By Jacob Miller
Redshirt sophomore O’Shea Wilson is off to a fast start this season and has had success early on in the long jump. His jump at the Hawkeye Invitational has him leading the nation.
Wilson was named the Big Ten men’s Field Athlete of the Week on Wednesday by the league office after his performance at the Hawkeye Invitational on Jan. 14. This is the first time for Wilson to receive the honor.
“He had been looking really good on the runway, and we were being real conservative with him, but I just decided to open him up and see what he can do,” said Joey Woody, the Iowa director of track and field. “I wasn’t expecting the No. 1 jump in the country, but he was real consistent as far as the jumps he was putting in. He was just scratching a few of his jumps, but we knew once he got a mark it was going to be a big one.”
Wilson not only broke his personal record in the long jump, which was previously 7.67 meters (25-2), he also set the mark for the longest jump in the NCAA this season with a distance of 7.86 meters (25-9.5).
Wilson’s jump is also the third best in school history.
“I think it’s something that we always thought O’Shea could accomplish,” said Clive Roberts, the associate head coach. “He’s got phenomenal speed, and that’s 90 percent of a great jump. There are not a lot of slow world-class long jumpers, so because Coach Woody does such a great job with him developing his speed, I think he was set up to be successful.”
This is the first time in two and a half years that Wilson has been able to participate in the long jump because of previous injuries. He has been riddled with injuries, ranging from an ankle surgery to tearing his hamstrings. These forced Wilson to watch meets from the sidelines, leaving him longing to return to the track. Many of his teammates did not even know he was a long jumper.
“It made me hungrier cause being injured and sitting out and watching all my friends win Big Ten titles and travel to meets made me miss what I miss about track, like what I jump for,” Wilson said. “I told everybody I was finally long-jumping, and some of the team didn’t know I long-jumped at all because I haven’t jumped in two and a half years, so just the team being there actually helped me jump farther and got my confidence up.”
Even though Wilson has had success early on this season, it does not mean he is going to be slowing down by any means. He is going to continue pushing his limit as the year progresses.
“He’s a gamer, a true gamer as far as when he puts on the uniform he becomes a totally different athlete,” Woody said. “You’re not going to see 25-foot jumps in practice, but you’re going to see a guy that takes it to a whole new level when the gun goes off, when he gets to wear the Iowa uniform.”
