Boys’ Track: Chuang excels in long jump

In sixth grade, junior Eric Chuang tried out for the track team as a way to stay in shape but came to find that he had a real passion for it. After trying long jump for the first time, he discovered a natural talent for the event and has stuck with it since, excelling at it and becoming one of the best long jumpers on the team.

“Eric is easily both one of the best sprinters and jumpers on the team,” said track Coach Archie Ljepava. “I definitely see him as being one of the top athletes next year.”

His current personal record for long jump is 19 feet, 7 inches, a huge improvement compared to his previous record of 18 feet, 8 inches last year. However, his main goal this year is to improve even more by breaking 20 feet, said Chuang.

“I want to get better in this event and break 20 feet because it is a big plateau for long jumpers which I want to overcome. Breaking it is one of those things where once you finally hit it, it shows that you’ve hit the next level, so I’m determined to hit it,” said Chuang.

Chuang is working hard toward his goals for this year and is trying his best to stay motivated despite a tough junior year schedule.

“Eric has improved tremendously between this year and last year,” said Ljepava. “He is much more focused this year and is on track to break his PR.”

Although Chuang competes in the long jump, triple jump, 100 meter and 100 meter relay, his favorite event out of all of these is long jump.

“I love competing in individual events because you can really mark your improvement,” said Chuang.

Yet, Chuang is not completely confident that he will accomplish his goal but he is hoping he will.

“It is kind of a 50-50 chance because you just need to keep practicing jumps until you hit that one perfect jump; after that, you will just get it,” said Chuang. “I just need to keep on practicing and practicing until I break it.”

The League Top Eight was on April 23 and all of the eight best athletes in each event will compete with each other. For complete results of the meet visit SaratogaFalcon.org/sports.