All Access: Winston aims to fly high in spring
Wednesday, January 13 2010 - EIU Mega Meet - Ian Winston
Senior overcomes obstacles in career to succeed
Bob Bajek/Sports Editor
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During the Early Bird Invite Dec. 11, senior high jumper Ian Winston flew a soaring 7-0 1/4 feet to reach provisional status for nationals.
"It was fun," Winston said of the fateful jump. "I just kept everything the same. I kept my composure, stayed focused. I looked at (the jump) as this. I did the training over the summer and did my homework."
Winston said he knew he could jump that high when he cleared 7 feet in a summer meet while competing unattached in a north suburb of Chicago.
"I looked at it as if I could do it once, I could do it again," Winston said.
"But I have to keep the same mind state and composure and don't even worry about the competition. The only competition you have is you and the bar."
With further training, Winston thinks he could hit the 7-4 mark that automatically advances a high jumper to nationals.
The provisional mark of 7-0 means Winston is on top of a list to go, but he would have to be consistent with his averages to be eligible.
"A guy last year hit 7-2 ¼, but I want to be on the safer side," Winston said.
At Champaign Central High School, Winston began to jump sophomore year even though he was a 400-meter runner. However, he gained interest when teammate Justin Vashun was jumping.
His high school coach Argie Johnson trained Winston for high jump and built him to fly.
He started at 5-4, and then hit 6-8 his senior year which caught the eye of Tom Akers, director of men's and women's track & field.
There were some bumps along the way. Mistakes hurt Winston's development. One was before he arrived to Eastern.
"I became ineligible from messing up one of my classes in high school," Winston said.
"Since I was ineligible, I had to train on my own freshman year. I kept my grades up, and sophomore year came up and I had a rough start."
Originally, Winston said he was recruited for the 400-meter dash and the high jump, but former jumps coach steepleweb Davis told Winston he was going to be a straight jumper with high and triple jump.
Later that outdoor season, Winston began to excel by matching his personal best 6-8 and consistently jumping at that and 6-9.
Junior year saw Davis leave, and Tobler coming in. This affected his performance as he was getting use to Tobler's new training program.
"Junior year, after enduring everything, I kind of saw how I was falling off for a bit and said to myself 'I am going to work hard and make sure I don't have a repeat of junior year'," Winston said.
Summer training had Winston attempting higher jumps with weighted vests he borrowed from the coaches.
The hills and stadiums at University of Illinois provided an ideal training ground to strengthen Winston's legs.
"Anybody who has been to U of I can understand that those things are not a joke," he said.
Health has not been with Winston this season, as he is suffering from patella tendonitis in his left knee.
He said the injury is an inflammation of the patella tendon from overuse and is a common jumper's ailment.
"I felt pretty blessed to jump 7-0 with a really bad knee," he said. "It was a lot of pain, but like they say, a good percent of track is mental, so you got to keep the same mental aspect as if you are healthy."
Besides track, Winston is a producer and an emcee with the stage name I2K.
The name has been with him for 10 years, he said, and pokes fun at the Y2K virus.
"Rappers, in my opinion, are people who just rap about anything," Winston said. "Emcees spit about what's going on around and what's relevant to the world, what is real."
Winston's producing influences include Mad Lib, J Dilla and Flying Lotus, while his emcee idols are Eminem, Nas, Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West.
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.