Track: Marisa Ellis Will be Jumping on her way to Kingsville

Senior High Jumper Maris Ellis

Hawks Region Track qualifiers will take center stage on Friday as they will show off their skills against fellow athletes from 8 Districts from Region IV.

Marisa Ellis will be another Hawk that will be entered in two events and will be trying to make her second trip to Austin with a first or second finish.

Ellis was in Austin last year where she finished 6th Place for Canyon Lake in the Triple Jump.

This year and how the competition looks, Ellis might have a better chance of going to the State Meet via the High Jump.

Ellis had a 5’5 jump in a meet that was not deemed official earlier this year and a jump like that on Friday would certainly give her a decent chance of advancing as their seems to be a log jam with several of the students having a 5’4 inch standard.

Six of the eight districts in Region IV have qualifiers with that same 5’4 inch mark.

This will be an event where a girl that scratches at any height especially the lower marks might be on the outside looking in since so many of the ladies are so close in abilities.

Strategy might be the best avenue as each jumper could wait out the lower heights in enter the jumps later giving that athlete a better chance. Of course, that could also hurt since working your way up the ladder might be their best bet to advance.

You can see how interesting this event will be and it seems to have a chance for a lot of drama.

Marisa Ellis’ forte event has always been her Triple Jump as it seems that her interest in this event has made Canyon Lake one of the best Girl’s Triple Jump group in this area. No matter the classification of School.

This season Canyon Lake has three athletes on the JV team that finished 1-2-3 in their District 27-3A Meet two weeks ago.

Marisa’s sister Mariah has also improved a great deal the last two years and almost had a chance to finish in 3rd place in the District Meet.

Marisa Ellis will seem to have a tougher road with this event as two jumpers from this same Region qualified for the Region Meet with jumps of 40’11.25 and 39’0. Marisa has a jump of 37’3.75 and will need to up that mark or hope a mess-up from one of those two students can give her another chance at state.

There are only three triple jumpers outside Region IV that have a longer jump than Marisa Ellis as this event heats up Friday. That makes her present jump ranked 6th in the state.

The ReSporter had a chance to ask Ellis some questions about this years meet.

The ReSporter: What is your hope as you go into your senior season Region Meet?

Marisa Ellis: “Yeah…I hope to do good.”

The ReSporter: How do you feel about your High Jump chances this year?

Marisa Ellis: “Yes, I feel good about this event, I have been doing pretty good with it and I just have to work on kicking.”

The ReSporter: Tell us about the Triple Jump.

Marisa Ellis: “I would like to be jumping further. Since last year, I just now have hit the 37 mark.”

The ReSporter: What will it take for you to get more distance on your jump?

Marisa Ellis: “I need to work on getting faster, because if I can get faster, then my momentum will carry me further.”

The ReSporter: What is the strategy with the Triple Jump?

Marisa Ellis: “My hops are good, but if I can get more speed then my third phase would give me more distance by using that momentum from being faster.”

The ReSporter: Do you think some of the younger girls have seen your triple jumps and that being an event that has more students wanting to get involved with this event?

Marisa Ellis: “I don’t think so, the girls that are jumping now were jumping before I moved here. We do have a good group of freshman and this gives them something to prove.”

The ReSporter: Thanks Marisa and good luck in Kingsville and we hope you are as busy in Austin when you have to juggle to events again.