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A tape measure was stretched along the ground next to the runway for the long jump at the Rock Falls Invite a couple of weeks ago.
As the numbers on the tape increased, small markers started to pop up beside the runway.
Some were white scraps of tape stuck perpendicular to the edge of the runway. Others were more creative, forming crosses or Xs. At one spot, a small blue flag on a thin wire post waved, and near it a tongue depressor poked out of the ground.
Milledgeville’s Joe Gennaro walked back from a jump, and easily found his marker – a pink pinwheel with a plastic pig face attached above. Gennaro bent down, pulled the marker out of the ground, and moved it forward a couple inches.
There was one twin to Gennaro’s marker, and that belonged to teammate Nick Devito.
“Coach always gets those for us,” Devito said before practice on Wednesday. “They’re always bright and colorful. We like them, because they stand out from all the rest.”
Sophomore jumper Grace Norton was quick to chime in: “My marker has a bird.”
Finding the right mark – the distance from where the jumper starts running to where he or she takes off – is the first task long jumpers set out to find when they arrive at a meet.
Making sure that Milledgeville-
Eastland jumpers stand out for reasons other than colorful markers is the job of jumps coach Shawn Dail.
Dail has been handling the jumpers for the Missiles the last 15 years.
“Everyone thinks its about who the best athlete is,” Dail said. “It’s not all about who is the fastest or the strongest.
“I’ve been lucky here over my 15 years because we’ve had a group of kids that are very coachable. That makes a huge difference, because the long jump is all about adjustments.”
Dail had three boys – Gennaro, Devito and Troy Litwiller, and one girl – Rebecca Waite – appear in last week’s Sauk Valley honor roll in the long jump. That success comes from some unique workouts and attention to detail.
Dail uses tires, cones and the high jump mat to help improve long jumpers. He has athletes jump over the tires and the cones to work on lifting up on takeoff instead of out.
“You have a few major things with high schoolers to get down,” Dail said. “It’s starts with the approach. You have to be consistent. We teach a seven-stride approach. You have to get that down.”
“That’s the easy part,” Devito said. “It’s not that much different than other events, or running on the track.”
About 40 miles to the south in Manlius, senior Lindsey Hoffert thinks a lot about her approach. Hoffert has three 1A state medals in the event, including a second place medal from 2012.
“Before each jump, I take one deep breath,” Hoffert said. “Then when I am running I am focusing on keeping my chest up and my eyes straight ahead. You don’t want to be looking down.”
Hoffert, who doesn’t have a specialized jump coach at Bureau Valley like the Missiles do, is zeroing on the mechanics of the event to try and reach her goal of 18 feet. Her best jump this year going into Friday’s Three Rivers meet was 17-1 3/4 (the area’s best for a female in 2015).
“For me, it’s all about watching other jumpers and improving my technique,” Hoffert said. “That’s where I am going to get that extra distance.”
At BV, Hoffert uses a short box that resembles a ramp then takes five strides before hitting the ramp.
For new long jumpers, the desire to go far starts with trying to run fast and jump out as far as possible. That’s a habit Dail teaches out of his kids.
“It’s all about the flight,” Litwiller said. “You got to get up and let the jump carry you out.”
That’s where the high jump mat comes in. One drill is having athletes jump from a standstill onto the mat.
“Getting height is key,” Dail said. “Coming off strong on the lead foot, swinging the hip and the kicking the heels out.”
“It almost feels like your going backwards,” Norton said. “Your kicking your heels out, and keeping your shoulder straight and head up. It’s different than jumping out.”
Dail also has his jumpers run at the mat and jump to get the landing technique down.
It’s a blistering fast event, and a tiny inch can make the difference between a great jump or a scratch.
A scratch can occur when the athlete jumps after the foul line.
“There’s nothing more frustrating than a scratch,” Gennaro said. “It can get in your head.”
In most meets, jumpers get three tries to land a legal jump.
“Our goal here is always to go big on the first jump,” Hoffert said. “If you don’t hit it on the first one, then you try to go big again on the third one.”
For a talented group like the Missiles, the competition starts at practice. Each team will only be able to enter two male and female competitors for the conference and sectional meets.
“The competition is good,” Gennaro said. “It makes us better. Even at meets, even if I don’t win, it’s better to have good competition. You can watch better jumpers and learn.”
And no matter if its Milledgeville or Manlius, there’s a brotherhood between long jumpers, and they all take away one lasting momento.
“You’ll never get all the sand out of your shoes,” Norton said, laughing.
Secret to the long jump
• After mastering the approach with even strides and hitting the board in the right place, it’s all about the flight. Novice jumpers try to jump straight out to get distance. The key is getting height on the jump and letting that lift off carry them farther. Athletes jump off strong foot, kicking opposite knee into the air. During flight, the jumper evens hips, tries to keep head up, shoulders even, and kicks out heels to gain distance on landing.