Sophomore Imani Williams set a personal record and an NCAA provisional mark with a 19 feet, three-and-a-half-inch jump in the long jump event at the Steve Scott Invitational held at University of California, Irvine.
The meet was the last of the regular season, with conference and national meets coming in the next few weeks.
“It was very important because now I know where I am in conference and also in the nation so that will just push me further,” Williams said.
Williams’s jump places her 18th in the nation for long jump. The top-20 long jumpers will qualify for a spot at nationals. Williams believes she will have to jump farther at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships this weekend to cement her place at nationals.
Her goal is to jump a 19’7 at the conference meet.
“I have a pop, but I need to work on my landing and also what I do while I’m in the air.”
In long jump, competitors have six attempts to set a best jump and Williams set hers on the third attempt.
“Before, my run-up wasn’t very fast, I was kind of out of control on the runway,” Williams said. “The third jump I was able to just relax and go through it instead of stopping when I got to the board and I was also able to get the pop on the board.”
Senior Austin Collier placed sixth in men’s long jump with a jump of 7.20 meters. Collier set his best jump of the meet on his first attempt.
“I had really fresh legs and I didn’t have anything I needed to critique yet so I kind of just was going for it [and] just trying to lay one down,” Collier said.
The provisional mark for men’s long jump is 7.66 meters and Collier is aiming to qualify for nationals, but also best his personal record of 7.35m before the season ends.
“I’ve been bringing a lot of speed on the runway, but I haven’t been jumping as high as I could”.
Throughout the season, Collier has been “aiming for consistency” in all aspects of his jumps.
“I’ve been trying to be more consistent on the runway, making sure that my tempo and rhythm is the same and try to bring the same amount of speed and intensity into my jump,” Collier said.
Two spots behind Collier, junior Shane Martin placed eighth with a jump of 7.14m.
Sophomore Matthew Chukwueke placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 14.55m.
Sophomore Charisma Byrd’s 1.58m jump in women’s high jump was enough to place her in eighth place.
CPP will compete at the CCAA Championships this weekend in Turlock, California.
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