“After I jumped it, I was disappointed,” Hobson said. “Then when they put down the board it was like, oh, maybe this is going to be better than we expected.”
Hobson started his performance in the long jump competition with a 23-foot-10-inch jump. He would go on to jump 24-4.50 in the event and then follow it up with 45-11 in the triple jump ““ lifetime bests in both events.
With his long jump mark, Hobson, who took the event, was also able to earn his NCAA regional qualifier.
In the triple jump, Hobson improved over two feet on his previous lifetime best. What makes this even more impressive is that Hobson started practicing the triple jump this past Tuesday, days after the meet.
“We always knew that he had multi-events capabilities,” head coach Art Venegas said. “He has shown flashes in every event of being potentially great.”
At the UCLA Invitational, Hobson, who competes in all three jump events did not participate in the high jump, his favorite event.
“High jump takes the most focus,” Hobson said. “There are so many little, tiny things involved with it that it makes me amazed to see it.”
Hobson said he sat out of the high jump to “build up some anxiousness.” He did not let missing his favorite event plague him, however, and he was able to feed off the hometown crowd.
“Before I knew it, everyone was focused on long jump and the announcer got everyone into it,” Hobson said. “That got me pumped up, so I just started bringing it.”
With his banner weekend, Hobson now sits qualified for regionals in both the long jump and the high jump. The probability of Hobson qualifying in triple jump as a third event looks more and more likely every week.
“If it was my choice, I definitely would not be doing triple jump. That would be too much pounding on my legs in one day,” Hobson said. “I feel like with high jump and long jump, I would be able to advance to the national championships.”
With the season in full swing and two important dual meets on the horizon, Hobson is going to put personal preference aside and do whatever it takes for his team.
“I’m going to do (the triple jump) for the team against Oregon and ‘SC and try to squeeze off some points,” Hobson said.