Spotlight: Jarrion Lawson jumps into the nation's elite

With only a few major summer events left, Jarrion Lawson, a recent graduate of Liberty-Eylau (Texarkana, Texas), still leads the nation with 2012 bests in the long jump and triple jump. And he did it all on one day despite battling a slight headwind and misty rain.

During the star-studded Texas state track meet, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound Lawson shattered Class 3A records by winning the long jump at 25 feet, 8 inches and the triple jump at 51 feet, 10 1/4 inches.

Lawson told MaxPreps, "That was a big day for me, because I broke both records. I broke the triple by over a foot and missed the overall (all classes) record by one inch. I took all six of my jumps and the best one was the last one. (In the long jump) I was trying to go 26 feet, because I had gone 25-10 3/4 (wind-aided) in the regional. I did 25-8 on my first try, but I was tired and it was kind of humid."

He fouled on his second long jump attempt and he estimates that he soared around 26-2 or 26-3 on that occasion.

His high school coach, Drew Norwood, calls it "the one that got away. He scratched by a toenail. The state meet was the only time all year that he took all six of his jumps, because he is so important to us in the running events."

Lawson apparently was destined to be a jumper, according to a story told by Brannon Sledge, his cousin and AAU coach.

"He broke his arm twice, at age 4 and 6," Sledge recalled. "The first time he was jumping on a bed and fell off the bed. The second time he was running through the house and no more than five seconds after his mother had told him to stop, he slipped on the kitchen floor and broke the same arm."

However, his first event at age 9 was the 400-meter dash.

"He was a natural 400 runner," Sledge said.

Lawson conceded, "I won all my races. It was long. I was successful, but I didn't like doing it."

He finally got his shot at the long jump a couple years later, but he was just average for his age group. As a high school freshman he wasn't even the top prospect, but he did go from the freshman to JV to varsity that year until a back injury limited any chance for success.

The summer before his sophomore year, however, he made a breakthrough by placing eighth in the triple jump during the Junior Olympics in Norfolk, Va. The next summer he won the triple jump gold medal at the Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa.

His sophomore year he also made strides on his high school team and ran the third leg on the state champion 4x400 relay. He also placed fourth in the state triple jump after winning the regional.

"The big reason was that I skipped basketball my sophomore year. I went into the weight room (he can bench press 255 pounds) and ran bleachers," Lawson said.

Norwood added, "Jarrion worked so hard and was so dedicated that he made leaps and bounds. He was so much better as a sophomore. He grew some and worked hard in the weight room. The gains he made in strength really started to show. By the end he was a big difference maker. We had tried to hide him (on the relay). He went from 51 seconds to 48.8 and was a weapon."

That was the only year Lawson did not play varsity basketball and he also played three years of varsity football, so he never had much time to concentrate on track. He averaged 7.1 points with a high game of 21 as a senior forward. In football he was an All-State cornerback with five interceptions as a senior. He had football scholarship offers from such colleges as Missouri, Wyoming and Arkansas.

His promising junior year was plagued by a hairline fracture of his left ankle, perhaps from that basketball season.

"I jumped on it for eight or nine weeks," Lawson said. "I sat out in the middle of the season (two or three weeks) and came back the week before the district meet."

Sledge pointed out, "We thought he had a sprained ankle. He still jumped around 48 feet in the triple and 23 feet in the long jump with a stress fracture. That's remarkable."

His recovery was so amazing that he won state championships in the triple (49-1 1/2) and the long jump (24-5) despite being out of shape.

Lawson admitted, "I didn't think I would do that well. I won the long jump on my last jump. I was in fourth place before that."

Finally, there was no doubt that Lawson had arrived as a star and he proved it as a senior. His two state-meet records elevated him to No. 1 in the nation and so far no one has knocked him off that pedestal.

Norwood observed, "You've got a state champion - wow! That's excellent. A national leader is phenomenal. It's once in a lifetime to coach a kid like this. He is the best we've ever had."

Lawson had a shot at the Olympic Trials in the long jump, but elected to seek a berth in the World Juniors, with qualifying at Bloomington, Ind.

Then he will take his 3.4 GPA to the University of Arkansas where he will study engineering. Alabama was his second choice out of about 20 scholarship offers.

Down the road, Norwood said, "He's got his sights set on going to the Olympics and going after records. Who knows when he devotes all his time to track how good he can be. He's still growing. There's no telling."

Sledge predicts Olympic and possibly professional success for Lawson.

He noted, "He has great work ethic. He's the type who would do whatever you asked. He never had a problem doing extra work. He always has been a big worker. I'm very proud of him and grateful that he's been able to experience these things at a young age. You can tell he's confident the way he carries himself, but he's still very humble. I really can see that (future stardom). Once he gets under the right coach and the right eating habits I can see him going very far."