Salute to Seniors: Jaidyn Appel (Portland HS)


Name: Jaidyn Appel

School: Portland High School


What was your most memorable race/meet?

By far my most memorable meet was the 2018 outdoor state meet, when I was a junior. Five girls in a row, with me being the last one, hit a PR in the high jump at our third attempts, followed by Nyagoa jumping the state record. This meet taught me how to stay competitive in big moments, and the crowd was super into it which is rare for a field event.


Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years?

I can't really call Nyagoa competition since she was so much better than me, but I would call her a competitor since jumping against the best brings out the best in me. But some competitors I was also close with were Tessa Cyr and Allie Gross.

 

What was your greatest accomplishment?

Breaking the high jump school record and being Maine all-time top ten in high jump, especially since I had a PR of only 4'2" when I entered high school.

 

If you could do it all over again what would you change about your xc/track&field career in high school?

I would do indoor track my freshman year. My friends told me it was really hard so I was too scared to do it!

 

What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?

I was injured my sophomore year which taught me how much I disliked not doing a sport. It gave me a lot of motivation to train harder going into the rest of my career.

 

What will you miss the most?

The community! Since field events have a lot of waiting around I got really close with some jumpers and I will miss being able to share a friendly bond even with your "rivals".

 

What advice you would give to younger athletes?

Go to the gym or the weight room, having a general level of strength in all areas is helpful in every event. Also, try and keep track separate from everything else in life, never let a bad day on the track keep you disappointed in other areas of your life.

 

What influence has your coach had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?

All of my coaches have been so friendly and taught me great things about how to be a good person! However to be honest many of my coaches didn't specialize in jumping, so a lot of my performance was with the help of YouTube videos and figuring things out myself.

 

What are your college plans?

I will be attending Tufts University with a planned major in political science, and I will be running (or jumping) as well.

 

Who would you like to say thank you to?

I want to thank all of the PHS coaches, who have been so kind and have always had my best interest at heart. Jim Giroux gave me a lot of technical advice that I have used to make myself and my teammates better jumpers. All the competitors push me to be my best at every single meet, my teammates who have cheered me on, and my parents who have been constantly supportive.

 

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just because there's not a lot of running in them doesn't mean jumper workouts are easy!!





Personal Records High School
Outdoor
High Jump5-6
Long Jump15-2
Triple Jump34-7.5
200 Meter Dash32.50
Indoor
High Jump5-6
Long Jump15-6.75
Shot Put21-9.5
Triple Jump33-8.25
Pentathlon2211
55 Meter Hurdles11.43
800 Meter Run2:53.04