Track and field preview: Timberline’s Taylor, like father and uncle, one of state’s elite jumpers
This story begins in 1984, when Johnny Taylor, a prolific triple jumper at Timberline High School, won a Class 3A state title.
The parade of Taylor titles started there.
Johnny won two more, including setting the school record his senior season, uncorking a jump of 48 feet, 6 1/2 inches to win his third consecutive title in 1986.
His younger brother, Richie, continued the impressive run with another title in 1987.
The next Taylor — Jaylen, a Timberline senior with the best mark statewide so far this season — is on the cusp of bringing a fifth title to the family 30 years later.
He leads all jumpers after posting a personal-best 46-8 — which broke former Federal Way star Mason Sallee’s meet record — at the Kent-Meridian Invite on March 25.
“When I was in the air, I could feel it,” Jaylen Taylor said. “It felt good through it all. Right when I was about to hit the ground — everything going through my mind at once — it was a thrill.”
But chasing records and state titles is skipping a bit ahead. The youngest Taylor had to get on a runway first.
Zandrea Edenstrom (née Shattuck) was a triple jumper at Tumwater in the late 1990s.
Richie Taylor, Jaylen’s father, was her coach.
“I was the same as Jaylen — never tried it,” Edenstrom said.
Edenstrom was a dancer, but Richie Taylor coached her to as high as a second-place finish in the triple jump her senior year in 1999 before she went on to compete for Eastern Washington University.
“He taught me from scratch — from nothing,” she said. “It’s kind of the same with Jaylen. I felt like it came full circle. Now I get to coach him in triple jump.”
But it took some convincing.
Edenstrom took over for Johnny Taylor as the Timberline jumps coach in 2004. When Jaylen arrived at the school, she was excited to coach the next Taylor.
“The Taylor genes — you have to try track,” she said.
Jaylen Taylor played baseball his freshman year and it wasn’t until the following winter he decided to compete in track and field.
Taylor said he trained with his father prior to the season, but not for the triple jump.
“All winter we were training for the 400,” he said. “The second or third day of practice, Coach Edenstrom got me into triple jump.
“She said, ‘You’re a Taylor, you need to try this out.’ ”
Taylor’s first jump his sophomore season was 34-0. His next outing, he sailed to 39-5 1/2. By then, he said, the movement already felt natural.
He was at 40-11 by the end of the season.
“As soon as I started improving, I was like, ‘I can do this. I can go somewhere far with this,’ ” Taylor said.
By the end of his junior season, his best mark was 44-9 1/2. He also took sixth at the 4A track and field state championships at Mount Tahoma last May.
“He kept working on it with me his junior year,” Edenstrom said. “I think that’s when he realized his potential.”
Taylor joined the Flying AJ’s, a track and field club based out of University Place, last April.
“After he started that, he just really started to improve because he was doing it all year round,” Edenstrom said.
“His dad sent me videos of him jumping all indoor season. You could tell by just doing the triple jump consistently, he’s really improved.”
Taylor opened his season with a 46-2 at the South Sound Jamboree on March 15. He broke Sallee’s record the following weekend.
“It felt great knowing that I’m the best ever to go through that meet and, right now, best in the state,” Taylor said.
Taylor has topped the state marks since the season began. Letters arrive from colleges, and Taylor — who is a teaching assistant for Edenstrom, who teaches science at Timberline — excitedly tells her about them.
He keeps a lists of schools — Clemson is at the top — that he would like to jump for in college.
“I have all of the entry standards to my top colleges taped on my door,” Taylor said. “I look at that every day to see my goals.”
Some of those are distances, but one goal is to be Timberline’s first boys triple jump champion since his father won it.
Since Edenstrom started coaching, Austin Parker, who was the 4A state runner-up in 2015, is Timberline’s best finisher.
“To get a champion would be awesome,” she said.
Taylor certainly could be that jumper.
He will compete at two prestigious West Coast invitationals — the Arcadia Invitational in Los Angeles and the Oregon Relays in Eugene — during the next two weeks.
From there, he’ll barrel toward the state championships in May, by which time he wants to exceed 50 feet.
Edenstrom said that to reach that elite standard, Taylor’s path is now about building core strength and flexibility.
“I’m out here (on the track) whenever I can be,” Taylor said. “If I can’t be out here, I’m at home doing my homework, researching what I can do.”
Part of that, he said, is tracking the other top jumpers in the state.
“I’m checking that every meet,” he said. “Every decent jumper in the state, I’m checking to see when their meets are. … Did they jump farther than me?”
Nope. Not yet.
Lauren Smith: 360-754-5473, @smithlm12
Boys track and field primer
TEAM TO WATCH
Black Hills brought 11 athletes to the Class 2A state championships last season, reached the podium in eight events, and took home the crown. Much of that crew has graduated, but seniors Austen Daisa (second, shot put) and Kyler Nygren (third, 4x100 relay; fifth, long jump), and sophomore Jordan Claridge (sixth, javelin) all return. Northwest Christian took second in 2B a year ago, and returns senior Luke Schilter, who won the title in the 3,200.
ATHLETES TO WATCH
Josh Braverman, River Ridge, sr.: University of Iowa signee leads the state in the 110 hurdles (14.25) and 300 hurdles (37.62), where he is the reigning 2A champ.
Austen Daisa, Black Hills, sr.: Took second in the 2A shot put (50-9 3/4) as a junior — the titlist edged him by just over an inch — to help the Wolves to the team title.
Josh Kennedy, River Ridge, sr.: Rochester transfer has the best high jump mark in 2A at 6-4. Topped out at 6-5 last year at the Lewis County Invitational — 6-4 won the 2A title.
Luke Schilter, Northwest Christian, sr.: Won the 2B title in the 3,200 (9:44.76) last season, and added a cross country title to his collection last fall.
Jaylen Taylor, Timberline, sr.: Leading the state in the triple jump at 46-8, and leading 3A by more than a foot. Took sixth in 4A a season ago.
MARK THE DATE
Saturday, April 29: 57th Shelton Invitational — Athletes from 13 local schools are scheduled to compete in the annual invitational at Shelton High School.
RETURNING STATE PLACERS
4A — Ryan Underland, Olympia, sr. (fifth, discus).
3A — Tim Fisher, Capital, jr. (fourth, 4x100 relay); Cody Hall, Shelton, jr. (eighth, javelin); Jaylen Taylor, Timberline, sr. (sixth, 4A triple jump); Jason Turner, Capital, sr. (fourth, 4x100 relay).
2A — Josh Braverman, River Ridge, sr. (fifth, 200; second, 110 hurdles; first, 300 hurdles; sixth, long jump); Jordan Claridge, Black Hills, soph. (sixth, javelin); Alex Coleman, River Ridge, sr. (sixth, 4x100 relay; seventh, triple jump); Austen Daisa, Black Hills, sr. (second, shot put); Kyler Nygren, Black Hills, sr. (third, 4x100 relay; fifth, long jump).
1A — Brandon Butcher, Elma, sr. (sixth, 4x400 relay); Ira Hartford, Elma, sr. (sixth, 4x400 relay).
2B — Corban Phillips, Northwest Christian, sr. (fourth, 3,200); Ian Russell, Rainier, jr. (seventh, discus); Luke Schilter, Northwest Christian, sr. (third, 800; fifth, 1,600; first, 3,200).
1B — Ian Frost, Mary M. Knight, jr. (second, discus).
Girls track and field primer
TEAM TO WATCH
Northwest Christian has plenty back to improve on its fourth-place 2B finish in Cheney last season. The Navigators return four state placers — who reached the podium 11 times — to their roster. Heidi Sowers, a senior, placed in the top four in each of her four events, including winning a 2B title in the 300 hurdles. Tumwater took sixth last year in 2A and has several athletes back, including senior Bella Foos, who currently has top-10 times in 2A in the 200 and 400.
ATHLETES TO WATCH
Bella Foos, Tumwater, sr.: Took fourth in the 400 (58.69) last season, and was a leg of the T-Birds’ sixth-place 4x400 relay (4:09.77), which returns every leg.
Megan McSheffrey, Northwest Christian, jr.: Leads 2B in the 400 (59.96) after a third-place finish last season. He’s the only runner in 2B under one minute so far.
Keshara Romain, Timberline, jr.: Took fourth in 4A in the triple jump as a junior, and has the second-best mark in 3A this season (35-7 1/2).
Heidi Sowers, Northwest Christian, sr.: Won the 2B title in the 300 hurdles (45.87) last season, and reached the podium in the 100 hurdles, triple jump and 4x400 relay.
Kaylee Sowle, Mary M. Knight, soph.: Won the 1B title in the high jump (5-2) as a freshman and was the runner-up in the 100 and long jump.
MARK THE DATE
Friday, May 5: 53rd Bob Shaner Invitational — Northwest Christian’s Heidi Sowers is the two-time reigning female athlete of the meet, and will go for a third at Tumwater District Stadium.
RETURNING STATE PLACERS
4A — None.
3A — Keshara Romain, Timberline, jr. (fourth, 4A triple jump).
2A — Kendra Bottenberg, W.F. West, jr. (seventh, javelin); Tiana Cole, Tumwater, sr. (sixth, 4x400 relay); Bella Foos, Tumwater, sr. (fourth, 400; sixth, 4x400 relay); Madi Frampton, Black Hills, jr. (eighth, 100 hurdles); Codi Short, Tumwater, sr. (sixth, 4x400 relay); Sydney Smith, Tumwater, sr. (sixth, 4x400 relay).
1A — None.
2B — Nicole Francis, Rainier, sr. (seventh, pole vault); Elaina Hansen, Rainier, soph. (seventh, 3,200); Megan McSheffrey, Northwest Christian, jr. (third, 400; fifth, 800; seventh, 300 hurdles; fourth, 4x100 relay); Heidi Sowers, Northwest Christian, sr. (third, 100 hurdles; first, 300 hurdles; fourth, 4x400 relay; second, triple jump); Elizabeth Stottlemyre, Northwest Christian, sr. (second, javelin; fourth, 4x100 relay); Eliana Summers, Northwest Christian, jr. (sixth, 1,600; second, 3,200).
1B — Kaylee Sowle, Mary M. Knight, soph. (second, 100; first, high jump; second, long jump).
Lauren Smith: lsmith@theolympian.com
This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Track and field preview: Timberline’s Taylor, like father and uncle, one of state’s elite jumpers."