Track team benefits from freshman triple jumper

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

Suppose you’re a high school senior and a nationally ranked track athlete with an interest in the computer field. How would you prioritize those activities in determining which college to attend? For freshman Daniel Harris, a balance was sought out.

"When I was looking around at schools, I looked at who had what I wanted to major in and who had a good track team," said Harris.

Purdue, on the other hand, was looking for a triple jumper to fill the shoes of All-American Ike Olekaibe, who graduated last year, and to complement current sophomore jumper Amukela Gwebu.

Assistant coach Lissa Olson found out about Harris by looking on the Internet.

"There’s all kinds of Web sites where you can follow their (high schoolers') marks," said Olson.

That is how the coach found out Harris had jumped 48 his junior year in high school.

The two schools that made Harris’ final cut were Purdue and North Carolina. During a campus visit to Purdue, Harris was co-hosted by Prentice Stovall and Shaun Guice. Olson said both of them liked Harris. And Olson said she takes player comments about recruits seriously.

"I could tell from his visit he’s extremely driven, dedicated, extremely competitive and he hates to lose," said Olson.

When the final decision was to be made, Harris focused on the academics.

"I mainly came here because of the computer graphics program," said Harris.

And so his journey took him from St. Louis to West Lafayette. In his early high school career, his focus was actually not initially on track.

"My freshman year in high school, I got cut from the baseball team, so I went and ran track," Harris said.

Baseball’s loss is track’s gain.

With Purdue, Harris competes in the long and triple jumps. In the triple jump, he was ranked fourth in the nation coming out of high school. He was the Missouri state champion in the triple jump his junior and senior years. Harris was seventh in the USA Track & Field Junior Nationals in 2000 in the triple jump.

"My main focus is the triple jump and I hope to go to the NCAAs both indoor and outdoor," Harris said.

He jumped a season best 49-5 last week at Kent, just under one and a half inches off his personal best of 50-10 1/4. However, he jumped 47-5 at the Purdue Open Jan. 12.

Adjusting his approach has been an early focus to this indoor season. During practice before the Purdue Open, a half approach in the triple jump was used. However, a full approach is used in meets. This creates a timing concern.

"You have to maintain your full speed; you don’t want to run real fast out the back and lose speed when you get to the boards because when you lose speed your stride changes, then you’re more likely to scratch," said Harris.

This adjustment to a full-approach is still ongoing.

"I feel like it’s gotten better," said Harris.

Purdue hosts Indiana State at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Lambert Fieldhouse. Harris said he will use the meet to try to improve and get better. Also, one can count on the fact that he’ll have no pre-meet rituals.

"I don’t do anything crazy or superstitious; I just warm up and go jump."

Strong effort helps team

Track team benefits from freshman triple jumper

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