzov. That season he ranked No. 4 in the world at 100 (No. 2 U.S.) and No. 5 at 200 (No. 1 U.S.).

At the 1975 NCAA, he placed 3^rd in 9.44 as Eastern Michigan’s Hasley Crawford, the next Olympic champion, won. He took the victory in the 220 in 20.60. At the AAU meet, he finished 3^rd in 20.59 but was the first American. He would rank No. 6 in the world at 200 for the year (No. 3 U.S.), and No. 5 in the U.S. for the 100.

On July 26, 1975, Jones won the 100 at the Opportunities Industrialization Centers Relays (catchy name, huh?) in Boston. All three watches caught him in a World Record-tying 9.9, but the IAAF refused to ratify the record, saying the timing was suspect. A year later, the IAAF stopped ratifying hand-timed sprints altogether.

In the Olympic year, 1976, Jones was NCAA runner-up in 10.33 for 100 meters to Harvey Glance, who would be an Olympic medalist. He also ran on the winning 4 x 100. However, in the 200 semis, Jones pulled up and jogged in—the first public indication that his old football injury had come back to haunt him. “What’s wrong with Reggie Jones?” showed up as a discussion in Track & Field News.

The knee pain grew worse. In the Trials 100, he faded near the end to place 7^th in 10.29. In the 200, he failed to make the finals. He ended up ranking No. 4 in the U.S., No. 10 in the world. Still good numbers, but he would never get to the Olympics. The cruel irony is that he surely would have made the Olympic podium if the Games had been held two years earlier, before his knee started to fail.

He had surgery in December to alleviate the pain that stemmed from the old injury. Doctors found much more damage than they expected, probably caused by running on it before it had healed correctly. He would miss the entire 1977 season.

In 1978 he tried to come back for a delayed senior year. He ran only 10.55 in the 100, and rather than being the No. 1 sprinter in the NCAA, he was No. 4 on the Volunteer squad. He said, “I feel good about starting over at the bottom and working my way up. I’ve had to do it just like people with no talent. I’m better for the experience. It would have been easier to quit. I could have said, ‘I can’t run anymore’ and that would have been it. I have my records. Those good times are on the books. What happened in ’74 is mine forever.

“Not knowing how bad my knee was helped. I thought it was just hurting. I didn’t want it to be an alibi, so I tried harder.”

Jones left the sport when he graduated from Tennessee. He missed the chance not just to represent the United States in the Olympics, but to go on the circuit and make money (yes, it was pre-professional track, but the top sprinters were all making bank). He missed the chance to compete in the World Championships, where he could have shined while still healthy—that meet wouldn’t be inaugurated till 1983. And quite likely, Jones would have been able to recover from that knee injury with modern sports medicine. In every sense, he was a victim of bad timing.

Jones later became a teacher and coach at Hillcrest High in Memphis, Tennessee. He made a practice of hardly ever mentioning his sports accomplishments. “I don’t talk about myself because that’s something Claude Marsh taught us. He not only trained us, he taught us about life and how it’s all about the children.”

He added, “Everybody has their time. I had mine. Sure, track runners today make millions… I might not have money to show for what I did back in the day, but I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Check out the 1974 Track & Field News interview with Reggie Jones.

Interview: Mia Rogan, Saline

Saline’s Mia Rogan was one of the big finds of the ’22 season. As a sophomore she had a best of 62.01 in the 400. Last season, she improved to 58.91 and 2:14.23, placing 6^th in the 800 final and anchoring the Hornets to 3^rd in the 4x8. As a senior, she made all-state in XC and has run PRs of 57.95 and 2:13.81 in her first few outdoor meets. We had a talk with the MSU signee the day after she ran that 800 best at the April Showers meet in Dexter.

Michtrack: Was the weather as bad as it seemed?

Rogan: I wasn't there for the worst of it, but my sister was there when it was hailing and thunderstorming. But I showed up and then it was pretty nice for the most part. It was a little chilly and it spit a little bit, but it wasn't bad when I was there.

Michtrack: How did that race feel?

Rogan: It honestly felt really good. I felt really strong the whole time I was running it, it's the first time I've all-out raced in 800 this outdoor season, so I can't really complain much with a PR off the first race.

Michtrack: Tactically, how'd that work out? Did Rachel [Forsyth] take it out from the start?

Rogan: Yeah, Rachel took it out right from the get-go. She had a pretty decent-sized gap at 400m and I closed it in that third 200. But then the last 100, she kind of got me. She had a little bit more to give than I did, but I can't complain.

Michtrack: This comes a week after your 400m PR. I'm guessing your off-season training went pretty well.

Rogan: Yeah, pretty well. I've been injury free, which has been great. I've just been able to be really consistent with training. I've had all my teammates to train with, and we've had some really solid training groups, so it's been going great.

Michtrack: Now looking at your history, was 10th grade your first year in track?

Rogan: I would've done it ninth grade but since that whole season was kicked off due to COVID, I ran in 7th grade, but 8th grade I was out due to having foot surgery. So I really started racing fully my sophomore year.

Michtrack: Were you coming from another sport background?

Rogan: I did gymnastics forever growing up. I quit cross country in eighth grade to do cheerleading through freshman year. And then joined cross country sophomore year and just took off from there.

Michtrack: Between 10th and 11th grade you had a pretty dramatic improvement on the track. What was behind that? Was it just maturing and getting used to the process?

Rogan: Actually all sophomore year cross country season I had really low iron. I probably didn't break 30 minutes in the 5K till my last few races of the season. So I was really slow going. I couldn’t run for more than like 5-10 minutes at a time. So it was the process of getting my iron under control, figuring out what training would work for me. It was a lot of figuring out what events were for me because I was coming from running 200s and 400s. I never thought I'd be running distance. I was like, “What distance? That's not me.” So it was towards the end of sophomore season when I started running in the 800, it was like the last three or four races of the season. And then I ended up going to the state meet as an alternate for the 4x8. It just kind of came alive, I guess.

Michtrack: Now the 800, it really is track’s most aggressive race in terms of the physical contact out there. Does that suit your personality?

Rogan: I say it definitely does. I'm the type of person, I wouldn't say I'm aggressive, but I'm also not afraid to let you know that I'm there and I'm not gonna let someone else shove me around. I'm gonna hold my ground, so if someone's gonna come in and try to elbow me, I'll push you right back. But not out of spite or anything, you’ve just got to hold your own ground.

Michtrack: Now Saline is famous for the size of its team and historically it's always been a big program. What's your experience being in a program like that? Do you find it supportive?

Rogan: Yes, I am a big fan of big teams and big schools. I just love being around people. So a big team for me is really helpful. It gives me the opportunity to train with a lot of people, to help encourage and just watch other people succeed. And seeing other people's success really like helps push and motivate me to work on my own success. So I’d say it's been really helpful. The coaching staff is just amazing. I can't believe they can just manage to train everyone with just so many of us. I'm very happy where I'm at.

Michtrack: Saline’s long tradition in the 800 and 4x8 goes back to Mike Smith’s days. The records at your school are kind of tough.

Rogan: It's crazy. I look back and a lot of my future teammates next year at Michigan State, they're all breaking school records at their school and I've definitely got my eye on the one, it's gonna take a lot of hard work and training for sure. But I think with the right motivation and where I'm at at the beginning of the season, I think it's definitely a possibility.

Michtrack: Does that 800 tradition give you more confidence in the training you're doing?

Rogan: It honestly does. I think it really helps push me and motivate me knowing that the long history that we've had, not only at our school, but in the state, I think it really helps motivate me, seeing all the other people's success throughout our program throughout the years. It just really helps me think and look and be like, “Wow, I'm capable of doing this.”

Michtrack: What was behind your choosing Michigan State?

Rogan: Honestly, I really loved the team environment. It was the second school I visited out of the four that I did. I got there and instantly it was like all the girls were super welcoming. I already felt like I was someone on the team and I wasn't even on the team yet. Obviously they're a super successful program, so that on top of team environment really just felt like home for me.

Michtrack: What are you hoping to study there?

Rogan: I'm going to do my undergrad in social work on a pre-nursing track since the clinical hours with training won't really work well. So after my undergrad I'll do an accelerated nursing program.

Michtrack: When all is said and done, what do you hope to get out of this sport? 

Rogan: I really hope to just get meaningful lifelong lessons and not only lessons but friendships. All my bonds that I've had with my teammates just mean a lot for me. Obviously, the success and seeing like all the amazing opportunities I'm given is really awesome, but honestly, I just really want memories and I can look back on them, and be like, “Wow, I had a really fun time.”

Michtrack: We haven’t had time to dive deep into the intricacies of your personality, but what am I missing? What else do we need to know about you?

Rogan: I think one thing that I'm really passionate about is team culture. I'm super big on making sure everyone has a space to be a part of a running program because I started out one of the slowest people on the team and now being like the fastest girl on the team, I want to make sure everyone feels like they can do that too. Even if you feel you're not being as fast as you possibly can, just know that it's possible to get there and even if you might not be there now, there's a chance for you to get there and you deserve it.

This and That

Beef: Lately I’m seeing times to the tenth showing up in places like MLive and also some of the running media like Citius. Not just cutting the zeroes off but taking off the last digit no matter what. One would hope they know that a time to the hundredth means it was FAT, and to the tenth means an inaccurate hand time. Anything else is just sloppy.

From Norm Zylstra, enigmatic throws coach, on our piece on discus winds: “I got some solid comments from some friends who're reading your column. It is great stuff…. Gaining distance with a crosswind or headwind also takes skill and patience. Lots of bad throws mixed in with a couple good ones. IIRC Jay Silvester once commented that ‘Today’s throwers don’t know how to “fly” the discus’…”

Last week for my day job, I interviewed the Molls from Washington, twin sisters who have both vaulted over 15-feet. And I also talked to Issam Asinga, the son of former EMU star Tommy Asinga. He promised big things were coming. He didn’t lie. Sunday he ran a wind-aided 9.83 for 100m, the fastest HS time ever, and beat World 200 champ Noah Lyles in one of the biggest upsets imaginable.

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