West Hempstead's Jurrel Hall doubling down in triple jump

To truly unlock the potential of his triple jump prowess, West Hempstead’s Jurrel Hall had to be in control of the chaos — or at least be OK with being out of control.

That’s the key, the senior said — running so fast that you just settle for being at the mercy of your own limits.

"Triple jump is a unique event,” he said. “You’re not really pushing yourself until you’re at the [point] where your body feels like it’s out of control, but with enough speed to propel you forward.”

Hall has been better than most for the majority of the school year. He won all three jumps at the Nassau Class C indoor championships in February, placed second in the triple jump at the indoor state championships in March and, as of Friday, is the state triple jump leader, according to milesplit.com.

"He knows that he’s already at a high level of competition in all of his events, especially the triple jump,” West Hempstead coach Nick DiBenedetto said. “Now, he’s at a point where we are working on very technical stuff to try and get as many feet and inches as we can out of his jumps.”

Hall jumped 47 feet, 2 ½ inches to win at the Paul Limmer Invitational at Mepham on April 8. More than 20 days later, the mark is still unbeaten. That jump came a week after flying 44–11 3/4 at the Valley Stream Challenge, which was the state’s previous best mark before he topped himself.

“Both marks are great,” Hall said.  “I’ve been really good with being consistent throughout the seasons ... I’m still trying to improve slightly each week. I’ve gotten better at my second and third phases, keeping the speed up, and really being able to get a huge leap into the pit.”

Over the past five months, Hall has concentrated on sharpening his second and third phase, making sure that his speed stayed high — if not "out of control" — through takeoff.

“On my third phase, I would tend to lose speed,” he said. “But I kept it going and would try and push myself to keep my speed going into the third [phase], which could really carry me further into the pit.”

Hall said he was satisfied with his second-place finish at the indoor state championships, where he jumped 45-11 and fell a little more than a foot short of Manhasset’s Paul Park, who won at 46-11 1/4. But as another outdoor championship season approaches, Hall is thinking of a title, and maybe a few more feet into the pit.

“Obviously the goal is to win the state title,” he said. “I think, as long as I stay healthy and consistent, I have a good, fair chance to win states ... It’s just [about] trying to increase my mark from where it is now. I think I can pull off another foot or two by the time I get to states.”

The outdoor state championships are June 9-10 at Middletown High School.

Bay Shore 5th at Penn

Bay Shore’s 4 x 800 relay team placed fifth in the Championship of America at the Penn Relays on Friday. Dylan Beggins, Anthony Belford, Peter Bagattine and Jake Gogarty finished in 7 minutes, 55.37 seconds. That time was the fastest in the state, as of Friday night, according to milesplit.com.

New Jersey’s Chatham won in 7:47.66.

Beggins also has the top 800 time in the state after running a 1:55.31 at the Paul Limmer Invitational, according to milesplit.

Fulton has top time again

It’s been another fruitful spring for Elmont’s Ashley Fulton. Fulton, who is the defending Federation 200 and Division I 100 champion, ran a 24.18 in the 200 at the New York Relays last weekend, the top time in the state, as of Friday night, according to milesplit.com.

Holy Trinity’s Logan Daley, who ran 24.44 at the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA Easter Classic earlier this month, is second in the state.