Ashlee Moore out-jumped the field in the women’s long jump Friday afternoon, collecting her second victory of the day just hours after winning the heptathlon with a personal best of 5,757 points.
Moore’s winning distance was 19 feet, 11 inches, but any of her top four jumps would have been long enough to beat out the field of 12 competitors. Warner Pacific’s Alyssa Neal came in second with 19-2 1/2.
“I was really hoping that I could go 20, so when I jumped 19-11 I was sort of angry,” said Moore. “But I guess after doing seven events and coming back to do long jump, I was happy with it.”
Coming off of a jump of 19-7 and an 800-meter time of 2:38.69 in the heptathlon earlier on Friday, tired legs were a concern.
“In the run-throughs I was a little tired trying to get my legs back underneath me, but overall after my first jump I felt really good,” said Moore. “I enjoy doing multi-events and then going to do individual events after. I like being able to say ‘Yea I’m a heptathlete, but on any given day I can go out there and jump with the best of them.’”
Fellow Oregon Duck Madelayne Varela finished third with 19-0. Two consecutive fouls to begin the event kept Varela near the bottom of the leaderboard for much of the competition, but a big jump in her fifth attempt solidified her spot near the top.
–by Zac Neel
