Midway through the track and field season, Denton head coach Reginald Seastrunk decided to have Johnson Amadi, one of his top athletes, try out in the triple jump.

Amadi had no experience in the event, but based on his athleticism and work ethic, Seastrunk figured Amadi would be able to build on his technique and eventually perform at a high level.

Two months later, Amadi blossomed into one of the state’s top triple jumpers.

“I thought that I would be good at it,” Amadi said of the triple jump. “So I went out there in practice and tried it. Coach had me jumping the next week in a meet.”

Amadi will seek the ultimate prize today at the Class 4A state track and field meet in Austin. His path to the state meet is somewhat remarkable, considering his first attempt at the triple jump occurred in mid-March.

Seastrunk said he felt confident in Amadi’s ability as a sprinter and high jumper to do well in the triple jump.

“We were looking at him when we did our tests, and he was a 36-inch vertical guy,” Seastrunk said. “A lot of the stuff he was doing in the high jump translates over into triple jump, so we asked him to try out.”

After learning the technique in practice, Amadi showed potential, and Seastrunk elected to give Amadi his first competitive try at the triple jump in the Guyer Wildcat Relays on March 13.

“We decided to put him in a meet and see what he does,” Seastrunk said. “The first meet he did a 42-3, but he scratched and almost did a 45. So we knew we had something special from that point.”

Amadi placed third at the Wildcat Relays in his first-ever attempt at the triple jump. His initial performance ignited a string of successful results. Following the Wildcat Relays, Amadi improved on his distance in each meet, leading up to the District 5-4A meet, where he posted his personal best distance of 46-9 1/2 to win the district title.

Amadi captured a narrow victory at regionals, where he rebounded from a poor first jump to win the event on his final leap of 46-3 3/4, defeating Crowley’s Pat Briscoe by less than an inch.

“I am pleased with the fact that on his first jump he got rattled, but he was able to gather himself,” Seastrunk said. “On his third jump, which is typically his worst jump, he got a great jump in there. He had to win it on the last jump, and he did by fractions of an inch. That showed me more about him than anything.”

Amadi has the No. 5 seed at the state meet among eight competitors, with Texas City’s Lee Prevost leading the way with a seed mark of 48-3 1/2. The triple jump consists of three phases, and Sea-strunk said the second phase is crucial for Amadi to put up a good jump.

“Right now, his second phase is going to be the thing that could get him to win state,” he said. “His second phase is not quite where we would like it to be, but the one good thing about it is that, at the regional meet, he had six jumps and each jump got better.”

Despite just learning the triple jump, Amadi said he knew that he would go to state this season.

“I knew I was going to be going, but I didn’t know what for, because I just started triple jump this year,” said Amadi, who also plays wide receiver and cornerback on the Denton football team. “I didn’t know that I could do that well, but I knew I was going to be going to Austin somehow.

“It feels great [to be going to state] because I have been out there working hard for a long time. It’s nice to know that I’m going somewhere.”

Amadi’s ability to learn the technique of the triple jump in only two months – and qualify for state — perhaps opens the door for other possibilities next season. 

“We may come up with something new next year that he has not done before, like the 800 meters,” Seastrunk said.

BRAD McDONNELL can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is bmcdonnell@dentonrc.com .