Marble Falls track’s Cuplin earns silver in long jump at state meet

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior Madison Cuplin (left) with her silver medal from the Class 4A state meet May 14. Sunnyvale senior Chiora Enyinna-Okeigbo won gold and Krum senior Marlie Morris took bronze. Photo courtesy of Brenda Gonzalez/Marble Falls High School

Marble Falls High School junior Madison Cuplin unleashed a leap in the long jump at the Class 4A state meet May 14 that tied her for first place.

It came on her fifth attempt after the leader, Sunnyvale senior Chiora Enyinna-Okeigbo, had the same mark on her fourth attempt at 20 feet and 2.75 inches.

Previously, Enyinna-Okeigbo, who signed with the University of Georgia, had a mark of 20-1.75 on her second attempt to be the leader for most of the competition.

Before Cuplin went back to the runway for her fifth jump, she spoke with horizontal jumping coach Jamie Graham.

“This girl that was ahead of us can really go,” he recalled saying. “She hasn’t hit the board yet and she’s flying, she can really jump. We’re going to need all of the board if we want to beat her. So we’re going to go for it. And if you scratch, you scratch. We know we got second locked up. And if we want first, we have to go for it. We can’t just be safe.”

So they moved the mark three inches and Cuplin “got all but half an inch of the board and got her best jump,” Graham said.

“And then we tried to do the same thing on our last jump and it just didn’t workout,” he said.

Since the two athletes had the same mark, University Interscholastic League rules stipulate that the tiebreaker was each athlete’s second best jump.

While Enyinna-Okeigbo, who was the silver medalist last year with a leap of 18-8.5, had the mark of 20-1.75, Cuplin’s second best was 20-0.5 for silver.

“It doesn’t feel like a silver medal to me – it feels like she tied for gold,” Graham said. “I’m not disappointed – I’m proud. I feel like we got more of the board than we did last year. She was either almost perfect on the board or just barely or might have barely touched the board on all the other jumps. So that’s a good six inches of each jump easily.”

Lady Mustangs head coach Brenda Gonzalez agreed.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” she said. “We’re really happy on how she finished. I know that silver wasn’t the goal — it was gold — but she had a great series.”

Indeed. No foot fouls this year, which means all six of her jumps were measured. In fact the three medalists — including bronze medalist Marlie Morris, a Krum senior, — all had six jumps that were measured. Morris’ leap of 19-0.25 put her on the podium.

And yet, as the competition was winding down, the desire to compete was always evident in Cuplin and her coaches, who all said the same thing.

“You came here for gold and that was the goal,” Gonzalez said. “And that’s when she tied for the lead. The competitor that she is, she wants that gold.”

A year ago, Cuplin took bronze with a leap of 18-6 in her state meet debut.

“This time she moved up and her jumps were better,” Gonzalez said.

Cuplin began with a 19-8 followed by 20-0.5, 19-4.75, 18-11.75, 20-2.75 and 19-2.75.

Once the podium ceremony wrapped, Cuplin was whisked away to rest for the triple jump, which begins at 2:45 p.m.

“I love her attitude,” Graham said. “She’s like ‘OK, I’m ready for triple jump. Let’s get warmed up.'”