National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

From its early days 3-4 years ago with the likes of Devin Field and Carla Forbes, to its landmark 2013 World Youth Champs performances of Keturah Orji and KeAndre Bates, and finally to its combination of maturing talent and exciting potential that defined 2015, the NSAF's Project Triple Jump has been delivering positive results – Team USA berths and medals, national titles and All-American honors, state titles, major invitational victories and lots of significant improvements across the board. 

The 2014-15 Project TJ crew forged new ground with Coaches Peter Pratt and Macka Jones, training together in Houston (Oct. ’14) and Phoenix (Jan. ’15) for the first time, then returning to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and their beloved Bahamas (both July ’15).  The training produced much success at varied levels and the long-term impact was shown, as well, with the achievements of the Project’s graduates at the next level.

All that said, the promise of 2015-16 is unprecedented, thanks in large part to a tremendous opportunity for testing, training and education this coming weekend – October 15-18 – at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., the site of the Project’s first seasonal clinic. 

There is much to say about the IMG Academy weekend:  How the opportunity came about, what exactly the athletes will be doing and how what the Academy offers will benefit them, and how the athletes will carry what they learn into future training and competition – all of which will be covered in a story soon to come.

Here, we’ll introduce the eight returnees for Project Triple Jump – those who trained with us in 2014-15 and are back for 2015-16 – and two newcomers.  Further below, a review of competitive highlights for 2014-15 (including 2015 grad Felicienne Axel, but not newcomers).

The Returnees

Name, school, class, year in program, 2015 and/or career PR, 2015 highlights

• Chinne Okoronkwo, Mountlake Terrace, WA senior, 3rd year – US#6 41-10.25 PR (US#3 41-10i) … won bronze at Pan Am Jrs with all-conditions PR of 42-1.25w in her 2nd Team USA appearance … scored runner-up finishes at USA Juniors (41-10w) and NBNO (41-5.75) … made early statement with Arcadia Invite victory (40-11.75) … super triple at 3A state meet included 41-10.25 TJ, 18-0 LJ, 13-3 PV (only athlete ever 41+/13+) … 3rd in both TJ (41-10) and LJ (19-2) at NBNI … led Project 1-2-3 finish at Simplot with 41-4 victory.
• Ja’Mari Ward, Cahokia, IL senior, 3rd year – US#1 51-11 PR (US#1 51-7.25i, #11 all-time) … swept TJ and LJ at NBNI with US#1/Armory record marks of 51-7.75/25-7.25 (#6 all-time, also meet record), winning Male Athlete of the Meet and just missing Junior class nat’l records … also won both horizontals at Arkansas Invite and indoor 2A state meet … outdoors, swept 2A state TJ/LJ, then defended Great Southwest LJ title and was 2nd in TJ … was 7th in TJ, 3rd in LJ at CSI Cuba before injury issues ended season.
• Arielle Mack, El Paso Burges, TX junior, 3rd year – 40-6w PR (38-5 wind-legal) … leapt to 2nd- and 4th-place finishes in Texas 5A state meet TJ and LJ at 40-3.25w and 18-3.75 … reached TJ PR of 40-6w at Region 1-5A (also won LJ at 18-7) … improved dramatically from 2014 PR of 36-7.75 during spring as she cracked 37-, 38-, 39- and 40-ft barriers … swept USATF JO (Border Assn.) horizontals … placed 4th in both USATF JO TJ and LJ (15-16s) … was 6th in both GSW and World Youth Trials TJs … leapt PR 18-8.5 for 7th in NBNO LJ.
• Saudia James-Heard, Curtis, WA soph, 2nd year – 40-3.25nwi PR (39-11.75 legal) … hit her wind-legal PR to win Washington 4A title, ranking #3 among freshman nationally … broke 40 for 1st time with her all-conditions PR to win big Pasco Invite … also went over 40 at regional meet … took 10th at Arcadia … had her 1st 39-footer when she was 2nd at Simplot (39-0.25) behind Okoronkwo (also 5th in LJ with 18-4 PR) … 3rd in NBNI Emerging Elite TJ … also ran 57.72 for 400 … injuries curtailed summer action.
• Allyson Weiss, East Ridge, MN soph, 2nd year – 39-0.75nwi PR (38-10.5i) … big breakthrough came indoors with 38-8 to take 3rd at Simplot behind NSAF teammates Heard and Okoronkwo … followed with indoor PR leap for 9th at NBNI, then 38-10 at MSU-Mankato indoor (also 17-8 LJ PR) … broke 39-ft barrier with 39-0.75nwi to win Edina Invite … hampered later by injuries, but still won conference and section meets, then 3rd at 2A state.
• Jordyn Lesh, Harpeth Hall, TN junior, 2nd year – 38-2.75nwi (38-8.5i, 38-11.75nwi PR from ’14) … won Tennessee Div-II state title with 37-9.5 after taking 2nd in ’14 … won USA JO qualifier with seasonal best TJ, but did not compete in nationals (injury) … with indoor PR also claimed title at TN’s inaugural state champs … had 1st 18-foot LJ with 18-1.5nwi to win Montgomery Bell meet.
• Jalen Seals, Ft. Worth Boswell, TX junior, 2nd year – 47-9nwi (47-5i) … hit PR at Weatherford Kangaroo Relays a few weeks after big indoor PR (McNeese State Open), and before nagging injuries slowed progress … solid finish to outdoor in August, though, with 2nd (46-11.5nwi) at TAAF Games … big highlight in LJ came with 23-2.75 PR for 7th at Great Southwest (struggled later in TJ) … 8th in TJ at 5A state, 16th at NBNO, then 5th at World Youth Trials.
• Nashedah Mumin, Mission Oak, CA senior, 3rd year – 39-9.5 PR (’13) … Looking to start comeback this fall after injuries kept her out of action during 2015 season … PR dates back to CIF Central Section Masters title in May, ’13 … bests in 2014 included 38-9.5nwi TJ, 17-4.25w in LJ and 5-4 HJ.
   

The Newcomers

• Tara Davis, Agoura, CA junior, 1st year – US#2 42-8.25 PR … repped Team USA at World Youth Champs, bounding her PR to make TJ final (where she was 9th with 41-6), then taking gold in LJ with a spectacular final jump of US#2 21-0.5 … won WY Trials (41-10.75), state Southern Section finals (41-0 and doubled in LJ) and Texas Relays (40-11.5), and was 2nd at her state finals (41-6.75) and Arcadia (40-9.25, behind Okoronkwo) … also swept TJ and LJ at indoor states and won LJ at Simplot (4th in TJ behind NSAF trio) … also a 13.48 100m hurdler.
• Jasmine Moore, Lake Ridge, TX frosh, 1st year – 40-6.75w PR … coming off spectacular summer that saw her sweep national JO honors in TJ for 13-14s, with 3 national records … leapt 39-8.5w/39-7.75 at USATF Dist. 12 (and 19-1.5 LJ) for 1st record (topping Project TJ’s Saudia James-Heard’s mark), then topped it with 40-1.5 at nat’l JOs (also 19-4 LJ) … she then improved to 40-6.75w(+2.1) at AAU JO nationals, beating 17-year-old mark for age 14.

2014-15 Highlights

• Ja’Mari Ward swept the horizontal jumps at New Balance Nationals Indoor in March, a weekend performance that not only established him as the nation’s premier athlete in both events but was so spectacular that he was named top male athlete of the entire meet.  He leapt a US#1, meet and Armory record 25-7.25 in the LJ, good for #6 all-time, and then followed with a 51-7.75 in the TJ – also a new Armory mark, national leader and good for #11 all-time.
• Chinne Okoronkwo was also outstanding at NBNI, taking 3rd in both the TJ – with a US#3 PR of 41-10 – and LJ (19-2).
• Okoronwko, Saudia James-Heard and Allyson Weiss had an outstanding 1-2-3 sweep in the TJ at the Simplot Games in February, leaping 41-4, 39-0.25 and 38-8, respectively.  James-Heard and Weiss would rank 2-3 nationally indoors among freshmen.
• Jalen Seals bounded 47-5 to win the McNeese Open in late January, the best indoor jump by a Texan for the season and making him the nation’s #2 sophomore for the campaign.
• Okoronkwo scored a major victory as outdoor heated up in April when she captured the TJ at the Arcadia Invitational at 40-11.75.
• Ward had his furthest outdoor jumps of the year in April, hitting a 51-11 at the Belleville West meet (Apr. 11) that would stand all year as the national leader, then a 25-6.5 at the St. Clair County Champs (Apr. 28) that was US#2.
• Felicienne Axel won her 3rd straight Texas state title in the TJ, this one in 4A after two in 3A.  She topped the field with an all-conditions PR of 41-9.75w(+3.1).
• Arielle Mack punctuated a season of tremendous improvement in the Texas 5A state meet with a runner-up finish in the TJ at 40-3.25w and a 4th in the LJ at 18-3.75.  She set her PR in the triple two weeks earlier when she won her Region 1-5A meet at 40-6 – nearly four feet better than she’d jumped in 2014.
• Okoronkwo had an astonishing triple at the Washington 3A state meet, not only sweeping the horizontals (US#6 41-10.25 wind-legal PR, 18-0), but also taking the pole vault with 13-3.  She is thought to be the only prep ever to vault over 13 feet and triple jump over 41 feet.  Meanwhile, in the state’s 4A TJ battle, James-Heard triumphed at 39-11.75, #3 nationally among freshmen.
• At Great Southwest, Ward defended his LJ title at 25-4, his 2nd-best meet of the outdoor season, then took a solid 2nd in the TJ with 50-8 (into a 2.9 headwind).  For the girls, Axel was 2nd (wind-legal best of 40-2) and Mack 6th.  Also, while Seals struggled in the TJ, he had his first career 23-footer (23-2.75) for 7th in the LJ.
• Okoronkwo nearly got the TJ gold at NBNO, finishing 2nd by 4 inches with 41-5.75.  Mack was off form in the TJ, but leapt a PR 18-8.5 in the LJ.
• At USATF Juniors, Okoronkwo repped Project TJ and took 2nd with 41-10w – making her 2nd Team USA (also ’14 Youth Olympic squad) and extending her season into August.  At the Pan American Juniors in Edmonton, she was over 42 for the first time (42-1.25w) and won the bronze.