Girls' Long Jump Preview
From 2012 to 2015, no girls in Pennsylvania jumped past 19 feet all season long. Heading into Sunday's state meet, an incredible four girls have jumped 19 feet or better (one of which has jumped past 20 feet). No doubt the bar has been raised for long jumpers in PA, and the competition will be second to none.
At the top is Athens Area's Breana Gambrell. She's a three-time AA outdoor state champ in the event, but has yet to bring home indoor gold in her career. She'll look to change that on Sunday. She had a huge leap of 20-1.5 at Ithaca College earlier this season, which is just an inch off Dawn Burrell's 1991 state record. She'll look to go after Angie Brown's 1994 state meet record of 20-1.25 on Sunday. Gambrell's consistency has been unmatched this season, regularly posting multiple jumps of 19 feet-plus in a series.
The reigning state champ in the long jump is Bentworth's Brenna Cavanaugh, who unleashed a huge jump of 19-7.25 at states last winter. She comes in ranked PA#8, but if she can pull out another clutch performance, she can still come away with a repeat. Upper Dublin's Madison Langley-Walker is also a former state champ in the event. She won in 2015 as a freshman and 2016 as a sophomore. She was third last year and sits at PA#4 entering the weekend. A big effort could put her on top, too.
At PA#2 is Tia Taylor, a standout freshman at Saint Basil Academy. Taylor put down a season best of 19-4.25 to win at this past week's DVGTCA Meet of Champs, a sign she's on her game at the right time. Could the ninth grader steal the show on Sunday? State College's Taylor Givens is also hitting stride. The senior jumped 19-1 to take second at the PTFCA Carnival with a career best of 19-1, and after placing sixth at states last season, she will look to make moves on the podium this season.
Among the other contenders are PA#5 Karina Long (Lower Dauphin), PA#6 Christina Warren (Perkiomen Valley), and PA#7 Jayla Ellis (Oakland Catholic). The runway will be loaded with talent on Sunday, so we can expect some huge jumps out of these stars over the weekend.
Girls' Long Jump Entries:
Event 27 Girls Long Jump (16)
===============================================================================
Meet Record: 20-01.25 3/5/1994 Angie Brown, Villa Maria Academy
Name Year School
===============================================================================
1 Burton, Casey 10 North Allegh
2 Cavanaugh, Brenna 12 Bentworth
3 Ellis, Jayla 11 Oakland Cath
4 Frazier, Darcie 11 Hollidaysburg
5 Furtick, Taliyah 10 Mastery Charter
6 Gambrell, Breana 12 Athens
7 Givens, Taylor 12 State College
8 Gologram, Tara 12 Hopewell
9 Kwortnik, Natalie 11 North Penn
10 Langley-Walker, Madison 12 Upper Dublin
11 Lee, Sasha 9 St Basil Acad
12 Long, Karina 12 Lower Dauphin
13 Roush, Zoe 12 Forest Hills
14 Shell, Inara 9 Friends' Cen
15 Taylor, Tia 9 St Basil Acad
16 Warren, Christina 11 Perk Valley