Jumping Hacks - An Interview

Long Jump - 22-1

Triple Jump - 45-0.25

2016 Class A State - 7^th place Triple Jump

2017 Class A State - 7^th place Triple Jump, 8^th place Long Jump 

Height:  6-1  Weight:  165

Where were you born?

I was born in an Edina hospital but have lived my entire life in Roseville.

What sports did you do when you were young?

My first sport was baseball which I played from first grade until 9^th grade.  I also was a wrestler in third grade.  I have been involved in football and basketball since elementary school.

How did baseball help you for track & field?

It helped in many ways.  It helped my hand-eye coordination, gave me a base of conditioning for all sports, and especially helped for teamwork.  This was important because track tends to be an individual sport.

Who are your coaches and what do they help you with?

Marc Paul is our head coach and he works mostly with the sprinters.  Bob Quast is our Jumps coach and has around 20 years of experience doing so.  Bob does a lot of research on jumping and helps us with mental confidence.  He films all our jumps and brings them to us during the meet so we can see what we did and then is able to give us one important thing to work on for the next jump.

I see that you high jumped 5 feet as a freshman.  Why don't you continue to do that event?

We have found that although there are people that do all of those events, that they are all going on at the same time.  Most people wind up choosing only two among the HJ, LJ, and TJ.  For me it worked out best to drop the high jump and concentrate on the other two.

You were All-Section in Football and All-Conference in Basketball as well as All-State in Track & Field.  Which is your best sport?

Track & Field is my favorite sport and is also the one that most college recruiters talk to me about.

What do you like about Concordia Academy?

It is a small Christian school where all the teachers on board with the philosophy of the school.  We also have college professors come in and teach classes so that we can get college credits.  In addition it's great for sports because you can be involved in so many things!

What are the beginning techniques for the Long Jump?

The first thing you must work on is the approach.  In general we use six steps of bounding which leads to six very fast steps.  The end of this approach includes the two most important steps.  They include the fastest second to last step and then the penultimate final step which has the athlete lower his body and put his take-off foot flat on the board.  (Before the penultimate step all landings are made on the ball of the foot.)

What is the difference in the beginning techniques for the triple jump?

In general you use short bounding steps first, then go to quicker long jump step as described above.  It's much easier to show this than to write it out but it quite similar to the long jump.

Do you follow any college or professional athletes?

I like to watch a lot of the Diamond League videos that they show on You Tube.com immediately after each weekly track meet during the summer.  Two of the athletes I've enjoyed watching the most are Long Jumper Marquis Dendy and Triple Jumper Will Claye who are both professionals out of the University of Florida. 

There are many instructional videos that you can watch including old school jumpers like Dwight Phillips who was the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and a four-time world champion!

Who among your teammates has inspired you?

Cooper Wood comes to mind first because he is a year older than me and was an early role model for me in both basketball and track & field.  He will be attending The University of Sioux Falls next year and competing in the jumps.

Alex Moldenhaur has also been an influential teammate and was also a jumper at Concordia Academy this year.  I will miss both those guys next year.

Who are your toughest common opponents?

Those would have to be the jumpers from St. Croix, Jake Marzinske and Garett Maag.  Both qualified for the 2017 state track meet and will be back next year.  Maag has been competing in all of my three sports for every year they have been in high school so they are close friends as well.

What other things are you involved in at Concordia Academy?

I am involved in National Honor Society and we have been the Tri-Metro Conference Champions in weight training for the last three years.  My records are:

Bench Press - 185

Squat - 295

Power Clean - 225  

These are all legal lifts. No cheating involved!

 What about college?

Yes there have been a few colleges that have talked to me and it's usually about track & field.  I imagine there will be more of that this coming year.