There must be something about the triple jump and Beloit athletes.
Beloit Turner senior Elijah Terrell knows all about the exploits of UW-Whitewater’s Shelvin Garrett II, the Beloit Memorial graduate who won an NCAA Division III national indoors title in the event and finished runnerup in the outdoors meet.
Terrell broke the WIAA Division 2 state record of 47-feet by jumping 47-feet, 1.75 inches on his third jump Friday.
“I thought my first two jumps were even farther, but I scratched on both,” he said. “I was pretty upset with that. When I jumped and beat the record it was an overwhelming feeling of relief. First, knowing that I hadn’t scratched and then knowing I’d broken the record.”
Unfortunately, he picked the worst meet to do it in as Lodi’s Gavin Sargeant jumped 47-2 on his first attempt and 47-9.5 on his final jump of the day.
“I’m not mad about that,” the UW-Oshkosh recruit said Sunday before graduation. “You have to hand it to him. He crushed the record.”
Terrell settled for the silver medal in the event and he is now one of just three Wisconsin high school jumpers ever to clear 47 feet. He shattered the school record of 46-6.5 by Jo’Vontae Coleman, the D-2 state champion in 2019.
Terrell competed in three events at state last season and ended up with a fifth-place medal in the long jump. While he qualified in two events this year, he benefited by being fresher this time around.
In addition to his second place triple jump, he took fifth in 21.99 seconds in the 200-meter dash finals Saturday.
“I definitely did benefit from that,” he said. “I wasn’t tired going into the 200 prelims (Friday). I had an hour-and-a-half after the triple jump before I ran in the prelims and then on Day 2, all I had was the 200.
“The conditions in La Crosse were perfect, too. Last year it was just beat-down heat. This time it was sunny, but there was some wind and I kept my body warm and it was easy not to be exhausted.”
Terrell also pleased to knock out a sub-22 200-meter dash to close out his prep career.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without the man above,” he said. “I’m just blessed that I got to come out here and put on for the city and break the state record and the school record (in triple jump). It’s awesome graduating the school record.”
Next up for Terrell will be competing for the Titans in Oshkosh.
“They’re looking at me competing in the triple jump, long jump and 200,” he said. “I think it’s just track now. Basketball is over for me. The seasons overlap and that makes it difficult to do both.”
Elijah’s younger sister, junior Navana, placed ninth in the D-2 shot put with a toss of 37-feet, 1-inch.
Beloit Memorial senior Jaslyn Gama competed Friday in the 400 meters and did not qualify for the finals. Her time of 1:02.08 placed her 20th out of 24 competitors.
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