Who’s Coming: Jumps

Highlighting the top New Balance Nationals Outdoor commitments leading up to the championships on June 13-16

By Steve Underwood of the NSAF | Watch #NBNationals Live Webcast June 13-16

Caleb Foster – A Golden State gift in the long jump & hurdles

It’s not every year that the very best national-class standouts from the West Coast are willing to cross the country and put NBNO on their calendar. So when someone like Caleb Foster announces his intentions to come to Greensboro, it’s something special. The Clovis North HS junior has been to NBNO before, actually, but as a sophomore in 2018 he wasn’t yet to this level. He finished 7th in the LJ at 23-0 and was 22nd in 110H qualifying. But now Foster will come into Greensboro as a favorite in the former and a top title contender in the latter.

Foster is coming off the weekend of his life, leading his Broncos to the California state team title with a sweep of the horizontal jumps – 25-0w LJ and 49-9.5w TJ – plus a runner-up finish in the 110H (13.71w after 13.67 PR in prelims), and a leg on the runner-up 41.49 4x100. Coming in, he had barely dipped under 14 in the hurdles, had leapt a US#2 25-1.5 LJ to win Arcadia (but was more consistent in the high 23s), and had gone 49-low in the triple. So suffice to say he came up really big in all three individual events at CIF – which portends well for Golden performances at NBNO.

Jasmine Moore – Grand finale for all-time tripler

After NSAF Project Triple Jumper Keturah Orji concluded her prep career in 2014 with an NBNO horizontal jump sweep, it was hard to imagine that any tripler would come along and perform at that elevated level – let alone within the next two years. But Jasmine Moore, since her 2015-16 freshman campaign at Mansfield Lake Ridge HS (TX), has compiled a resume of stellar marks, victories, top honors and rankings that arguable match or exceed those of Orji. Soon these two prep legends will likely be training together; Moore as a freshman at U. of Georgia and Orji as a UGA alum after winning seven NCAA titles and countless other honors.

Meanwhile, Moore is again the overwhelming favorite to win her 6th NBN triple jump title (she currently has 2 outdoors, 3 indoors) in Greensboro. Her most recent meet, the Texas 6A champs, was probably her greatest. She had an incredible six wind-legal jumps over 44 feet, the best being a 44-10 that moved her to #3 all-time and less than two inches off the national record of 44-11.75 by Brittany Daniels in 2004. Moore would love to become the first prep 45-footer (wind-legal) and perhaps win an international title (Pan American Under-20s are in July) before she heads to Athens.

Claire Bryant – Rivalry elevates her game

It should be no surprise that the above-mentioned Jasmine Moore brings out the best in her competitors and that was certainly true during the Texas Relays girls’ long jump two months ago. Claire Bryant (Houston Memorial HS junior) already had some good credentials – she had been the 6A LJ champ in ’18 and was 3rd at NBNO in that event as a soph. But now Moore’s school had moved up to 6A and they faced each other that night in Austin as kind of a state meet preview. Moore had the competition of her life, leaping a wind-aided 21-2.25 (plus a legal 20-8.75) to hand her rival a rare defeat.

So in the 6A state meet, Moore turned the tables in the LJ, but Byrant was still over 20 feet again in 2nd and then last weekend had her 2nd best wind-legal jump of the year with a 20-7.75 at the Rice All-Comers meet. Before she can return to Greensboro, though, she’ll join Team NSAF in Cuba to compete against international elites in the LJ. Bryant is also an accomplished sprinter and high jumper – with a PR of 5-8 in the latter, for 3rd in the ’18 state meet. Moore is focusing on just the TJ at NBNO, so Bryant will see what she can do in the favorite’s role.

Nathan Stone – The next 18-footer?

Last year’s prep boys pole-vault scene was insane, with the record five 18-footers in the Class of ’18 finishing the year in the top 8 preps all-time – led, of course, by Mondo Duplantis’ stratospheric 19-10.25. The event has sort of returned to earth this year, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of 17-feet-and-closing-on-18 talent out there. One of the best – and so far the highest – is top NBNO entry Nathan Stone (Lawrence North IN senior). He’s the only high schooler to reach 17-6 this year and he’s done it twice – indoors at a state qualifying meet at Purdue, then outdoors in his sectional meet. He’s been over 17 feet six times, starting with last year’s Indiana state meet, and is unbeaten outdoors this year.

Stone did have one loss indoors and it came in a stellar duel with Colorado’s Max Manson at NBNI. Stone cleared 17-1.5, but Manson got the next bar at 17-5.5. Manson hasn’t entered NBNO, but the competition will still be stiff with Arkansas 17-footers Haze Farmer and Rhett Nelson present, plus four more over 16-6. Stone was 3rd at NBNO last spring, trailing KC Lightfoot and Farmer. Incredibly, Stone never touched a pole vault until his freshman year of high school. He was a 13-footer by year’s end and had soared 15-6 by the end of his sophomore year. Maybe he’ll be an 18-footer by the end of this summer.

Gennifer Hirata – 14-footer now the favorite

As mentioned above, 2018 was an epic year at the top of the boys’ pole vault lists. Now 2019 is trending that way on the girls’ side. Chloe Cunliffe has broken the national record at 14-9 and there are three girls over 14 feet – including one Gennifer Hirata with her Texas Relays victory in late March. The Stafford HS (VA) senior had come into ’19 a 13-2.25 performer off her runner-up finish at NBNO last spring, then improved to 13-8.25 indoors this winter including a 3rd this time at NBNI. Then three weeks later came the big one in Austin as Hirata joined the 14-foot club.

That was the beginning of what has been an unbeaten spring for the South Dakota-bound vaulter. Hirata set a meet record at the Penn Relays, reaching 13-7.75, and was relatively untested the rest of the season through a Class 5 state title. With the other two 14-footers – both from Washington – not entered at NBNO, Hirata is the clear favorite. And, since she hasn’t been over 14 feet again the past two months, she’ll be extra motivated when she hits the runway in Greensboro.

Lydia Bottelier – Underdog poised for an upset

If you look at the NBNO girls’ high jump entry list, it’s easy to see why it might be a little imposing to someone who hasn’t yet cleared six feet. There’s NBNI champ Morgan Smalls, who soared 6-3.25 to reach #2 all-time indoors. There’s defending NBNO champ Shelby Tyler, who represented Team USA last year in the World Under-20 champs. There’s two others over six feet and 11 at 5-10 or better. But you can bet Lydia Bottelier, a Palisades HS (PA) senior will have no fear and might just be the one who sets a decisive PR and tops this outstanding field.

A big reason to have confidence in the Pittsburgh signee is that she has a victory over Smalls on the massive stage that is the Penn Relays, clearing a then-PR 5-10.5 that day. Bottelier is unbeaten this outdoor season, including a new PR 5-11.5 at her AAA state meet. She was actually just 11th at NBNI in March, but that modest showing seems to have spurred all that follows. Of course Smalls or Tyler – neither of whom have yet PR’d this outdoor season – could return to form in spectacular fashion. But if you’re looking for a viable underdog in a loaded event, Bottelier could be the one.

Trey Allen – Can he do it again?

With his 3rd attempt at 6-10.75, Trey Allen – a senior from Oak Mountain HS in Birmingham, AL – finally cleared the bar in the 2019 NBNI high jump and took the lead. Another athlete, David Ajama, had done the same – but he had more misses at lower heights. When both missed three times each at 7-0.25, Trey Allen – a Louisville signee – had the victory. He had come into the meet as the only entered jumper to clear seven feet indoors (tied for the national lead), having done so in a state meet-record-setting victory. Now he had the title to go with the US#1.

Outdoors, Allen’s still looking for that next 7-footer and in a position of having to prove himself again. His best is 6-11, at his section meet, and he won state with a modest (for him) 6-8. He also had a 6-10 during the season and is headed this week to Cuba to compete with Team NSAF. At NBNO, he’ll be facing four who have cleared between 7-0 and 7-1.75 this spring – including defending champ Charles McBride – plus a bunch of others at 6-10 or better. For the first time this year, Allen will find himself something of an underdog. Can he get 7-0 or better again and top the podium as he did in New York? The answer will come the final day in Greensboro.

Yariel Soto – Top returnee getting back in form

As a junior last spring in Greensboro, Yariel Soto (Centerville, OH sr) battled Payton Haack in a great back-and-forth decathlon, winning the 100, long jump, 400, pole vault and 1,500, while surrendering ground in his lesser events. When the dust had cleared, he was the runner-up by 65 points with a fine PR of 7,025 points. He finished the season as the nation’s top non-senior, hence the top returnee for 2019. The 2019 NBNO will be his first multi of the year for the Tennessee signee.

After contesting the long jump and Emerging Elite pole vault at NBNI, Soto – who will be competing for Costa Rica this summer – missed some time training in the early spring due to a hamstring injury. But he’s come back and has a new pole vault PR of 15-9 and has long-jumped 23-6.25 – placing 4th at D1 state in each event. He’s also run 49.47 for 400 and been working on his throws. At NBNO, he will be facing a field with PRs far short of his own, with the notable exception of Elby Omohundro – who finished 3rd at Arcadia with a PR 6,763 and could be poised to surpass 7,000 as well. We could see another great decathlon battle on Father’s Day weekend.