Pizza for a better triple jump? This Prep athlete’s a believer
Prep sophomore lands 3A’s best triple jump (with help of a slice); SFHS sophomore takes second
More pizza, please. Hayden Colfax might have inadvertently unlocked the secret to a better triple jump — it was contained inside a slice of cheese pizza.
The Santa Fe Prep sophomore was famished in the moments leading up to the final field event at the Golden Spikes Classic at Santa Fe High on Wednesday afternoon. So, Colfax grabbed a slice of pizza recently delivered to the meet to give her the boost she needed in a tough field that included Santa Fe High’s Riannah Varela, the second-best triple-jumper in the state, and St. Michael’s junior Claire Lee, who is among the top leapers in Class 4A.
It took one jump for Colfax to record her best jump of the season — a 33-foot, 10-inch effort — before she recorded a personal-best 34-4½ that ended up winning the event by 8½ inches over Varela. In one meet, Colfax went from the fourth-best jump recorded in 3A to the top of the list.
While some jumpers might credit the almost 2-foot spike to training, Colfax gave a tip of the cap to a well-timed slice.
“I’m completely crediting the pizza,” Colfax said. “That was the sole reason.”
Not that the improvement was a complete shock. Colfax jumped 34-1 during an indoor meet in Albuquerque in the winter, so she knew it was within her. She qualified for the state meet in a month when she hit 32-5 at the West Las Vegas Invitational on March 24,
but definitely gave notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with at state.
Colfax couldn’t have picked a better field to do it against — with a fellow sophomore phenom in Varela and Lee, who took third at the 4A meet last May. It could have been a tougher event if Taos’ Faith Powell, who did not compete in any field events at the two-day meet, or Academy for Technology and the Classics’ Lilia Noger-Onstott, who was helping the Phoenix’s relay events try to qualify for the 3A meet on time, also competed.
Powell owns the top spot in the 4A triple-jump ranks, while Noger-Onstott is No. 5 in 3A.
Varela said facing such stiff competition gave her a jolt of adrenaline for the event, but Colfax coming out strong wasn’t expected.
“I try as best as I can every time, but she caught me by surprise,” Varela said.
Perhaps the subtle difference between Colfax’s and Varela’s performances was in hang time. The key to a good triple jump is to see how low one can go, and Colfax felt that she doesn’t gain as much air in her hop-skipjump routine.
“We’ve really been crunching down on that, because I used to get much higher,” Colfax said. “So, we’ve been doing many drills to keep me low [to the ground]. This really solidifies that the practices are working.”
Varela, though, struggled with her timing to hit the 30-foot scratchboard throughout the event, often coming as much as two feet behind the board. That inability to get her steps down hurt her on her second jump, as she peeled off a 33-6 that was her best of the day but missed the board by at least a foot.
“It was very frustrating,” Varela said. “No matter how much I kept trying to adjust, it just didn’t seem to work. If had just gotten my marks down, then I would have done much better. I’ve been struggling to hit my marks.”
Meanwhile, Lee was consistently in the 32-foot range, with a 32-4 placing her third. Lee said the latter part of her jumps was better, but didn’t feel like she built enough speed leading into them. However, getting all phases to click is the challenge for every triple jumper.
“It’s very tough, because if you’re not thinking about one, you’re thinking about the other,” Lee said. “So, sometimes you just gotta run and try your best.”
It turned out to be a good meet for the Lady Horsemen, who tied the host Demonettes for first in the overall standings with 83 points. On the boys side, Santa Fe High outpointed Taos, the four-time reigning 4A state champion, 66-61.