
Jumps U Ready for Oregon
Jun 08, 2026 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The Manhattan skies are clear and the track is hot as Tah Chikomba, who owns the longest long jump in the world since 2019 and whose jump of 8.75 meters (28 feet, 8.5 inches) in the NCAA West Preliminary ranks eighth longest in world history, makes his way over to second-year Kansas State jumps coach Clive Pullen, who represented Jamaica in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Pullen has worked with many fine jumpers in a coaching career that began at his alma mater Arkansas (2017-18, 2021-23) before stops at Tennessee (2018-21) and Kansas (2023-24), but the 31-year-old 2017 Arkansas graduate in Computer Engineering, who joined his personal coach, Travis Geopfert, when the former Arkansas associate head coach came to K-State in 2024, witnessed a feat from Chikomba in the West Preliminary on May 27 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that just didn't compute.
"When Tah made that jump, in that immediate moment, my knees went weak, and I almost fell to the ground," Pullen says, standing off to the side of the track while watching Chikomba during last Friday's practice in Manhattan. "That was the longest jump I've ever physically witnessed. It's stuff that we've been talking about, stuff we've been collecting, and we knew something was on the horizon. I knew it was going to be special. You can't put a cap on that kid. He's special.
"He's just now realizing what he's capable of."
Chikomba, a junior who last Friday was named a Bowerman Award finalist (the Heisman Trophy of track and field), is obviously the favorite to stand atop the winner's podium after the long jump competition at the NCAA Championships, which runs Wednesday through Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. His effort at the West Preliminary marked an all-conditions collegiate record, topping the 8.74 meters by Erick Walder in 1997. Meanwhile, Walder currently owns the farthest jump in NCAA Championship history at 8.53 meters in 1993.
Geopfert, over an accomplished 22-year coaching career, has now mentored four Bowerman Award finalists, 106 NCAA First Team All-Americans, and he has coached 15 Olympians. Days after Chikomba's feat, Geopfert struggles to put it all into words.
"He's world class, elite, and maybe the best ever," Geopfert says. "The historical significance isn't lost on me. It's the farthest jump in NCAA history. You look at the legends he's ahead of on that NCAA all-time list — Erick Walder, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell — and, wow, he's just a world-class athlete."
Chikomba, a native of Zimbabwe, credits Pullen and Geopfert for their coaching, and the Meridian Community College transfer, who visited K-State in September 2024 and then cancelled his other recruiting trips to Alabama, USC and LSU, isn't finished in his quest to be the best ever.
"I know what I did and I know what I'm capable of doing," Chikomba says. "When I left home, I told my family I wanted to achieve great things. To jump this far, it's just amazing to my mom. Now I have to finish business."
He'll have plenty of support as the K-State jumps team is taking nine jumpers to the NCAA Championships — the most of any school in the country.
Wait. Nine jumpers?
Some schools send three jumpers. Some send four.
K-State is sending nine.
Incredible.
"I don't think anything we're doing is normal by any stretch," Pullen says. "I'm really looking forward to nationals. As an athlete under Travis and now being a coach alongside Travis, I know this is the time of year that we just start to get going. The job's not done yet. We still have stuff to work on."
There are assuredly more stories on the way.
For now, we can marvel at what's to come in Eugene.
There's Croix DaCunha, an Arkansas transfer and redshirt freshman from Dripping Springs, Texas, who punched his ticket for the long jump in the West Preliminaries with a sixth-place finish of 7.83 meters, which tied his personal best and was the ninth-farthest long jump in the history of K-State track and field.
"Croix is a redshirt freshman who's super young on his learning curve and he has a lot of upside, and he is just scratching the surface in realizing what he's capable of," Pullen says. "We've been practicing the first jump all season and he was able to get it done on his first jump."
There's sophomore Uroy Ryan, who transferred from Arkansas and finished third in the West Preliminary with a jump of 8.01 meters, which is the third-farthest jump in the history of K-State track and field.
"Uroy transferred from Arkansas to K-State and he has a lot of upside, and he's super coachable and eager to learn," Pullen says. "He's had a tremendous year, and he's broken his personal best multiple time and has improved consistently."
There's senior triple jumper Apalos Edwards, an Arkansas transfer, who finished third in the West Preliminaries with a jump of 16.65 meters, which is the fourth-best mark in the history of K-State track and field.
"He's a kid we recruited to Arkansas and had success there and came over with one outdoor season to go and with a lot of uncertainties," Pullen says. "He was banged up quite a bit coming in and more so more than anything it was just his mental fortitude. We worked a lot mentally with mental reps in knowing everything we did in preparation had to be in high quality. No stone was left unturned. I stayed on him like white on rice. He never had the opportunity to mess up.
"He's poised and ready to go after a tremendous conference championship in which he set his personal best. He's on the brink of something special."
There's sophomore Selva Prabhu, a native of Madurai, India, who won the triple jump in the Big 12 Championships and finished runner-up with a jump of 16.68 meters at the West Preliminary, improving on his No. 3 all-time mark in K-State track and field history.
"Selva is a rockstar," Pullen says. "He's a special kid, a competitor and he's finally found an environment that can help him from a competition standpoint. His season might not end until September this year. Managing him and his reps, it's been fun."
Finally, among the men's jumpers is junior Aaron Antoine, a native of Preysal, Trinidad and Tobego, who took ninth in the triple jump at the West Preliminaries with a jump of 16.25 meters. The 6-foot-10, 217-pounder, who played for the NBA Academy in Mexico in 2020 during the heat of COVID that shut down track and field, received offers from Ole Miss, Florida State and Clemson after he won three gold medals in the high jump at the 2022 Caribbean Free Trade Association Games, during another overseas event tore a patella tendon on June 28, 2024 that required two surgeries to mend and an 18-month rehabilitation. After rehabilitation, and despite his success in the high jump, Antoine felt his true calling was the triple jump. Pullen discovered that Antoine had a gift. And they had six months to work with in getting him to be among the best in the nation.
Then with the entire K-State cheering section in full force, and with the cheers echoing throughout Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the 21-year-old Antoine, who once wondered if he would ever jump in any event ever again, completed his miraculous comeback at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a triple jump of 16.60 meters — the best triple jump of his life, the fourth-longest triple jump in the history of K-State track and field, and good for a fifth-place finish to earn First Team All-America honors for the first time.
Antoine's success only continued during the outdoor season, bringing him to the cusp of capturing a second All-America honor this year.
"He's not even six months old in the triple jump event and, man, it's crazy," Pullen says. "It's been a miracle for him. He has a lot to go. There's a lot ahead of him so I'm super happy for him and ready for him to show the world what's about to happen. He's onto something really, really special."
Three women's jumpers will also represent the Wildcats in Eugene.
It starts with senior long jumper Aaliyah Lindsay, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, who earned a spot at the NCAA Championships with a jump of 6.55 meters, which set a personal best by over half a foot for the second-longest women's long jump in K-State history, and that finished fourth in the West Preliminaries. Lindsay, who began her career at Kansas, took a redshirt last year and will now finish out her collegiate career among the best in the nation while representing K-State.
"I met Aaliyah at KU two years ago after she came from New Mexico Junior College as a multi-eventer and did 10 events at the national meet and I saw a lot of talent and upside," Pullen says. "That one year at KU while I was an assistant coach at KU, I had to get really creative with her training. She had stress fractures in both shins. I had to figure out ways to train her and have her ready to actually compete. She got really fast and strong. Fast forward to me moving down the street to K-State, and she transferred over.
"I'm super appreciative that there was no real rush for getting her prepared and ready to go when she got here January last year. During the spring, I was able to coach her up for three months. Then at her home meet she set her personal best by four meters. I was really excited for her going into the last year. I'm ecstatic with the level of improvement that she's had and her body of work. It's been a long time coming. She came out with a vengeance and got her silver medal in the Big 12 and I told her she wasn't done yet and she had another personal best at the regional meet and now she's making her first Division I national championships. I'm really happy about her and her prospects for nationals."
There's a moment that K-State junior triple jumper Daniela Wamokpego will always remember — and it wasn't outdoors. Wamokpego, a native of France who survived a frustrating two years at Iowa, came to K-State for a chance to shine under new coaches. Her leap of 13.84 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships made her the first K-State female to earn a national indoor title since 2016, broke the all-time K-State record, and finished as the 18th-longest triple jump in NCAA track and field history.
But her memorable moment came even before the jump.
"Before her jump, I said to her, 'Your family back home, you parents, your sisters and your niece that you love so much, I want you to envision them in the stands, and they're all super excited and cheering for you!" Pullen says. "And everyone in France, they're all watching! And as a staff, we're all watching! Your teammates, they're all watching! I believe in you and this is your moment! Grab ahold of your moment and let's celebrate at the end of it!"
Wamokpego's brilliance continues. She finished 10th in the West Preliminaries with a triple jump of 13.39 meters after finishing as runner-up in the Big 12 Championships with a jump of 13.45 meters.
"Daniela came from Iowa after two years in college and it took a village with her and we were able to get the job done," Pullen says. "She's my first female national champion and that's special."
Destini Smith has been at K-State less than a year, but the freshman triple jumper from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, who earned First team All-America indoor honors, punched her ticket to Eugene with a third-place personal best of 13.81 meters in the West Preliminaries, an improvement of six inches over her previous career best. This came after she finished third in the Big 12 Championships with a third-place finish of 13.42 meters.
"Destini just came out of high school last year," Pullen says. "I saw her as a junior and I knew if I could help her grow it was going to be something special. She's poised and ready and hungry and just scratching the surface. She's one to look out for. She'll be the youngest in the field and I'm really excited about her prospects."
K-State's nation-leading nine jumpers highlights a K-State record of 21 athletes. That includes a school-record 14 men qualifiers and seven women qualifiers. In all, when counting alternate relay sprinters, 25 athletes will make the trip to Eugene.
On Friday at practice, Pullen was all smiles.
"When we get to Eugene, we'll just be waiting and won't do anything crazy training wise," he says. "The work has already been done. It's about keeping everybody steady mentally, locked in, and ready to execute."
Pullen looks back on the beginning of this story when he helped assemble what has become arguably the best jumps squads in K-State history.
"First of all, you pick the right people," Pullen says. "We pride ourselves on knowing what we're doing. We've done it for an extended period of time and have had success at this level and beyond as far as getting Olympic golds. We have experience that backs it. It's about picking the right people, the ones who are coachable, the ones who have the drive and are hungry, and who have the work ethic and attitude. We have a really good squad."
And it could possibly sustain this high level of national excellence next year as well.
Chikomba will be leading the pack.
The best long jumper in NCAA history will return to K-State for his final year — and he hopes his achievements might inspire the next crop of the nation's top jumpers to follow his path at K-State.
"Kansas State has great athletes, and we have the best guys in the world, and this is the best jumps squad in the world," Chikomba says. "It's going to make a big difference. Everyone is going to want to come here. They see what we're doing. They've seen our season. I mean, it's going to be a game changer. I already receive a lot of messages like, 'How is it at Kansas State?' K-State is going to get a lot of athletes. This will be a big game changer."
As for Chikomba's goals next year at K-State?
"Under NCAA rules, I have two years left, but I'm planning to graduate next May," Chikomba says. "I'm going to come back mostly for the records. I need to keep on breaking them. I have little stuff to change. When I come back next season, there's going to be a big difference. It's going to be a game changer.
"Track and field is working out for me here, so I'm going to stay here, and train with my coaches. I don't think I need anything else. I'm going to stay here and train with them. It's going to help a lot because with all the young athletes, they can learn from us. I'm going to help them with what I've learned here and how to listen and how to navigate everything. It's wise for me to stay here."
For now, Geopfert ponders the fact that K-State is sending a nation-leading nine jumpers to the NCAA Championships. He is sitting in the shade for the final minutes of the final practice before the K-State qualifiers prepare to hit Eugene.
"Nine jumpers? That's a great question," Geopfert says. "I haven't thought of the significance in terms of number of jumpers. You just get so immersed in the process and the athletes you're coaching. I'd venture to guess nine jumpers is pretty rare. I just don't know the historical significance of the most jumpers ever in an event."
Geopfert pauses and grins.
"But man," he says, "it sure seems like a lot."
The Manhattan skies are clear and the track is hot as Tah Chikomba, who owns the longest long jump in the world since 2019 and whose jump of 8.75 meters (28 feet, 8.5 inches) in the NCAA West Preliminary ranks eighth longest in world history, makes his way over to second-year Kansas State jumps coach Clive Pullen, who represented Jamaica in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Pullen has worked with many fine jumpers in a coaching career that began at his alma mater Arkansas (2017-18, 2021-23) before stops at Tennessee (2018-21) and Kansas (2023-24), but the 31-year-old 2017 Arkansas graduate in Computer Engineering, who joined his personal coach, Travis Geopfert, when the former Arkansas associate head coach came to K-State in 2024, witnessed a feat from Chikomba in the West Preliminary on May 27 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that just didn't compute.
"When Tah made that jump, in that immediate moment, my knees went weak, and I almost fell to the ground," Pullen says, standing off to the side of the track while watching Chikomba during last Friday's practice in Manhattan. "That was the longest jump I've ever physically witnessed. It's stuff that we've been talking about, stuff we've been collecting, and we knew something was on the horizon. I knew it was going to be special. You can't put a cap on that kid. He's special.
"He's just now realizing what he's capable of."
Chikomba, a junior who last Friday was named a Bowerman Award finalist (the Heisman Trophy of track and field), is obviously the favorite to stand atop the winner's podium after the long jump competition at the NCAA Championships, which runs Wednesday through Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. His effort at the West Preliminary marked an all-conditions collegiate record, topping the 8.74 meters by Erick Walder in 1997. Meanwhile, Walder currently owns the farthest jump in NCAA Championship history at 8.53 meters in 1993.
Geopfert, over an accomplished 22-year coaching career, has now mentored four Bowerman Award finalists, 106 NCAA First Team All-Americans, and he has coached 15 Olympians. Days after Chikomba's feat, Geopfert struggles to put it all into words.
"He's world class, elite, and maybe the best ever," Geopfert says. "The historical significance isn't lost on me. It's the farthest jump in NCAA history. You look at the legends he's ahead of on that NCAA all-time list — Erick Walder, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell — and, wow, he's just a world-class athlete."
Chikomba, a native of Zimbabwe, credits Pullen and Geopfert for their coaching, and the Meridian Community College transfer, who visited K-State in September 2024 and then cancelled his other recruiting trips to Alabama, USC and LSU, isn't finished in his quest to be the best ever.
"I know what I did and I know what I'm capable of doing," Chikomba says. "When I left home, I told my family I wanted to achieve great things. To jump this far, it's just amazing to my mom. Now I have to finish business."
He'll have plenty of support as the K-State jumps team is taking nine jumpers to the NCAA Championships — the most of any school in the country.
Wait. Nine jumpers?
Some schools send three jumpers. Some send four.
K-State is sending nine.
Incredible.
"I don't think anything we're doing is normal by any stretch," Pullen says. "I'm really looking forward to nationals. As an athlete under Travis and now being a coach alongside Travis, I know this is the time of year that we just start to get going. The job's not done yet. We still have stuff to work on."
There are assuredly more stories on the way.
For now, we can marvel at what's to come in Eugene.
There's Croix DaCunha, an Arkansas transfer and redshirt freshman from Dripping Springs, Texas, who punched his ticket for the long jump in the West Preliminaries with a sixth-place finish of 7.83 meters, which tied his personal best and was the ninth-farthest long jump in the history of K-State track and field.
"Croix is a redshirt freshman who's super young on his learning curve and he has a lot of upside, and he is just scratching the surface in realizing what he's capable of," Pullen says. "We've been practicing the first jump all season and he was able to get it done on his first jump."
There's sophomore Uroy Ryan, who transferred from Arkansas and finished third in the West Preliminary with a jump of 8.01 meters, which is the third-farthest jump in the history of K-State track and field.
"Uroy transferred from Arkansas to K-State and he has a lot of upside, and he's super coachable and eager to learn," Pullen says. "He's had a tremendous year, and he's broken his personal best multiple time and has improved consistently."
There's senior triple jumper Apalos Edwards, an Arkansas transfer, who finished third in the West Preliminaries with a jump of 16.65 meters, which is the fourth-best mark in the history of K-State track and field.
"He's a kid we recruited to Arkansas and had success there and came over with one outdoor season to go and with a lot of uncertainties," Pullen says. "He was banged up quite a bit coming in and more so more than anything it was just his mental fortitude. We worked a lot mentally with mental reps in knowing everything we did in preparation had to be in high quality. No stone was left unturned. I stayed on him like white on rice. He never had the opportunity to mess up.
"He's poised and ready to go after a tremendous conference championship in which he set his personal best. He's on the brink of something special."
There's sophomore Selva Prabhu, a native of Madurai, India, who won the triple jump in the Big 12 Championships and finished runner-up with a jump of 16.68 meters at the West Preliminary, improving on his No. 3 all-time mark in K-State track and field history.
"Selva is a rockstar," Pullen says. "He's a special kid, a competitor and he's finally found an environment that can help him from a competition standpoint. His season might not end until September this year. Managing him and his reps, it's been fun."
Finally, among the men's jumpers is junior Aaron Antoine, a native of Preysal, Trinidad and Tobego, who took ninth in the triple jump at the West Preliminaries with a jump of 16.25 meters. The 6-foot-10, 217-pounder, who played for the NBA Academy in Mexico in 2020 during the heat of COVID that shut down track and field, received offers from Ole Miss, Florida State and Clemson after he won three gold medals in the high jump at the 2022 Caribbean Free Trade Association Games, during another overseas event tore a patella tendon on June 28, 2024 that required two surgeries to mend and an 18-month rehabilitation. After rehabilitation, and despite his success in the high jump, Antoine felt his true calling was the triple jump. Pullen discovered that Antoine had a gift. And they had six months to work with in getting him to be among the best in the nation.
Then with the entire K-State cheering section in full force, and with the cheers echoing throughout Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the 21-year-old Antoine, who once wondered if he would ever jump in any event ever again, completed his miraculous comeback at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a triple jump of 16.60 meters — the best triple jump of his life, the fourth-longest triple jump in the history of K-State track and field, and good for a fifth-place finish to earn First Team All-America honors for the first time.
Antoine's success only continued during the outdoor season, bringing him to the cusp of capturing a second All-America honor this year.
"He's not even six months old in the triple jump event and, man, it's crazy," Pullen says. "It's been a miracle for him. He has a lot to go. There's a lot ahead of him so I'm super happy for him and ready for him to show the world what's about to happen. He's onto something really, really special."
Three women's jumpers will also represent the Wildcats in Eugene.
It starts with senior long jumper Aaliyah Lindsay, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, who earned a spot at the NCAA Championships with a jump of 6.55 meters, which set a personal best by over half a foot for the second-longest women's long jump in K-State history, and that finished fourth in the West Preliminaries. Lindsay, who began her career at Kansas, took a redshirt last year and will now finish out her collegiate career among the best in the nation while representing K-State.
"I met Aaliyah at KU two years ago after she came from New Mexico Junior College as a multi-eventer and did 10 events at the national meet and I saw a lot of talent and upside," Pullen says. "That one year at KU while I was an assistant coach at KU, I had to get really creative with her training. She had stress fractures in both shins. I had to figure out ways to train her and have her ready to actually compete. She got really fast and strong. Fast forward to me moving down the street to K-State, and she transferred over.
"I'm super appreciative that there was no real rush for getting her prepared and ready to go when she got here January last year. During the spring, I was able to coach her up for three months. Then at her home meet she set her personal best by four meters. I was really excited for her going into the last year. I'm ecstatic with the level of improvement that she's had and her body of work. It's been a long time coming. She came out with a vengeance and got her silver medal in the Big 12 and I told her she wasn't done yet and she had another personal best at the regional meet and now she's making her first Division I national championships. I'm really happy about her and her prospects for nationals."
There's a moment that K-State junior triple jumper Daniela Wamokpego will always remember — and it wasn't outdoors. Wamokpego, a native of France who survived a frustrating two years at Iowa, came to K-State for a chance to shine under new coaches. Her leap of 13.84 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships made her the first K-State female to earn a national indoor title since 2016, broke the all-time K-State record, and finished as the 18th-longest triple jump in NCAA track and field history.
But her memorable moment came even before the jump.
"Before her jump, I said to her, 'Your family back home, you parents, your sisters and your niece that you love so much, I want you to envision them in the stands, and they're all super excited and cheering for you!" Pullen says. "And everyone in France, they're all watching! And as a staff, we're all watching! Your teammates, they're all watching! I believe in you and this is your moment! Grab ahold of your moment and let's celebrate at the end of it!"
Wamokpego's brilliance continues. She finished 10th in the West Preliminaries with a triple jump of 13.39 meters after finishing as runner-up in the Big 12 Championships with a jump of 13.45 meters.
"Daniela came from Iowa after two years in college and it took a village with her and we were able to get the job done," Pullen says. "She's my first female national champion and that's special."
Destini Smith has been at K-State less than a year, but the freshman triple jumper from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, who earned First team All-America indoor honors, punched her ticket to Eugene with a third-place personal best of 13.81 meters in the West Preliminaries, an improvement of six inches over her previous career best. This came after she finished third in the Big 12 Championships with a third-place finish of 13.42 meters.
"Destini just came out of high school last year," Pullen says. "I saw her as a junior and I knew if I could help her grow it was going to be something special. She's poised and ready and hungry and just scratching the surface. She's one to look out for. She'll be the youngest in the field and I'm really excited about her prospects."
K-State's nation-leading nine jumpers highlights a K-State record of 21 athletes. That includes a school-record 14 men qualifiers and seven women qualifiers. In all, when counting alternate relay sprinters, 25 athletes will make the trip to Eugene.
On Friday at practice, Pullen was all smiles.
"When we get to Eugene, we'll just be waiting and won't do anything crazy training wise," he says. "The work has already been done. It's about keeping everybody steady mentally, locked in, and ready to execute."
Pullen looks back on the beginning of this story when he helped assemble what has become arguably the best jumps squads in K-State history.
"First of all, you pick the right people," Pullen says. "We pride ourselves on knowing what we're doing. We've done it for an extended period of time and have had success at this level and beyond as far as getting Olympic golds. We have experience that backs it. It's about picking the right people, the ones who are coachable, the ones who have the drive and are hungry, and who have the work ethic and attitude. We have a really good squad."
And it could possibly sustain this high level of national excellence next year as well.
Chikomba will be leading the pack.
The best long jumper in NCAA history will return to K-State for his final year — and he hopes his achievements might inspire the next crop of the nation's top jumpers to follow his path at K-State.
"Kansas State has great athletes, and we have the best guys in the world, and this is the best jumps squad in the world," Chikomba says. "It's going to make a big difference. Everyone is going to want to come here. They see what we're doing. They've seen our season. I mean, it's going to be a game changer. I already receive a lot of messages like, 'How is it at Kansas State?' K-State is going to get a lot of athletes. This will be a big game changer."
As for Chikomba's goals next year at K-State?
"Under NCAA rules, I have two years left, but I'm planning to graduate next May," Chikomba says. "I'm going to come back mostly for the records. I need to keep on breaking them. I have little stuff to change. When I come back next season, there's going to be a big difference. It's going to be a game changer.
"Track and field is working out for me here, so I'm going to stay here, and train with my coaches. I don't think I need anything else. I'm going to stay here and train with them. It's going to help a lot because with all the young athletes, they can learn from us. I'm going to help them with what I've learned here and how to listen and how to navigate everything. It's wise for me to stay here."
For now, Geopfert ponders the fact that K-State is sending a nation-leading nine jumpers to the NCAA Championships. He is sitting in the shade for the final minutes of the final practice before the K-State qualifiers prepare to hit Eugene.
"Nine jumpers? That's a great question," Geopfert says. "I haven't thought of the significance in terms of number of jumpers. You just get so immersed in the process and the athletes you're coaching. I'd venture to guess nine jumpers is pretty rare. I just don't know the historical significance of the most jumpers ever in an event."
Geopfert pauses and grins.
"But man," he says, "it sure seems like a lot."
Players Mentioned
Wednesday, May 20
Wednesday, May 20
Wednesday, May 13
Tuesday, May 12


