Jamesha Youngblood has a message for the rest of the Pacific-10 Conference.
Watch out next year.
After finishing third at the conference championships in the triple jump behind four-time winner Erica McLain of Stanford and UCLA’s Renee Williams, another senior, the freshman Youngblood says 2009 will belong to her.
“I don’t want anyone to come in front of me,” she said. “If they do they’re just gonna have to go down, ’cause it’s gonna be my year next year.”
Youngblood’s competitive drive stems from her childhood, she says.
“I just want to succeed in everything that I do, that’s how it’s been my whole life,” she said.
So far she’s done pretty well. A four-time California state meet qualifier – including at least one berth in five different events – Youngblood won titles in several big meets in 2007, including the Pan American Games junior long jump, the Golden West Invitational 300 meter hurdles and long jump, the Nike Indoor Nationals long jump and triple jump, and the California state 300m hurdles and long jump.
That’s not even counting her 2006 titles at the USATF Junior Olympics in the long and triple jumps and AAU Junior Olympics in the triple jump and 400m hurdles.
Despite working with the Oregon coaches to tweak her technique this year, Youngblood has already made a mark at Oregon.
In her first meet at Hayward Field as a Duck, she jumped into second place all-time in the triple jump with a leap of 41 feet, 11.25 inches.

Even though she hasn’t improved it since then (and even that jump is 3.5 inches short of her high school best), she feels that everything is starting to come together.
“This whole year has been a really big learning process for me,” she said. “I’ve been doing good. I’m starting to get it down toward the end of the year.”
She thinks that her third place finish at the Pac-10 meet is even a little deceptive.
She jumped 41-4.5 on her first attempt and still had that as her best mark heading into her last jump. Williams was in second place, just ahead of Youngblood at 42-2.25.
Youngblood’s last jump was 41-3, but she thinks it could easily have been longer.
“I had just finished running my leg of the 4×100,” she said, “and I walked back to the runway and they were like, ‘you’re up,’ and I was like, ‘oh, no.’ I went out there and I did my best, but I felt like if I was fresh I could have placed higher.”
Oregon head coach Vin Lananna has been impressed with the way she has transitioned from high-school stardom to the college scene.
“It’s one thing to be a great high school athlete and another thing to be a great college athlete,” he said. “Whatever happens in between those things is a combination of really very well planned, well thought out and very carefully orchestrated coach-athlete relationship and that’s what she’s been able to develop with (assistant coach) Robert Johnson.”
It was her impression of the coaching staff that drew her to Oregon.
“I really like the coaching and that’s what really drew me to Oregon,” she said.
Youngblood will compete in two events at the West Region Championships this weekend, the triple jump and the 4x400m relay.
She is seeded sixth in the triple jump and the relay team is ranked fifth, just outside of what would qualify for the NCAA Championships, but is just going to approach it as she would a high school sectional meet.
“I look at it as back in high school, trying to qualify for state, so just get my game face on and go out there and compete.”
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