Robinson leaps into meet history for Wash High
Washington’s Kurt Adkins won the 200-meter dash Saturday at the Washington-Greene County Coaches’ Track & Field Championship.
Trinity’s Ashon Burgess runs in the 300-meter hurdles event Saturday at the Washington-Greene County Coaches’ Track & Field Championships.
Katie Roupe/Observer-ReporterPeters-Township’s Wil Niesen competes in the 800-meter run Saturday at the Washington-Greene County Coaches’ Track & Field Championship.
McMURRAY – As Isaiah Robinson took a final jump into the sand pit, the Washington High School junior sensed that it would be good enough for a first-place finish.
His second phase was executed to perfection – an aspect of the event he’s tangled with for weeks – and his final leap sent him sailing into the pit at the Washington-Greene County Coaches’ Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon.
Robinson was right about the first-place finish, but he was shocked to hear just how far he landed. His second attempt at Peters Township High School was 46 feet, 9 inches – 16 inches further than the previous meet record set by Canon-McMillan’s Shawn Johnson, who is now an All-American at Auburn, in 2012. It also broke Keith Cushenberry’s school record of 46-8 3/4.
“I kind of felt it,” Robinson said with a smile. “On that last phase, I brought my arms up and it felt far, but I didn’t expect that distance.”
It was a busy day for Robinson, who also ran on all three of the Prexies’ relay teams. Wash High’s 400-meter relay team took fourth, the 1,600-meter finished first with a time almost six seconds faster than second-place McGuffey and the 3,200-meter team took second behind the Highlanders. He was one of two individual winners for Wash High. Senior Kurt Adkins won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.79.
Robinson’s splits were impressive in each, but it was his performance in the triple jump that was the talk of the meet.
The jump was one that Wash High head coach Teresa Booker envisioned more than a year ago when she urged Robinson to give the event a try. The triple jump is an event tailor-made for an athlete with his speed and athleticism.
But Robinson was too busy to find out just how good he could be. He was competing in the long jump and high jump, as well as participating on the Prexies’ 1,600- and 3,200-meter relay teams.
He qualified for the WPIAL championships in the high jump and even reached the state qualifying standard in the long jump during the season. It never occurred to him that arguably his best event was one he never tried.
When the 2016 track season arrived, Booker finally got Robinson to give the triple jump a try. It took him only a few weeks to reach 43 feet.
“I’ve seen him progress every day and every meet,” Booker said. “He really likes it and I think that makes a big difference. He’s an incredible athlete. The jump has become his passion and he just keeps begging better. I’m excited to see what he can do in the postseason.”
She’s not the only one. Robinson’s mark would have broken the WPIAL Individual Track & Field Championship record set by Cushenberry in 1991.
In an event that is as much about technique as it is speed and athleticism, Robinson had to become a student. That meant watching the steps of Olympic triple jumpers, particularly how to improve the second phase of his jump.
Film study and repetition in practice led to his big day.
“(Wash High jumps coach Dion Wiegand) wanted me to start watching film and I started to jump high 42s,” Robinson said. “Then it was a 44 and then today happened. My first time I hit a 42 showed me what I could do. Everyone told me, ‘You do know that would get you to states, right?'”
It would, but Robinson doesn’t want to settle for qualifying for the PIAA Track & Field Championships, which are May 27-28 at Shippensburg University.
Close isn’t good enough after the year he’s had. Robinson was a first-team all-conference performer for the Prexies’ football team that lost in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals. He became the sixth man and a lockdown defender for Wash High’s basketball team that reached the second round of the PIAA playoffs. It’s been a memorable year, but Robinson wants to jump his way to a championship.
“With both of those seasons, we got so close, but we’d fall right there,” Robinson said. “It’s been hard. I’m trying to get all the way there now.”