| August
17, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release by Mike Marzolf Photo available upon request |
For
More Information |
|
Barton
Jumpers of 2002 reunite in Athens for 2004 Summer Olympics That was the final time the 3 would jump together as part of the Barton County track and field team. It would not, however, be the last time they competed with and against each other. Over the past 2 years the trio battled several times in the toughest NCAA Division I track conference in the nation with Sands going to Auburn and Moffitt and Simon to LSU. Now all 3 will line up and jump in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Two of the trio will begin the quest for an Olympic medal Friday with the triple jump. Sands and Simon will participate in the event. All 3 will jump in the long jump, which gets started Aug. 24. “We are all going to be there. It will be a once in a lifetime experience,” Moffitt said the former Barton trio jumping in the Olympics together. A 4th former Cougar will join them as Walter Davis, a 2000 graduate of Barton, will long jump and triple jump as well. The trio collected a total of 23 All-American honors out of a possible 24 in their two years together and won all 8 vertical jumping competitions at the NJCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Each of them took home at least one gold medal from the national meets with Sands collecting just over handful at 6. Moffitt and Simon each won once with Moffitt taking the indoor long jump title in 2001 and Simon winning the outdoor triple jump in 2001. The trio dominated the Region VI, going 1-2-3 in the long jump and triple jump both years Indoors and Outdoors.
“While we were at Barton, we really didn’t talk about it,” Moffitt said of the trio all making the 2004 Olympics. “We were just there competing and training to get better – to make it to that next level. I know it has always been a dream for us to make it to the Olympics but we never talked about it as a group. At that time, I knew then I was just getting started. I was still young, getting into the game. We didn’t know the future outcome then but look what has happened to us all now.” The success didn’t stop for the trio after leaving Barton as all 3 headed to the top NCAA track conference in the country – the Southeastern Conference. Simon and Moffitt went to Louisiana State University where former Barton coach Dennis Shaver was an assistant. Sands took his talent and nickname of Superman to the University of Auburn. It didn’t take long to let the conference and the country know they were for real.
Moffitt, Sands, and Simon continued to battle for the right to be called the top jumper in the SEC – and in the nation – their season seniors. At the NCAA National Indoor meet this past year it was Moffitt who was crowned national champion in the long jump as Sands failed to get off a legal jump and Simon took 8th. Simon completed the trio winning an NCAA title this past Indoor season when found his stride in winning the triple jump title his senior season with Moffitt taking 2nd. Sands did not jump in the event. As the trio headed into the outdoor season this year the possibility of the 2004 Summer Olympics were now in sight – and they jumped like. The trio went 1-2-3 in the SEC long jump with Sands winning, Simon 2nd and Moffitt 3rd. Sands also won the triple jump with Simon 2nd and Moffitt 4th. At the NCAA Meet Moffitt won the long jump title with an LSU school record mark to go with it. And the list of LSU graduates once again includes former Cougar Walter Davis. Sands and Simon both struggled finding the board with Simon scratching all 3 times and Sands not getting legal jump until his final effort that didn’t get him to the finals. Sands rebounded by winning the triple jump title to give the trio 5 of a possible 8 NCAA titles in the two vertical jumping events after their graduation from Barton.
Now the 3 enter the events looking to bring home an Olympic medal. Sands is coming off a 57-1 triple jump effort in late July in preparation for the Olympics. That is his longest jump of the year. In his previous meet he jumped what was then longest effort of the year, so Sands appears to be peaking at the right time in the triple jump. Moffitt has one of the top 5 efforts in the world this year among those participating in the Olympics in the long jump. He uncorked that 27-2.5 jump that was wind legal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Moffitt won the NCAA title on his final jump of the competition, going 27-6.75 behind a wind of +2.6, making it a non-legal jump for record purposes. Simon fought injuries during the Trinidad Nationals but still jumped his way into the Olympics, where he hopes to be completely healthy. -30- Check
out Barton County Track Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
|
|
It was a hot Texas day in mid May. The final day of the 2002 NJCAA
National Track and Field meet in Odessa. With the time slipping
past noon three Barton County Community College jumpers were battling
it out for the triple jump gold medal at the meet. It was the same
three that battled a couple days earlier in the long jump. When
it was over Leevan Sands had captured the triple jump for Barton,
doing so with a school record jump of 57-5. Not far behind Sands
was LeJuan Simon at 57-0.75 for the silver. John Moffitt took 3rd
for the Cougars.
In
the wake of their many head-to-head battles, All-American honors
and National titles the trio left Barton County with a pair of records
as well – records not easily broken since Davis, heading to
his 2nd Olympics this year as well, jumped for the Cougars the two
previous years and left Barton with records for both the long jump
and triple jump indoors and outdoors. Both triple jump marks fell
as Simon holds the Barton indoor record at 55-3.5
and Sands the outdoor mark with that 57-5 effort in his final jump
as a Cougar.
At
the NCAA National Indoor meet Sands took 3rd in the long jump before
scratching from the triple jump. Moffitt was 5th in the long jump
and 3rd in the triple jump while Simon took 13th in the long jump
and scratched from the triple jump as well. Sands became the 1st
to win an NCAA title, capturing the NCAA Outdoor long jump title
his junior year at Auburn. Moffitt took 3rd. All 3 finished in the
Top 10 at the NCAA Outdoor meet in the triple with Sands 2nd, Simon
8th and Moffitt 9th.
The
three then went off their own way to earn a trip to the 2004 Summer
Olympics. Simon was the 1st to earn his way to Athens. The native
of Texas competed in the Trinidad and Tobago Trials, which he is
allowed to do since his father was born in Trinidad. Simon won the
triple jump and took 2nd in the long jump at the National Championships
in Trinidad to earn his spot in Athens in mid June. Moffitt followed
with a runner-up spot at the US Trials in the long jump to pave
his way to Athens. Moffitt then scratched from the triple jump at
the US Trials to concentrate on the long jump. Sands never did have
to qualify at a meet, being named to the Bahamian team with his
Olympic A Standards he has achieved.