LEXINGTON, Ky. –
Kalynn Pease's long jump performance at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field First Rounds at the University of Kentucky's Outdoor Track & Field Complex in Lexington, Ky., did not go as she had hoped, but the experience was invaluable.
Pease, the Morehead State freshman who was seeded fifth entering Thursday's meet, finished 32nd out of 48 with a top leap of 5.88m/19'03.50".
"It's taken a lot of hard work, battling lots of injuries throughout this season, just trying to stay healthy literally for this meet, although it wasn't the result I wanted," she said. "I mean coming in (to the season), my goal was to get to regionals and like in my head, nationals weren't even like reachable. … I thought it was going to be my like junior year whenever I went to nationals and now that it's in that reach; it's like that's the big goal now."
The mark was lower than her school record 6.53m/21'05.25" but in line with the rest of the field, who all finished well below their qualifying distances with the competitors largely vying for a spot in NCAA finals in June after likely having attempted to peak at their conference championship and then do so again in two weeks at the NCAA Championships.
Still, she was the sixth-best performing freshman, second among non-Power 4 schools.
"(This year,) my goals were to jump 20 feet and be consistently at 19 feet. But as the season progressed, obviously my goals changed because I jumped the 20, I jumped the 21," she said. "And my goal was like at the beginning of the season to get to regionals, but towards the end of the season my goal was to get to nationals."
However, it was the experience that mattered most to the Flemingsburg, Ky., native, who was the first Eagle to qualify for an NCAA regional in 10 years and just the sixth since 1985.
"Coming to regionals and competing, it was very cool. It was surreal like seeing all the competition and like seeing that I can beat those girls that are at these SEC schools," she said. "So, it was really just coming out here seeing what I could do, if I could do something and make it to nationals."
Charleston Southern's Maeva Tahou won the event with a leap of 6.51m/21'04.25". The top 12 performers advance on to the national championships. Twelfth place went to Princeton senior Georgian Scoot, who leaped 6.22m/20'05". To put things in perspective, the top mark entering the day was 6.61m/21'08.25" and 12th was 6.38m/20'11.25".
Pease jumped 5.77m/18'11.25" on her first attempt, 5.88m/19'03.25" on her second and did a run through on her third try, unable to get her steps correct. It followed a performance of 6.19m/20'03.75" at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships on May 15, when she finished second.
"Going into OVCs I was battling an injury and then after OVCs I was still battling that injury," she said. "My rhythm was off and it's just lack of practice that really got me … . Nothing (coach) Rob (Springfield) or I could have done about it. Just because of some injuries, I haven't been able to finish practice."
Maybe the biggest factor in Thursday's performance was peaking too early and not staying at that level as the campaign moved into the postseason.
"So really, the peaking too early is really where I had no injuries and it's just like that's whenever I was feeling my best, which was like probably mid-season this year," she said.
The experience left her wanting more, knowing that she can compete at this level and even qualify for the nationals next year as a sophomore, which would be sooner than her original timetable.
"I think just being consistent in my training, not peaking too early maybe, and yeah just trusting myself really," she said of next year's plan. "So, I just trust (my coach's) training, see what he adjusts.
"I definitely left some(thing) out there. But you know, you live and you learn; it's my freshman year," she concluded.
