A hop, step and a jump: a common phrase to any triple jumper. The phrase perfectly explains this exact event. Jumpers run up to land precisely on a board and hop onto their other foot, step, almost bounding as far as possible, and finally, jump into a sand pit. Although the sport is not offered at Revere, senior Ally Meixner found a way to compete in the sport and is now committed to jump in college. 

Meixner is committed to Ashland University to triple jump and possesses leadership skills in a multitude of activities she participates in. 

Along with triple jump, Meixner long jumps during the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Long jump is a field event in which jumpers run up to the board and jump on one foot into the sand pit in front of them. If the jumper is over the board, the jump is a foul and not counted; if the jumper is behind the board the jump is counted but only from the board. Meixner explained how she first started the event. 

“When I first started track, I never tried out for long jump. Mrs. Duncan just asked me to do it, and ever since then, I just loved long jump, and it’s the thing I look forward to in track,” Meixner said. 

Lauren Duncan served as her coach in middle school, and Meixner has continued the event every year since. Although not committed for long jump at Ashland, Meixner may participate in both long and triple jump. Meixner explained why. 

“I’m long jumping and triple jumping at Ashland, but what the recruiting coach really liked was how excited I was about triple jump. They have walk-on standards which my long jump wasn’t at, but they don’t have triple jump standards since not many people do it in college, so then he just offered me a spot that day,” Meixner said.

Since triple jump is not offered at Revere in the indoor or outdoor season, Meixner trains outside of Revere and jumps at different meets during the outdoor season. Her track and cross country coach Kevin Somerville explained the effort Meixner exerted to be a triple jumper.

“She, on her own, pursued triple jump last year during the indoor season. She actually took it upon herself to get acquainted with the event and learn that on her own before doing it at an indoor meet that wasn’t one of the typical meets that we do,” Somerville said. 

Meixner got inspiration to start triple jumping when she browsed the MileSplit page. MileSplit has a website that keeps track of all track and field times, jumps and throws from most automatic timed meets and bigger meets. When Meixner scrolled through the last state meet rankings, she found that only a few athletes even do triple jump, and it gave her the idea to try it out in hopes of a state meet. Meixner explained how her meets went last year during the indoor season for triple jump.

“I had never practiced [triple jump] before. I looked it up on YouTube, how to triple jump, [and then] I did a meet, and then I did it at the state meet,” Meixner said. 

Along with triple jump and long jump, Meixner runs all year round in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. This year Meixner served as one of three captains on the cross country team along with seniors Megan Diulus and Kayla Kephart. Diulus explained the dynamic among her, Meixner and Kephart as captains. 

“We balance each other out. . . we take leadership in different ways because we’re all closer with different people. . . . I think coach [Somerville] did a good job picking captains cause it really allowed every person on the team to have a leader and a friend,” Diulus said. 

As a captain, Meixner explained what she does to help and support the team.    

“I will help lead things on the team, just simple things like dynamics and stretching, but also just trying to make the team a cohesive unit, and make sure everyone is doing OK physically and mentally,” Meixner said. 

As captain of the team, Meixner takes on leadership responsibility. Somerville explained how he has seen her mature into the leader she is today. 

“I think she’s really grown into that role as a leader. She’s always had great relationships with her teammates but now has the maturity to lead, not only by example but also vocally and help organize the team,” Somerville said.

Not only has Meixner grown into a leader, she has also improved her skills in her sports both on the field and the track. Somerville explained more on Meixner’s achievements. 

“She’s improved her skill and her ability in long jump and ran her personal record this year in cross country, so she’s really just done great things in both sports throughout the last four years,” Somerville said. 

Outside of school Meixner is busy running and jumping, but during school, she plays a key role as editor of the school yearbook. Yearbook is a class students can take where they learn different layouts, think of creative titles, headlines and captions, take or find photos, ask students for different quotes and combine everything together into different pages to create the yearbook. This is Meixner’s second year on the yearbook staff, and she explained her role as editor. 

“I’m the editor this year, so I have to look at everyone’s pages and read all their captions and just make sure the book flows how it should,” Meixner said. 

As a leader both in and out of school, Meixner needs confidence to take control and help others in these roles. Diulus explained how she’s seen her friend grow into the confident person she is today. 

“I think her confidence has grown a lot. Ally has always been a pretty confident person, but as she’s developed her leadership skills and she’s really grown as a confident person. Obviously you’ll mature as an athlete and improve as an athlete just over the years with experience, but I think gaining confidence is the biggest thing for her,” Diulus said. 

Meixner displays leadership skills on and off the field, and will continue her athletic and academic career at the University of Ashland where she will triple jump and long jump on their team. As Meixner enters the winter season, she begins to search for meets where she can compete as a triple jumper and will begin practicing soon.