PHS athlete header for Junior Olympics nationals

PORTALES — Portales High senior-to-be Jessica Campbell didn’t have to worry about winning the heptathlon competition at last weekend’s U.S. Track & Field Junior Olympics Region 10 competition at Mesa (Arizona) Community College.

That’s because she was the only one competing in her age group (17-18).

Campbell, though, did set personal bests in five of the seven events, plus a personal-high point total with 3,524, and is now scheduled to compete in national Junior Olympics competition next weekend at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

“She just started doing this,” said her coach, Portales native Jack Batson. “She’s getting better at it all the time.”

For Campbell, it was her third meet of the Junior Olympics campaign. Last weekend, she registered personal bests in the 100 hurdles (19.23 seconds), the 200 (28.01), javelin (110-1 1/2), high jump (5-1 3/4) and the 800 (2:42.08) while posting marks of 25-4 in shot put and 14-1 in long jump.

Most of the heptathlon events are new to her this summer. At the Class 4A state level in Albuquerque in May, Campbell placed fourth in high jump at 5 feet and also ran a leg on the Lady Rams’ first-place 800 relay team.

“Every time I went to a (Junior Olympics) track meet, I wasn’t really competing against other people; I was competing time-wise and distance-wise,” she said. “When I threw the javelin in Mesa, it surprised me. Everyone else was using a full approach, and I was just taking a three-step approach.”

Still, she found herself having to put in a lot of work in the various events.

“I didn’t expect this to be that hard,” Campbell said. “I have a new respect for all the different events.”

Batson, formerly a women’s college track coach at New Mexico Military in Roswell, thinks heptathlon may be a way for Campbell to be able to compete at the collegiate level. Campbell agrees and said she’s looking at trying a number of new events next spring at PHS, including the 300 hurdles.

“We were looking for this as a scholarship thing,” Batson said of heptathlon. “I suggested it to her and she said, ‘That sounds kind of interesting.’

“She’s still (improving). If the pressure doesn’t get to her (at Lawrence), I expect her to maybe have a score of 3,500.”