Follow Lake Region HS sprint/jump star Kate Hall as she blogs about her
senior indoor season & the quest to be the best. Hall is one of
the top ranked returner long jumper in the US this winter. Her accolades are impressive, she has
never lost a state championship race or jump a perfect 20-20 so far.
She currently holds Maine State Indoor All-time bests in the 55m,
60m, 200m, & long jump. Outdoors she holds all-time best marks in
the 100m, 200m & long jump. Last winter she was the National
runner-up in the long jump at the New Balance Indoor Nationals.
Hello!
I hope everyone had a wonderful
Christmas and New Years! It's hard to believe that the indoor season has begun
once again. Every year I've started out with a decent performance in my first
meet, although this year started out slightly different. My first meet was the
Bowdoin Relays on the 20th and I was beyond excited to begin one last indoor
season before I graduate. On Saturday morning I was as nervous as I was when I
was a freshman at my first meet. I had been working on my long jump approach for
months and all I wanted to do was get it right in a meet. Things had been going
very well in practice, so I kept telling myself I just had to do what I did in
practice and everything would go smoothly. But, of course, as 80% of my meets
have gone as a high schooler, I was way behind the board every jump and didn't
do as well as I wanted to. It wasn't so much that my jumps weren't as far as
normal, but that all the work I had put in seemed as if it didn't matter.
Since my first meet didn't go well, I
was even more nervous to compete in the RI Classic the following Saturday.
During the week of practice before the meet, I realized I just needed to stay
relaxed and focus on driving hard those first couple steps of my long jump
approach. I found my mark that had been working for me every practice and
decided that I wouldn't change it unless I was several feet over or behind the
board. If there was a problem with my steps, it was because I was doing
something different in my approach than normal (like not driving as hard or as
fast or exaggerating my first steps too much). The problem wasn't that my steps
just changed every time. Thinking about it this way, my steps were very
consistent in practice because I was able to tell what it felt like to do it
right every time. However, the hard part would be reproducing it in the meet.
Long jump started at 9 am on Saturday,
which I believe is the earliest I've ever long jumped to date. My run throughs
were slightly behind my mark of 101 feet, but instead of moving it forward, I
pushed harder from the start. After about three run throughs and getting my
mark set, I was ready to jump despite my overwhelming nerves and high blood
sugar. My first three jumps were exactly in the middle of the board. And let me
tell you, it's so nice to actually feel the board when I am jumping. At this
point I think I was still getting a feel for the atmosphere, what it's like to
hit the board, and my landings because those three were in the high 18s. After
being somewhat satisfied with my performance so far, I ran in the 55m prelims.
My start didn't feel as quick as I wanted it to be, but once I got going I felt
fast and was happy with my time. After a few minute break, I went back to long
jump and jumped my first two jumps in the finals. My first jump was slightly
behind the board, but ended up being 19-2. My dad told me to keep my mark and
push harder for the next one and I jumped 19-7 1/2. I rushed over to the 55m
finals and ran 7.06, but also feeling my start was slow like the last race. My last
long jump was right on the board at 19-6 and I was beyond happy that I had
finally figured out how to keep my mark consistent.
I guess it was good that my first meet
didn't go as planned because then I wouldn't have learned what to do
differently for my next meet in RI. It's all about being patient and really
getting a feel for things. Once you find what's comfortable, it's a lot easier
to produce consistent run throughs and jumps. I know that if I can stay
consistent, this will be a huge step for me in terms of future meets like
States, New England's, and Nationals where every inch matters.
Good luck this season everyone!!
