June 7, 2018
Eugene, Ore.----- San Jose State University sophomore Destiny Longmire, the university's first woman track and field athlete to compete in a NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship, earned second-team All-America honors with her 14th place finish in the women's long jump.
After fouling on her first jump, the two-time Mountain West champion jumped a career best 6.23 meters into a head wind on her second of three attempts. She completed her three-jump sequence with a legal 6.13 meters mark.
"I was very happy with my results and what I did today," said Longmire, whose previous best legal jump was 6.20 meters earlier this season.
The San Jose State record holder in the women's long jump had her best mark of the national championship even though she ran down the runway a second time on her most successful attempt.
"The way I pushed out didn't feel right, so I started over again. If the push out isn't what it is supposed to be, I'll start over again," Longmire said about her best jump.
"The winds were giving everybody grief. She did a good negotiating the wind," said San Jose State University director of track and field Jeff Petersmeyer.
"To be 14th (in a field of 24 and be an All-American) your sophomore year at the national meet is a great accomplishment. It's tough to come here with no teammates, sit in a hotel room by yourself and do nothing but think about long jumping. She came out here had a foul (on her first attempt) and then had her best jump in a head wind. As tiny as she is, that just shows you how strong she is. We're proud of her," added Petersmeyer about her accomplishments.
"It means a lot, because when I came here (to San Jose State), I wanted to make history. The track team is new and there was a lot of opportunity to do things. To actually do it, it reminds me of why I came here," she said about being the first female track and field athlete from San Jose State in the five-year history of the program to compete at a NCAA Track and Field Championship and the first to earn All-America honors.
University of Georgia's Keturah Orji, the 2018 NCAA women's indoor track and field champion in the women's long jump, was the event winner leaping 6.67 meters on her fourth attempt. A mark of 6.36 meters was necessary in the first three jumps to be in the top nine and earn three more attempts in the event.