Calling his shot

Schalick’s Stewart wins sectional triple jump with record effort, said the day before if he came down to a do-or-die jump he was going to win it

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WESTMONT – Maybe it was the confidence that comes with trusting his training doing the talking, but Schalick junior David Stewart knew the day before what was going to happen in the sectional triple jump if a certain scenario had come to pass.

Stewart won the South Jersey Group I triple jump title Wednesday at Haddon Twp. with a jump of 48 feet, 7 ¼ inches on his final attempt of the day with no on left. Not only did the jump set the meet record, it was the best triple jump in all Group I sectionals all-time and the second-best Group I triple jump in state history.

And he predicted it was going to happen. Well, maybe not all the record-breaking stuff, but the win.

While doing some last-minute prep for one of his signature events Tuesday, Stewart told Cougars coach James Turner if he had the last jump of the day and someone was ahead of him in the standings he was going to win the event right there.

And that’s exactly what happened. Stewart’s close friend and rival Moses Robles of Glassboro had jumped 47-5 on his second attempt in the finals to grab the lead. Stewart was still in second when his turn came on the runway for his final attempt. He was going to advance to the state meet as it was, but he wasn’t second anymore when he landed in the pit.

“I told (Turner) that yesterday at practice,” Stewart said. “I told him if I’m the last jumper and somebody’s beating me I’m winning on the last jump. That’s just all confidence. I’ve really been working hard, training hard, so I knew my training would pay off. I trusted his training and it got me to where I am. 

“It’s like literally a dream it happened that way. When I was lined up as the last jumper I was just sitting there talking to myself saying we talked about this, this is what we said was going to happen. We got this.”

There was a sense around the pit his next-to-last jump would have been strong enough to challenge the leader, but he buckled going in and he didn’t get the result. The number wasn’t there, but the feeling was.

“Everyone knew it would’ve been a big jump and that’s when I think he realized it, too; he was, oh, I’ve got this,” Turner said. “I talked to him. We made some minor adjustments we talked about earlier in the week. I just think he was finally focused now, that he knew it came down to it and he just put everything together for that final jump.

“We talked about the adjustments real quick. He understood what he needed to do. He was focused. He went back to the end of the runway to get ready for his final jump. He had a couple people he was waiting on. I went back and talked to him and said just focus in, continue to tell yourself you got this and just execute. When I walked away I knew he was going to get it. I knew he was going to jump a 47 or his best jump of the year.

“I knew where he needed to land. As soon as I saw him land I just went over to him and shook his hand. I said you got it. He just stood up and kind of knew he got it, too. It was a great moment. I was really proud because he puts in so much hard work. He’s probably one of the hardest working track athletes that I’ve ever coached. You can just see how determined he is and how much it means to him to succeed and continue to grow.” 

Jerry Seals of Salem was third 43-9.5. Three Salem County girls also qualified to the state meet in the event – Salem’s Ramiyah Jones, Schalick’s Jaelynn Jarmon and Penns Grove’s Arianna Dowe – finishing 3-4-5, respectively. The top six advance.

The sectional meet resumes Friday and for the rest of the weekend at Lenape High School. Having the triple jump Wednesday actually frees up Stewart for his projected attempts at the open 400 (he’s ranked third in Group I), 400 hurdles (No. 2 among all groups) and long jump. Last year at sectionals he had to bounce between the jumps and the hurdles all the while balancing a painful foot injury that eventually kept him from competing in the triple jump at the state meet.

“That’s another thing that really plays a big part in sectionals,” Stewart said. “That being the only thing I had to do today also helps out with my other events. It helps with my focus, because today I didn’t have to worry about running, hurdling, long jump, all my focus was right there. Being on a Wednesday it was a little weird, it felt weird, but you still have to perform no matter when, what time, where. You have to perform.”