At the Darwin Rold Invitational, sophomore Jessica Haney stood next to the podium jumping up and down, waiting for the result of the high jump to be announced. With her gold medal from the triple jump around her neck, she turned to her teammates and said, “I just wanna hear the medals clank together.”
Winning the high jump is not new to Haney—she jumped 5’7″ at the 2016 State championships and became a state champion as a freshman—but winning two events at a high school meet is.
Haney triple jumped in middle school but was not able to last year because her schedule did not allow for it. Now, she said she is happy to be back at it. “It’s taking a lot of effort because I haven’t done it in such a long time,” Haney said. “I mean, I guess I’m doing okay ’cause I’m winning some meets.”
This season, Haney has won triple jump and high jump at both Darwin Rold and Grandview. Additionally, she won high jump at the Lee’s Summit West Triangular, Belton and Blue Valley Northwest. In the triple jump, she placed 2nd at Belton and 3rd at Blue Valley Northwest.
With the results Haney has been getting, her triple jump coach, Christy Dabalos, says that she is happy to coach Haney this year. “I wish she would have done it last year because I knew she was capable of doing it,” Dabalos said.
To be able to fit triple jump into her season, Haney decided to back off of her dancing this year, even though she has danced her whole life. On top of giving her more time, her high jump coach, Royce Boehm, said that it has helped her achieve more in a shorter time this year.
“I think, this year, it’s kind of helped that she backed off of the dancing to give her legs a break heading into the track season,” he said.
Although she backed off, allowing her to achieve more, Haney says that dance has helped her significantly in her jumps. “Without dance, my legs would not have been near as strong as they were, especially in middle school and coming into high school.,” she said. “I definitely wouldn’t have jumped as high.”
Because of dance she did jump high. Haney still holds the record at the middle school, setting it at 5’4” in 2015, and is only one inch away from tying with the Lee’s Summit West record that was set in 2012 by Brittany Kallenberger.
Even though she is doing multiple events this year, her coaches say they believe she can break Kallenberger’s record this year. “She should have broken it the second meet,” Boehm said. “It was windy that day, but you know what, it is what it is. We’ll move on and keep going for it.”
And Haney says she will keep going for it. After all, her goal this year is not just to break the school record, but shatter it.
“I feel like I’m jinxing it, but I’ll say it anyway,” Haney said. “My goal this year is 6 foot. It’s a really hefty goal, like I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it, but I just want to get close.”
As long as Haney has her coaches there to help her out, she said that she can achieve what she wants to achieve. “They point out things to you that you wouldn’t necessarily think are wrong and it changes everything,” she said. “I’m glad they’re there taking videos and watching over me.”
