Growing up in Portland, UO jumper Chance Whitehurst aspired to be an Oregon athlete, but on a different field.
“My first goal actually was to play football at the University of Oregon,” Whitehurst said. “Then I realized I was better at track.”
It wasn’t until Whitehurst’s junior year attending Grant High School that he took up the sport seriously, letting go of his football dream.
His path to Oregon, however, took longer than he envisioned.
Whitehurst settled for a partial scholarship at the University of Cincinnati after a leg injury ended his senior year prematurely. He redshirted his freshman year at Cincinnati and during the course of his rehab, transferred to Oregon to be closer to home and fulfill his dream of representing Oregon.
Whitehurst’s journey continued Saturday at the Oregon Relays with a win in the men’s triple jump. The redshirt sophomore jumped a personal best of 49 feet, 9 ¼ inches, only a week after breaking his previous best in the Pepsi Invitational. But according to the redshirt sophomore, his recent improvements are just scraping the surface of what he’s capable of.
“Technically it was a personal best, but with where my goals are and where I aspire to be, I want to be much further than this,” Whitehurst said. “But this is great stepping stone for me.”
Whitehurst struggled previously executing his jumps during meets, particularly when he showed promise in practice. On Saturday, head coach Robert Johnson saw Whitehurst put it together.
“To see him actually do it on meet day is great,” Johnson said. “We really keep harping on some of the phases of his jump that have been less than stellar.”
Behind Whitehurst, Blair Robinson of Cerritos College finished second (48-3 1/2) and Northern Colorado’s Francisco Au placed third (47-1 3/4)
Whitehurst will next compete May 6 in the Oregon Twilight meet, where he won the triple jump during the 2015 season.
