Senior Keri Piepho is a triple jump and running athlete at Parkway Central. She has been doing triple jump, off and on, since middle school. Her farthest triple jump is 31 feet 7.5 inches (9.63 meters).

“I actually did it when I did track, in like middle school, but then I didn’t pick it back up until sophomore year for high school track team,” Piepho said.

Piepho has also participated in other sports such as volleyball. She thinks that volleyball really helps her to train her legs again after a long off season. Piepho is on the Varsity team as an outside hitter, which she says helps her with her jumps.

“I think the reason that they started me doing jumps was because of volleyball, and I can jump high, and my legs knew how to jump, so that helped,” Piepho said. 

Piepho has not had any injuries from doing jumps, however, she states that she is always running the risk of shin splints.

“I mean jumping there’s always a risk of shin splints, but no, I haven’t gotten any bad ones, but it’s just constantly jumping your shins go crazy sometimes, but nothing major though,” Piepho said.

Junior Priya Cheatham does shot put and discus. She has been doing shot put since she was 7 years old, and discus since she was 11. Her farthest shot put throw is 12.42 meters and discus is 40.49 meters.

“I started doing it for club and then once I got into high school I did it for high school season, I still do club too, so I do it year round,” Cheatham said.

Cheatham, while doing both shot put and discus, does not have a favorite between the two and thinks that they’re both great and make her the best that she can be.

“I can’t pick, I’m going to say both because discus, discus I like how far it goes, discus is a little bit easier, but it’s more technical, but I feel like shot put pushes me at the same time cause not only do I have to be strong, but I also have to have a good technique,” Cheatham said.