Taking a deep breath, senior AJ Nguyen begins his routine clap before sprinting to the take-off board and leaping into the sand pit. Time slows as he glides through the air, straining all his muscles forward, before crashing into the sand.
For most athletes, years of work are put into the sport they play in order to have record-breaking performances. For Nguyen, however, his track and field journey only began last spring with Nguyen simply joining the team to improve his speed for basketball. Now he is determined to make history this season. Nguyen has gone on to become the school’s best long jumper and triple jumper with a long jump of 19 feet 7 inches and a triple jump of 38 feet 7.5 inches, and aims to break school records (19 feet and 11 inches in long jump by Judah Francella in 2019 and 40 feet 3.5 inches in triple jump by Emmanuel Harris in 2024) this spring season. “Triple jump and long jump are my current goals that I want to break the school records in,” Nguyen said.
His introduction to triple and long jump came unexpectedly at last year’s Fairchester Athletic Association (FAA) Championships when coach Ian Mook decided to put Nguyen in these events for the team to earn extra points. “At the time, I performed well, so I decided to train over the summer with my coaches to try getting better,” Nguyen said. Since then, Nguyen has worked hard to improve his technique. Ac- cording to Mook, he is very close to his goal. “He’s exactly four inches away from breaking it in long jump, and in triple jump he is about a foot and a half away from breaking it,” Mook said. “I think he could break it any day. He’s got the ability, the consistency, the drive and the passion for the sport. I think he’ll get it sooner than later.”
Nguyen’s pre-jump routine is very important to him as he encourages the crowd to clap before he sprints down the runway. “I feel like clapping makes me more hyped and makes me energetic,” Nguyen said. “Triple and long jump are sports where you need to be very hyped and very energetic to be able to perform well.”
As the season continues, Nguyen will keep training to improve and keep working towards his goal. Although he only started a year ago, his rapid improvement has put him within range of challenging the current school records.
