Asa Carter runs the third leg of the 4x400-meter relay Saturday at the Northern Region Trials at Carson High.
Steph Curry knows at the moment of release if a shot has a chance of going down. Buster Posey knows at the point of contact whether the ball has a chance to leave the yard.
Surprisingly enough when Carson High junior Asa Carter hit the takeoff board for his first triple-jump attempt at last week’s regional track trials, he claimed he didn’t know just how good his jump would be.
It was a beauty, 46-6 1/4 to be exact, which was a school record and vaulted him into a tie for the state’s Division I top spot with Isaiah Johnson of Canyon Springs. Both are nearly two feet behind Division 1A Faith Lutheran’s Mark Rubalcaba’s 48-6.
“I don’t remember the jump,” said Carter, who hopes to qualify for state at today’s regional triple jump finals at the Jim Frank Track & Field Complex. “When I got up out of the pit and heard them call out the distance that’s when I could tell how good it was.
“I’m not worried about winning today or setting a record. I just want to finish in the top three. Next week is about winning. Winning the state title is what matters to me.”
The big jump was a long time coming, according to Carter and coach Robert Maw.
“I’ve been working hard, and I’ve been in the 44s for two-plus years,” Carter said. “I expected to get out there (46 feet) eventually.”
“He’s been in the weightroom for football, so we’ve backed off a little bit in his training,” Maw said. “We didn’t want to overwork him; wanted to keep him fresh.”
Much of Carter’s prep this week has been doing runthrus to establish marks and doing phase work.
“The second phase is the hardest,” Carter said. “You want to hold it (the foot) up as long as possible which helps you get a little more drive (and explosion). The inclination is to put it (the foot) down right away.”
Maw explained further.
“The ideal in the triple jump is to have all three phases equal,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of jumpers jump too far or too high on the first jump and don’t do anything on the second one. They will go 18 on the first jump and maybe just 6 feet on the second. Our goal with Asa is to go 15-15-15. Last week he did 16 1/2 on the last phase.”
Does Carter have a 47 or 48-foot in him?
“I think so,” said the CHS junior. “If I hit things just right. I think I have a 47 in my future. This year? We’ll have to see.”
“I think he can go 47 this year,” Maw said. “I think he could go 48 or 49 by the time he leaves here next year. I’m excited.”
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Carter also will be attempting to qualify for state in three other events — the long jump, 1600 relay and the 800 relay.
Carter PR’d in the long jump at 20-6 1/4, and he knows he’ll need a big jump to reach state in that event. Five other jumpers have gone more than 21 feet.
“It’s going to have to be a PR in the long jump,” Carter said. “I think I’m sitting fifth or sixth right now. I could PR, and everybody above me could have an off day.”
And that kind of thing happens in the field events quite often.
Carter is part of the 800 relay along with Corey Reid, Brandon Basa and Hector Gomez-Barrios. The group qualified third last week at 1:29.64, .47 behind Damonte Ranch and .32 behind second-place Reed. If Carson can hold its spot today, the quartet will move on. He also is in the 1600 relay which qualified fourth last week in 3:35.34. Barrios, Basa, Jon Barahona, Michael Gould and Adam Maw are all eligible to run.
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Reid is ranked second in the 200 (22.51), first in the 400 (49.1) and has the second-best high jump this year at 6-5 1/2, though he has cleared 6-6 in the past. Greg Wallace has an excellent chance to advance in the high jump and Ian Schulz is sitting fifth in the shot and first in the discus. He threw a PR of 167-11 last week. Aaron Woodbury’s vault of 13-feet qualified fourth, so he needs to improve by one place this week.
Maddie Preston qualified third in the long jump last week at 16-1 1/2, second in the triple jump at 36-5 1/2 and was one of 12 jumpers to clear 4-8 in the high jump. She entered the regionals leading in all three individual events at 17-8 1/2, 36-8 1/2 and 5-7. Douglas’ Olivia Abbott jumped 37-2 last week in the trials. Preston is also part of the 800 relay team with Athena Favero, ValerieSue Meyer and Sahara Winder which set a school and regional record last week with a 1:42.98.
Meyer enters today ranked third in the 400 at 60.92, while Winder qualified third in the 200 (26.61) and fifth in the 100 (12.76). The 400 team of Winder, Favero, Hailey Palotas and Meyer is seeded second at 51.1. Favero, the defending champ in the 300 hurdles, qualified first with a PR of 46.55. Carson has four qualifiers in the triple jump — Preston, Caroline Gubica, Abby Paulson and Palotas.
