Athlete breaks school record

RICE RAIDERS

Rice Consolidated High School senior Jon Woods has broken the school record in the triple jump and is ranked 5th in the State in Class 3A with a jump of 44 ft “10”.

Woods was an excellent jumper for Rice last year and this year, he recorded a jump of 38 ft “10” a jump of 39 ft “8” and then finally a jump of 41 ft “8” and this season he put in the extra work to break the record.

“I worked on my bounding and I’m stronger than I was last year. I have also paid attention to other jumpers and have taken advice from others,” Woods said.

Bounding is a plyometric exercise that helps athletes become more explosive. More explosiveness means a further jump, and with the strength Woods added he knew he could break the record.

Woods put a ton of work in this off season to achieve this goal and once he had finally achieved it, he did not even know it.

“It felt like a normal jump. I could tell it was a good one though,” Woods said.

Woods’ mother, Nikki Upson, was also excited and proud of her son for breaking the school record who has broken a school record in her own right.

“She was happy and is very supportive. She told me she had broken the record, but we just don’t talk about it a lot,” Woods said. “When I realized how close I was to the record, it became a lot more of a goal to achieve.”

With the off-season work done and the love and support from his mother, Woods achieved his goal of breaking the school record at Rice Consol idated High School. Rice’s head track coach Darrell Engelbrecht said he has worked with Woods and knew that he had all the tools to break the school record.

“I’ve worked with Jon a lot the last 4 years but haven’t really been with him as much this year. I knew he had it in him and he just needed to put it all together,” Engelbrecht said.

After Woods broke the record Engelbrecht was very excited for his young athlete and said he can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

“I was really excited for him and I’m looking forward to bigger and better things as we move into district and area,” Engelbrecht said.

Woods will be back in action looking to break his own record at the District Meet this Wednesday, April 2, and Thursday, April 3 at Rice Consolidated Hich School.