Brown sets personal record in triple jump on first day of Seminole meet

AMHERST — Tyrease Brown sprints down the long and triple jump runways with a similar style and reckless abandon as he used as a linebacker for Amherst in football — stealthily quick, low to the ground and explosive.

He showcased his speed and athleticism on the first day of the Seminole District championships, Tuesday on the Lancers’ home track, winning the triple jump with a new personal best distance of 47-feet, ¼-inch.

“That should nationally qualify him, too,” Amherst first-year jump coach Derrick Brown said of the Nike Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina in June. “He’s a natural jumper with a lot spring. He’s just a great all-around athlete.”

These days, things are coming at Brown almost as fast as he races down the runway.

On Saturday, he committed to continue his football and track and field career at Glenville State College (W.Va.), where he will play running back and safety and compete in the long and triple jumps.

On Tuesday, after qualifying first for the finals of the triple jump, he didn’t make it back from the high jump pit — located across Lancers Stadium field from the long and triple jump runways — in time to attempt to break the Seminole triple jump meet record set by Altavista’s Tracy Poindexter in 1978.

Derrick Brown, a former lineman on the Lancers football team who graduated from Virginia Tech last May and returned to Amherst to teach biology and assist coach Lance Carter in track and field, was hesitant to let Brown try for the record.

“I kind of want to keep him fresh (for next week’s Region III meet) because he’s got some tweaks in his leg,” he said, including a heel injury he sustained during last month’s Amherst Invitational.

Derrick has helped improve Tyrease’s technique to avoid recurrence of such an injury.

“He just had a couple technique flaws,” Derrick Brown said. “This year we’ve worked on his run-through and his approach a lot and that’s really got him on the board and he’s been able to show people what he’s got.

“Before his was kind of scared to hit it, so he would stutter-step, but you have to run smooth to hit your mark.”

Still, Tyrease does step over the line at times.

“He’s gone 49 feet before in meets, but he’s always scratched,” Derrick said.

“I’ve been jumping 22 and 23 feet in the long jump, but I’ve scratched every time, by maybe an inch,” Tyrease added.

Brown didn’t place in the high jump, or qualify for Thursday’s finals in the 100-meter trials, but finished third in the long jump (20-10), nearly a foot behind Brookville three-sport standout Logan Thomas, who improved his seed mark by more than a foot to win in 21-9. Thomas also finished first in the discus (131-5), qualified first in the 110-meter hurdles (15.80), placed third in the high jump (6-0) and fourth in the shot put (46-4).

But Brown’s efforts helped Amherst stay within sight of the two-time defending district champion Bees, who hold a commanding lead on the Lancers in both the boys (105½ to 55) and girls (68 to 52) competitions heading into Thursday’s track finals at Amherst, starting at 6 p.m.