Ever Meyer knows that eventually she’ll be forced to concentrate on one event instead of two.
The Mattituck sophomore competes in the high jump and triple jump. But at some meets, those events are held simultaneously, which was the case at the Suffolk County small schools girls indoor track championships on Sunday afternoon.
One minute Meyer would be flipping over the bar at the high jump. A few minutes later she’d be leaping as far as she could in the triple jump at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. The scenario went back and forth a few times.
“It’s hard doing these two events,” she said.
“Because I’m only a sophomore, I’m hoping to pick one and try to get good at that. I’m pretty decent at both. But I want to be really good at one of them. I can’t really do both. It’s difficult. When both are going on at the same time, I’ll be out of breath, I’ll be tired.”
Meyer was far from content with her performance. She cleared 4-feet-6 inches in the high jump, five inches less than her season, best to take eighth place.
She reached the triple jump finals, finishing sixth at 33-3. That also was five inches shy of her year’s best.
“I wasn’t that happy,” she said. “I have done better, but I’m happy I made it into the finals in the triple jump. That was nice.”
An athlete uses different muscles and techniques in each event. Plus, going from one competition to another can take away some focus. Meyer understood that she needed to have amnesia after a mediocre jump.
“I have to forget what I just did, and I just have to reset,” she said. “I’ll just do my best in the next one. Whatever happened 10 seconds ago, I’ve just got to move on, because they’re two completely separate things, and I can’t mix them. I’ve just got to get over it.”
Meyer also competed at The Metropolitan Invitational in New York City last Thursday in the high jump, taking ninth place at 4-10.
“She’s had a long week,” said Mattituck head coach Chris Robinson. “I know she’s a little frustrated, but we have state qualifiers coming up. … She’ll probably focus on the high jump as opposed to the triple. To be able to lock in for one event is usually the best.”
The state qualifiers are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at SCCC.
If she does reach the states, Meyer said, then “all my work in the season paid off, and that I got to where I wanted to be. I’m not expecting to go to states, but the state quals, I hope I put my best effort in.”
In the 3,000-meter run, Southold sophomore Emily Kaelin cut five seconds and clocked a personal-record 12:16.59. That was good for 15th place.
“My last few meets hadn’t been very good, so it was really nice to get a PR today,” she said. “I just had the right mentality; get the girl in front of you, get the girl in front of you.”
Kaelin made sure she paced herself.
“I didn’t go as hard out on the first lap so that I wouldn’t kill myself,” she said. “I tried to stay under 50 seconds for every lap, which I did, and I don’t usually do, so that definitely helps.”
Her goal is to break 12 minutes.
“I’ve been trying to get under 12:20 and I did that today,” she said.
Another Southold sophomore, Devin Stanton, fell short of her expectations in the long jump. Her best leap was 15-8, good for ninth place.
“It wasn’t what I really wanted,” she said. “It didn’t go as expected, but it’s all right. I’m shooting for mid-16’s or higher.
“My landings were really good, and my air techniques are great, but I just need more power. I need way more power, and I need to work on my sprinting speed.”
Southold senior Jaclyn Martoccia was hoping to best her personal record in the 1,500 meters, but came up short in 9:44.48, 10 seconds off her top time. She finished 14th.
“I started out fine, then my stomach started to hurt in mid-race,” she said.
Southold senior Brianna Grattan took 13th place (9.94) in the 55-meter hurdles.