De'Marreus Wells Sets New Triple Jump Record at State Meet

Jun. 4—ST. MICHAEL — De'Marreus Wells achieved a remarkable feat by breaking a 46-year-old triple jump record for John Marshall during the opening day of the Class 3A track and field state meet held at St. Michael/Albertville. This achievement comes after Wells missed last year's state competition due to an injury, making his return even more impressive.

Wells entered the meet with a personal best of 44-2 1/2, but his performance on Thursday exceeded expectations. "This is awesome," commented JM jumps coach Kyle Riggott. "I am fired up. This is what you have with a kid peaking at just the right time. He is gaining a lot of speed, and we figured out that he needed a longer runway." Despite a minor ankle issue prior to the meet, Wells felt invigorated on the day of competition. "I felt super good when I got up here," he said. "I thought today would be the day that I got a PR (personal record)."

The competitive atmosphere of the meet also inspired Wells, who noted, "It was a really competitive meet; one of the craziest meets I've ever seen. I just wanted to (duplicate) what everyone else was doing. It was super fun competing." Jamal Wamah from Roseville Area won the event with a jump of 47-10, while Wells secured fifth place with a distance of 46-0. JM's Kuria Mbuthia also performed well, finishing eighth with a jump of 44-1 1/2.

Meanwhile, JM's Norah Miller faced challenges, no-heighting in the high jump and only recording one legal jump of 16 feet in the long jump, far below her previous mark of 19-2 1/2. However, she is set to compete in the triple jump on Saturday, which is expected to be her strongest event. Distance runner Abi Tri finished 11th in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:08.16, improving by nine seconds from her section performance.

In preliminary events, the Mayo 4x100 relay team, consisting of Lyric Urban, Taylor Kurtz, Emma Clarey, and Josie Van Brunt, set a new meet record by winning in 47.17 seconds. This marks the fifth occasion this season that they have broken their own school record. "I couldn't be prouder of them," said Mayo coach Jered Smiley, noting the determination displayed from the start of the race. The team is now favored to win in Saturday's finals and plans to compete at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet in Philadelphia from June 18-21.