For Posey, less distance now means longer jumps later

Track season is all about timing. The top athletes spend an entire season fine-tuning. They tinker with techniques and build up speed and stamina, hoping to peak as the season hits its biggest meets -- the league, district and state championships.

Sometimes, that means sacrificing performance during dual meets in order to lay the foundation for postseason success.

Take William Penn's Jarred Posey. The senior jumper won a pair of events against Dallastown on Tuesday. In his specialty, the triple jump, he posted a leap of 45 feet. Pretty darn good, but also not the career-best 48 feet, 2 3/4 inches Posey jumped at the indoor state championships this fall.

There's a reason. Instead of doing his normal seven-step approach, Posey coaches have him do a five-step approach during dual meets. The change leads to less distance, but also forces Posey to focus on explosiveness and reaching for every inch.

"You know you’re going to be jumping shorter, but you don’t care," Bearcats coach Tony Jones said. "Because in bigger meets, it’s going to be there"

Posey will get a preview of some of those bigger meets, when he competes at Cumberland Valley this weekend. He'll be joined there by Reading's Imani Brown, the defending state champion.

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