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Nesbitt changes his mind about track
Hillside Friday 03.15.13. Oak Park-River Forest's Jamal Baggett competes in the long jump during a boys track meet on Friday, March 15, 2013, at Proviso West High School in Hillside. | Buzz Orr~Sun-Times Media
Friday
Boys volleyball: at Hoffman Estates Invite, 5 p.m.
Coach Don August isn’t afraid of front-loading the schedule. The Huskies will play back-to-back tournaments, starting with the opening round at Hoffman Estates. OPRF already was slated to play Addison Trail and St. Patrick earlier this week. Next week, the Huskies play in Wheaton Warrenville South’s Tiger Classic.
Saturday Baseball: Evanston DH, 10 a.m.
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Updated: April 22, 2013 10:52AM
HILLSIDE — Oak Park-River Forest senior Samora Nesbitt started competing in boys track and field during his sophomore year to get better at football.
Plans changed after he discovered the triple jump.
Nesbitt won the triple jump at the sophomore conference meet, then again at the JV conference meet the following season. On Friday, he took first at the varsity West Suburban Silver indoor meet.
Now he’s primed for a big outdoor season and is looking to try track and field at the collegiate level for either Grand Valley State or Wichita State.
“I love football, to watch,” Nesbitt said. “But to play, I just like the atmosphere of track.”
“He was a football player and I told him to come to track, work on your skills, work on your strength, work on your speed and become a better athlete,” said head track and field coach Tim Hasso. “He started track and field to become a better football player and he ended up putting himself in position to run college track and field. He’s a gifted athlete and he bought in.”
Nesbitt, whose dad played basketball and football at Chicago Parker, quickly mastered one of the more technically difficult events in track and field.
“My coach just kind of threw me into it and I figured it out,” he said. “It’s an unnatural movement but I figured out. Now I’ve been building on my form. I kept working at it, watched videos on YouTube.”
OPRF athletes have enjoyed some success in the event. Then-senior Carl Heinz was fifth in the Class 3A State Meet last year with a triple jump of 46-8.5.
Nesbitt’s best jump as a sophomore was 37-feet-6 and as a junior his top mark was 41-8. On Friday he cleared 43-7 after going 44-2.5 earlier this season. His goals for the outdoor season extend much bigger.
“I want to make it downstate and my final goal for the year is 47 feet,” Nesbitt said. “I just have to work on getting faster and on the last phase of my jump.”
