In a spare moment on the long ride back from the Kansas Relays, Jordan Yanker was perusing a booklet with a list of all the different events.
She stumbled upon the heptathlon, looked up and asked Lindbergh track and field girls co-coach Tom Gose what, exactly, it was.
He explained it was one competition that involves seven sports. The heptathlon consists of the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.
Yanker was sold almost immediately.
“I really like the idea of doing all those events in two days,” the 5-foot-8, 16-year-old Yanker said.
Missouri doesn’t have a heptathlon competition for its high school athletes. So Missouri kids that want to participate in the event must do so in the summer. With Yanker on board, Gose kicked around what other track athletes on the Lindbergh roster would fit the bill in the heptathlon.
“If you’re going to train one, you might as well train two,” he said.
He landed at soon-to-be sophomore Anne Massey.
“They’re the same type of athlete,” he said. “They have good speed, good agility and good jumping ability.”
The 5-foot-6, 15-year-old Massey ended her freshman season with a 10th place finish at state in the 100 hurdles. Her background in gymnastics and diving made her a natural fit.
Yanker, who’ll be a junior this fall, capped her sophomore season at the state meet with a 12th place finish in the long jump and a 14th place in the triple jump.
“(Jordan) is the type of athlete that picks things up quick,” Gose said. “She reeks of heptathlon.”
With the duo committed to training, Gose and a handful of other coaches gave Yanker and Massey a heptathlon baptism.
The focus of the workouts was to build speed and explosion, both of which are crucial elements to six of the seven events. The girls tossed shot puts, chucked javelins, launched themselves into the sand pit and hopped over hurdles. The only thing they didn’t do was prepare for the 800.
“The 800 goes against the other six events,” Gose said.
The endurance training required for the 800 hinders the quick and powerful training needed to be at your peak in the other events. So you train for six events and roll the dice on one.
It’s a move the girls appreciated until it came time to run that race.
“I was kind of freaking out about the 800,” Yanker said. “But it wasn’t too bad.”
Yanker and Massey participated in the USA Track & Field Region 9 Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships on July 14 in Tulsa, Okla.
Massey won the event with a combined 3,036 points and Yanker was third with 2,560 points.
After spending much of their summer preparing for the meet, the girls were rather surprised when they arrived to find out they made up two of the three competitors in their age group. Yanker and Massey competed against each other and Schuyler Wood.
“There were like 10 people in the stands,” Yanker said. “It didn’t bother me at all. It felt like practice.”
Both Massey and Yanker said they enjoyed the uniqueness of the events. With no javelin event in Missouri, both girls got a kick out of tossing the flying spear around.
“I’ve never met a kid that didn’t like playing with a jav,” Gose said with a chuckle.
Yanker said the shot put was surprisingly enjoyable.
“I’d never thrown a shot put before,” Yanker said. “I did like that.”
What sold the girls on giving the event a go was what brought them to track and field in the first place – competition.
At its core, track and field is as pure a competition as you’ll find. There’s no ball, no bat, no goal. The winner is the person that runs faster, jumps higher and throws further.
“There’s no defense in track,” Yanker said.
Massey has a massive competitive streak running through her. It’s why she fell head over heels for track in eighth grade.
“It was so different than what I’ve done before,” she said. “The adrenaline rush is so exhilarating.”
Another factor is the training. By training for so many events, Massey and Yanker will be that much farther ahead for the spring season. And, you never know, maybe taking part in the heptathlon could help land a spot on a college roster.
“It does open some doors,” Gose said. “It exposes you to coaches who might not see you otherwise.”
