Lanae-Tava Thomas Shatters State Record With US No. 2 All-Time Jump

For those not familiar with the weather in Upstate New York, uncooperative may be the biggest understatement of the season. Snow cancellations, practice delays, and travel bans have wreaked havoc on the training and competition schedules of several key athletes in the Snow Belt. Included among them is Lanae-Tava Thomas (Rush-Henrietta), although you wouldn't know it from the few US #1 marks she has produced if/when she gets to compete on the track.

Well, with the weather warming up for the weekend, she was able to compete, and truly produce a mark she had been capable of all season. Lanae-Tava Thomas shattered the New York State Long Jump Record with a mark of 21-4. On her next attempt, she pushed that out even further, with a 21-8.

The mark is now US #2 All-Time. It would have been the National Record, if not for the 21-11 produced by Tara Davis of California last year. Davis did so at a showcase event in Texas, on one of the quickest runways around. Thomas achieved hers on the infield of Houghton College, navigating Shot Put and Pole Vault runways in her path (another view here.)  A steel tape was used to verify the new record.

The mark breaks the former State Record held by Keyon Soley (Uniondale), set in 1997 at 21-1.25. That mark will still stay on as the Junior Class State Record.

For good measure, Thomas also threw down a US #2 in 55m dash, with a 6.86. That would be a #5 All-time in the event, if Thomas wasn't already #2 All-Time with her 6.83 from last year. Alongside Katelyn Tuohy's record down in VA, and Erica Ellis' 13-8 Pole Vault clearance in Canada, it wasn't a bad day to be a New Yorker.