CHARLESTON, Ill. • Belleville East freshman long jumper Adoree' Jackson has had instant success during his first high school track season.
And Jackson hopes it continues this weekend at the Illinois Class 3A state tournament at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University. Preliminaries begin at 12:30 p.m. Friday. The finals are Saturday at 11 a.m.
Jackson is seeded fifth with a 23-foot jump at the Moline Sectional one week ago today. Sophomore Matt Harris of LaGrange Lyons is the No. 1 seed with a jump of 23-8¾.
East coach Jim Loyet said the reason for Jackson's success is his "ability to apply what you're telling him to do and changing his technique. Some guys you work with and it takes them a year and a half to understand what you're trying to tell them and apply it to a meet.
"Adoree' ... one or two times and it's really worked out for him. He's broken the school record (23 feet, 10 inches). He's done a nice job this year."
If Jackson can repeat his school-record performance, he'll be in the running for a gold medal. He shattered the old mark of 23-5 set by Will Henderson in 2003 at the Collinsville Invitational on May 7. The 23-10 leap put Jackson in elite company because he has the longest jump of the season in the country as a freshman.
"He understands that he can be pretty good at it," Loyet said. "He's only going to get stronger and faster and better."
Jackson said nobody in his family has the long-jumping ability he has shown this season and "if they have, I really don't know. I think it just comes from God. He gave me the good ability to do what I have done. Then all my coaches have helped me to drive myself to do better. I just listen to coach Loyet. He knows what's best for me to do."
Watch Jackson jump and it's easy to see why he is so good. He has speed on the runway and his takeoff makes him look like coming off a springboard used by gymnasts to mount a pommel horse.
Since breaking the school record three weeks ago, Jackson has improved with each meet.
"His jumps that he's really finished and his technique in the sand have been 22-10 and above," Loyet said. "He's able to be consistent in his jumps. All it takes is one jump of six jumps to win the thing."
In the Class 1A preliminaries Thursday, Wesclin senior sprinter and Illinois State University recruit Nate Schreiber will get a final shot at trying to win a gold medal when he runs in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. The heats for the 100 begin at 12:30 p.m., while the heats for the 200 start at 2:30 p.m.
If he qualifies for both events, the finals will be Saturday at 1:35 p.m. and 4:05 p.m., respectively.
"I've been waiting four years for this and I don't plan on coming home empty-handed," he said. "That's how I feel. I'm going for two golds. I don't care where I'm seeded. I know I can bring home two golds."
Schreiber is seeded second in the 200 and sixth in the 100. He finished second in the 200 last season and fifth in the 100.
"I think I'm ready to bring (the gold) home," Schreiber said. "I'm just going to relax and run. You definitely don't want to switch any of your routines up. If you do what you do, you do good."
On the lighter side, Schreiber said two minor changes have been made in his routine this season. Last year, he ran at the state meet with a Mohawk-style hairdo. This year, he said he's going to have regular hair.
And, coach Brandon Murphy has his squad staying in a different hotel in Effingham, which is about 40 miles southwest of Charleston.
"That's about the only thing I'm doing different," Schreiber noted.
