Jaden Lippett's focus on track made him nationally ranked and co-athlete of the year
LAKELAND — Jaden Lippett had just jumped a personal record of 44 feet 11.25 inches to win the triple jump at last year's 4A-5 district meet, and he appeared on his way to his way to challenge for state title in the event.
He never got the chance to even qualify for the state meet.
Lippett sustained an injury during 7-on-7 drills in football just prior to the region meet, and his freshman season at Winter Haven was suddenly over.
Determined to make up for it, Lippett quit football and focused on becoming one of the top triple jumpers in the state. That determination paid off as he wrapped up his sophomore season by winning the triple jump for his first state title and finishing third in the long jump.
Lippett is The Ledger's 2022 Boys Track and Field Co-Athlete of the Year.
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"My No. 1 goal after getting hurt, and I wrote it down in my notebook, was to win state," Lippett said. "And to become No. 1 in the nation, but you have to work hard to accomplish that goal so that's my goal right now."
Winning a state title in track and being nationally ranked certainly weren't goals when Lippett started high school.
Except for running track in the fourth grade, Lippett was a football player growing up. He played defensive back on junior varsity as a freshman before being called up to varsity. At the time, he was planning on just being a football player.
"Coming into high school, I wasn't into track," he said. "My football coach (former assistant Ali Cannon) told me to do track because he knew I could jump."
This time around, he enjoyed track. the long and triple jumps were the first events he tried and immediately shows a knack for them. He peaked as a freshmen when he jumped 13.7 to win the triple jump at districts. He also was third in the long jump (6.39).
The week after districts, Lippett was playing football and sustained a season-ending leg injury. It was a huge disappointment as he was ranked second in Class 4A in the triple jump. He ended his freshman season ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 13 in the nation among freshman in the triple jump.
Having lofty goals as a sophomore, Lippett began working with Dorian Jones. Jones, a guidance counselor at George Jenkins, competed in the decathlon for Florida State in the late '90s.
"Jaden, he's a talented athlete," Jones said. "I broke the event (triple jump) down. He's been doing the event before I started working with him. He's been successful, but I don't think he understood teh event as much. So I've been breaking it down and teaching him so he'd know, and we've been working on his technique and fine-tuning his technique."
The plan early was to focus on the triple jump.
"With his body build, the long jump and the triple jump take-off are two different take-offs," Jones said. "So what I told him is we'll use the long jump as a precursor to warm up his legs. But the more and more we started doing it, he started progressing in the long jump. He's come quite a long way in the long jump."
Said Lippett: "The triple jump is not easy. It takes a lot of training. It's not just jumping."
Lippett dominated the triple jump. He was undefeated in the event this past season in eight meets.. His jump of 48 feet 10 inches at the region meet is a county record, and he is ranked No. 1 in the state and No 3 in the nation among sophomores. Overall, he finished ranked No. 2 in the state in the triple jump.
In the long jump, he finished second to Jenkins LaQuan Ellis at the county meet then won at districts and regionals before finishing third in teh state. He set a personal record of 7.06 at the region meet. He was leading in the long jump going into the final round.
"The long jump just came with the triple jump," Lippett said. "I was doing so good at long jump throughout the whole season, so it just came. If I would have won, I would have been happy but it wasn't a big deal. But I was disappointed."
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The long jump came before the triple jump, and the close call in the long jump served as motivation.
"I was just ready to do the triple jump," he said.
Jones is looking for great things from Lippett going forward, perhaps as soon as this weekend when he'll be competing in the Adidianst outdoor Nationals in North Carolina. The goal in the long jump is 24 feet and the goal in the triple jump is 50 feet.
Jones said he doesn't have Lippett on what he considers a full-stride approach, which is an eight-stride approach for a high schooler and a nine-strike approach for a professional. Lippett has been working on a six-stride approach.
The plan was to move up to an eight-stride approach, but the weather recently has interrupted practices.
"We're probably going to stay on a six-strike approach for now, but even on a six-stride approach, he probably could jump 50 feet if we clean up some things."
After a great sophomore season, Lippett has set new goals for next season. He finished the season ranked No. 24 nationally but all but 13 competitors ahead of him were seniors this season and five more were juniors.
"The goal is to be top five nationally (in the triple jump) and to win the long and the triple at the state meet," he said. "That's my goal."
Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lippett's focus made him nationally ranked and co-athlete of the year
