For The News-Letter Athlete of the Week, sophomore Alex Jebb has found quick success in all facets of the Hopkins experience. As a triple-jump participant and Biomedical Engineering major, Jebb has challenged himself to the fullest ever since stepping onto campus two Fall seasons ago. This past weekend, the sophomore from Cornwall, NY had perhaps one of his most rewarding days on the track at the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational.
“Triple jump is the most exciting and fun event,” said Jebb, explaining the event to a writer covering his successful season, “It’s a hop, skip and then a jump.”
“[The process] starts on the runway about 17 steps away from the board. . . this is where all the excitement builds, both in you and in the crowd.
You sprint down the runway, building speed the entire time until you reach the board, where you ‘run off’ of the board and just explode onto your first phase. Then as you land on your take-off foot you try to maintain as much speed as possible and just power into the next phase, the step phase, until you land on the other foot.
Finally, you just put everything into your final phase and land in the pit. There’s no better feeling than having an amazing jump because you feel as if you’re flying on your last phase…when you land you hear the crowd and your teammates just erupt and go crazy.”
Jebb’s dedication and passion for track and field (“Field and Track,” as he calls it, an inside joke within the Hopkins team) is so strong it is tangible. It all paid off this weekend, when the team captain broke Bob Wilson’s thirty-year old school record jump at the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational track meet. Jebb jumped 13.83 meters (45’4½”) to solidfy his place atop the record books.
The impressive jump also helped Hopkins accrue 183 team points en route to winning the Invitational, defeating nine teams and leading the pack by almost 20 team points.
“This past weekend was a lot of fun,” he recalled. “Breaking Bob Wilson’s record means a lot because he was such a great athlete. For one athlete to have records in such a wide range of events (Triple Jump, the 400m dash, and the 800m run) really says a lot about the kind of athlete he was. [It was also great] to compete at home and being able to run in front of our fans.”
The record-holder started jumping years ago, back in middle school.
“[In eighth grade] my coach made everyone do field events, and a friend talked me into trying the triple jump,” said Jebb. “I’ve stuck with track and field because I love the objectivity of the sport and that you truly get out what you put in.”
Jebb also played soccer and basketball in high school, similar to his multi-sport siblings.
“My younger sister Olivia, who’s going to William & Mary next year to play volleyball, is actually a State Champion in the Triple Jump and was an All-American in the Distance Medley Relay. Also, my older brother Ben, who’s playing football at Army right now, ran track for a few seasons in High School to stay in shape.”
He left those sports behind to focus on both indoor and outdoor track and field in college. Jebb does not participate in cross country, though, quipping, “I don’t think I would last through even 2 days of distance running.”
While it may seem that Jebb is a traditional “jock” at this point, breaking records and coming from an incredibly athletic family, one must remember that he is a student-athlete. Amazingly, the sophomore finds time in his track and field schedule to major in Biomedical Engineering. When asked why he chose Hopkins, Jebb puts academics first, responding, “I chose Hopkins because of the strength of the Biomedical Engineering program.” He does mention athletics, though, noting that “it’s been fun building up our Field & Track program.”
Jebb has been enjoying his track and field season, remarking that “this year we hired a new coach, Kevin McDonald, just to work with the jumpers and it’s worked out very well. He does a great job of breaking down the finer technical points of the events as well as designing workouts to keep us powerful and explosive.”
He does concede that “this season has been a little rough because I’ve had to deal with nagging hamstring and hip issues,” but concludes by noting, “overall I’ve been pleased with it.”
“[For me,] the highs [this season] have been winning Indoor Conferences for both horizontal jumps, as well being named a team captain in January. As for the lows, there haven’t been many aside from the injuries affecting how I would like to train.”
Jebb is determined to make Hopkins athletic history once more this season, declaring, “by the end of the season, I plan on our team winning our first ever Conference Championship.”
When asked how he spends his time not on the track or in the classroom, Jebb responds nonchalantly, saying, “I don’t anything too exciting; I just like to just hang out with friends, play some basketball or video games, and relax.”
If the Hopkins’ men’s track and field team does win the Conference Championship, and Jebb wanted to go on a vacation to relax this summer, he says he’d like to go to Western Europe.
“I’ve never been outside of the country besides Canada, so I would want to go somewhere like Portugal or Italy to see what that’s like.”
Let’s hope this busy, impressive athlete’s travel and track dreams are both accomplished.
