Dion Martorano/Staff Reporter
Sophomore jumper Queenie Adeboyejo placed eighth in the Notre Dame Invite with a distance of 39-05 and continues to succeed this season. She has also participated in different sports including basketball and volleyball.(Chelsea Grady/The Daily Eastern News) |
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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Sophomore jumper Queenie Adeboyejo lives up to the statement with everything she does. She has tried just about anything one can imagine a person doing. She kept exploring things until something worked out for her.
Luckily for Eastern track and field, she found her calling in jumps.
She set the fourth highest triple jump in Eastern history on Feb. 6.
Adeboyejo set her career mark with 39-05 at the Notre Dame invite. While most people would be happy about that accomplishment, and she is, Adeboyejo said she has some more left in her.
"I hope to get higher than that and past that; I think my legs are still feeling a little heavy," she said. "We haven't really lightened our load for conference yet. So, hopefully at conference I can pop a really high jump."
Head track coach Tom Akers said Adeboyejo helps Eastern track excel.
"The success of our team has always been based on everyone doing their part," Akers said. "She is obviously a piece of our puzzle and one of the top jumpers of the (Ohio Valley Conference)."
He said Adeboyejo has a high ceiling with her talent.
"I believe that she has the ability to be one of the best jumpers in EIU history, and capable of graduating from here with one, if not both, of the horizontal jump records," Akers said.
One thing she has struggled with is the recent coaching shuffle. Geoff Masanet, the cross country coach, and Adeboyejo's jumps coach, JaRod Tobler, left to pursue other careers.
"It has been kind of difficult going from different coaches," Adeboyejo said. "Losing Coach Tobler (was hard), but I think I am adjusting well. Coach (Mary) Wallace is stepping in and she is doing a really good job. Coach Akers is helping support with the high jump and making sure all our needs are met. The adjustment has gone well, as best as it can."
Her goal this season is to do well in conference and stay healthy.
While she succeeds at track, she is not just a one-trick pony.
She has tried various interests she said have made her better overall as an athlete and a person.
She played basketball and volleyball, and performed in band. She was also involved in cheerleading, gymnastics and ballet. She never had a boring moment growing up.
She said she learned a few things from each activity.
"I think I take the competitiveness from all of them," she said.
Adeboyejo tried other events in track but found that jumps were for her.
"I got interested in jumping freshman year of high school," she said. "I knew I didn't really want to be a runner; it just wasn't working out for me. So I tried other things. I tried shot put and discus, and then I tried jumping, and I was like, 'This is kind of fun, I like this.'"
It did not take her long to figure out what part of track and field she wanted to be a part of, but it did take her a longer time for a career choice.
"I had a dream of being a dancer, but that didn't really work out because I wasn't really coordisteeplewebd," she said. "Then I wanted to be a lawyer, but that didn't work either. Around sophomore year of high school I wanted to become a psychiatrist."
So, at last, it seems she has found what she truly wants to do. She is getting a degree in pre-med.
Dion Martorano can be reached at 581-7944 or dmmartorano@eiu.edu.
