Enockson blows away the opposition, surprises coach in triple jump
Enockson blows away the opposition, surprises coach in triple jump
Parshall teams both finish second in Watford City Invite
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Jaren Enockson was a two-event winner in the Watford City Invitational track meet April 24 and added double digits to Parshall’s second-place score of 120.5 points.
That’s unusual in itself because athletes don’t often win more than one event in a track meet. But what’s really unusual was Enockson’s distance in the triple jump. His coach Harlan Johnson couldn’t believe it initially.
According to Johnson, Enockson’s distance in the triple jump was 46 feet, 2 inches, which is way beyond qualifying for the state track meet. In fact, Johnson said the state qualifying distance is 41 feet, 3 inches.
“He’s got the best jump in the state,” Johnson said. “It’s almost to NAIA standards. It’s the first time he’s triple jumped this year.”
Well, actually, Enockson practiced triple jumping at home in Parshall, but hadn’t yet jumped in competiton.
“He had worked on triple jumping during the week,” a surprised Johnson said. “But, WOW! When I heard it, I thought 40 feet, 2 inches and I had to check again. We actually had three people verify that it was 46-2.”
To add even more drama to this scenario, Enockson outdistanced second place Curtis Lohse of Watford City by nearly 11 feet and third-place Chans Brown of Watford City by more than 12 feet.
“He beat them by 11 feet,” Johnson said. “That’s like the floor to the rim in basketball.”
Ironically, Enockson has the form and the consistency to show that he is certainly capable of jumping that distance. Johnson said his other jumps in Watford City Friday were 43, 44, 45 and the 46 plus jump, which Johnson wasn’t certain is a state record, but he is checking it out.
He did confirm, however, that Enockson’s jump is obviously the best in either Class B or Class A this season.
“There are guys at Dickinson State who are jumping 48 and 50 feet, and I think they are from Jamaica where they specialize in that sort of thing” Johnson said. “This is a high school kid and that’s just remarkable.”
