Pressure doesn’t faze Central jumper Mitchell

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By Jon Gremmels | Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:12 PM CDT | () comments

Alexis Mitchell never really has had to worry about feeling pressure in the long jump. Christina Airington always was there as a buffer.

“It was kind of always at meets that Christina was at 18-something,” said Mitchell, who never could get past the 18-foot barrier. “I knew I was always fighting for second.”

That’s how it was last year at the Iowa Class 4A girls track and field meet. While Airington was leaping 18-feet-4¼ to earn her third consecutive state title, Mitchell was battling for second. She wound up third at 17-9 ½ — a comfortable position and lots of points, but still second best for Davenport Central.

But Airington is not around anymore, and Mitchell put the spotlight on herself last week when she cleared 18 feet for the first time. Her 18-7¾ effort at the Pleasant Valley Regional not only was the longest in the state-qualifying meets, but it also was farther than any of Airington’s championship leaps.

“Those are big shoes to fill, but I think the pressure will help me,” Mitchell said.

The pressure will have a chance to build because the Class 4A long jump doesn’t get going until late Friday afternoon. Mitchell doesn’t have to wait that long to get on the track, though. She will take part in the 200-meter preliminaries tonight, and she enters the meet with the second-fastest regional clocking in that event (25.29 seconds).

It is one of many events in which Quad-City area athletes enter the three-day meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines with some of the top regional performances. Davenport North’s AG Bradford, for instance, is the state leader in all four events in which she will compete: the 400, the high jump and the 100- and 400-meter hurdles.

So, Quad-City area athletes will look to bring back a nice haul of medals from Des Moines.

“When you get to state, you know we all worked really hard to get there,” Northeast distance runner Morgan Casey said. “We all want the same thing: to win.”

Jon Gremmels can be contacted at (563) 383-2294 or at jgremmels@qctimes.com.

Jon Gremmels can be contacted at (563) 383-2294 or at jgremmels@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qcvarsity.com.

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Check www.qcvarsity.com over the next three days as Jon Gremmels and Andrew Petersen keep you updated on the accomplishments of Quad-City athletes at the Iowa high school track meet.