World-class jumper, world-class person

I suppose they wouldn’t let this column run on the sports page if we didn’t at least mention Andrea Geubelle’s progress as one of the nation’s top collegiate track performers at the University of Kansas.

Although other parts of her story are more interesting than her ability to run fast and jump far. She left Curtis High School with six individual state titles and has five All-America honors already early in her junior season at KU. This weekend, she shoots for Big 12 Conference indoor titles in the triple jump and long jump.

Although shorter than the blueprint specs for jumpers at 5-foot-5, Geubelle attacks the takeoff board like a locomotive, and currently ranks second in the NCAA in the triple jump (43-7) and 13th in the long jump (20-51/4).

“She’s got great jumping ability and speed,” said Wayne Pate, her coach at KU. “She’s tough, fearless, works really hard and she’s a real competitor who hates to lose – and that adds fuel to the fire.”

All of that rises in relevance in an Olympics year. Considering she’s only 20 and still a relative baby in an event in which international-caliber competitors mature in their mid- or late-20s, Geubelle seems at least one quadrennial cycle away from threatening for an Olympics appearance.

But she looks solid for at least a shot at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene in late June, and once there, who knows?

Geubelle’s story gets more compelling when it’s revealed that she’s a rare elite athlete whose competitive “shortcoming” might be her degree of compassion and caring about others.

Seriously?

“Seriously,” Pate said. “She’s just a super person. I have had to tell her that at some point she has got to stop thinking so much about other people and focus on herself. She worries about everybody else’s problems and is such a mother to all the other girls.”

And if that’s not “bad” enough, her concern for the well-being of children has led her to major in pre-nursing in preparation for a career in pediatric oncology.

“I love kids,” she said. “I worked in a day care when I was in high school ... and volunteered at the children’s hospital, so working with kids became a passion of mine and that sparked my interest in pediatrics.

“The reward of it was just awesome; I love helping people, so I can’t wait to be a nurse.”

It was Geubelle who needed some nursing as a sophomore last season, as Pate said an ankle injury caused her to become tentative on the runway, which triggered a loss of confidence.

“I went into meets last year thinking it was OK for people to beat me,” she said. “I completely lost confidence, and I think my family noticed; I would call home and they could tell I wasn’t as into it.”

She sought Pate’s analysis. “I asked him what it would take to get me to the Olympic Trials, because my biggest goal is to get to the Olympic Games,” she said. “He told me I had to spend more time focused on it outside practice; eating healthy, lifting harder, getting better sleep ... a whole lifestyle change.

“So this year I came out with a whole new mentality – if I’m going to do it, I might as well do it big.”

To rediscover the old fearlessness she had lost, she looked to her experience with sick kids.

“I had my fears on the runway ... they were really cheesy,” she said. Especially relative to the experience of children who “... make you appreciate everything you have in life, and see the value in everything. I can’t imagine a child going through that. So you understand everything could be over in a day, and learn to never hold back and have no fears.”

With those lessons, and the help she received from family and friends, Geubelle overcame what she called her “sophomore slump” and regained the frame of mind required to excel in a sport she calls “all mental.”

“When you overcome that, you’re that much better a person,” she said.

Her goal of being a world-class jumper may take a few more years. But becoming a world-class person didn’t take nearly as long.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com