Skylynn Townsend from Prosper Rock Hill will compete in triple jump at U.S. Olympic Trials (2024)

Georgia signee Skylynn Townsend just graduated from Prosper Rock Hill, but she will have a chance to qualify for this summer’s Olympics in Paris before she starts college.

Townsend is entered in the women’s triple jump for the U.S. Olympic Trials and is scheduled to compete June 21 in Eugene, Ore. Joining her in the elite field is Olympian Jasmine Moore from Mansfield Lake Ridge, who broke the American record in the triple jump with a leap of 49 feet, 7.25 inches at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2023.

That wasn’t the only big news for Townsend.

On Wednesday, she won the triple jump at the USATF Under-20 Championships in Eugene with the second-best wind-legal jump in state history. Townsend’s jump of 44 feet, 2.50 inches into a minus-2.6 headwind surpassed the 44-2.25 by Luling’s Ychlindria Spears in 2001 for second place on the all-time state list.

Only Moore has a better wind-legal jump, setting the state record with a leap of 44-10 in 2019. Before Wednesday, Townsend had ranked fourth in state history with her jump of 43-9.25 at this year’s Texas Relays.

Only four high school girls in U.S. history have jumped farther than 44-2.5, according to Track & Field News, but Townsend’s jump is the 11th-best jump in national history. Brittany Daniels from California, who set the national record of 44-11.75 in 2004, along with two-time Olympian Keturah Orji from New Jersey and Ke’Nyia Richardson from California have combined for nine of the top 10 wind-legal jumps all-time.

Townsend also jumped a wind-aided 44-5.5 as a senior at this year’s Texas Relays, a mark that only six girls in national history have surpassed for all conditions. Townsend won Class 6A state titles this year with wind-legal marks of 43-5.75 (triple jump) and 20-1.50 (long jump).

Townsend finished third in the long jump at the USATF Under-20 Championships on Thursday with a personal-best wind-legal jump of 20-9.75. She finished behind two college athletes — Illinois’ Sophia Beckmon (21-4) and Arizona State’s Alexandria Johnson (20-10.75) — and Townsend’s mark would rank fourth in the nation for 2024, according to the MileSplit high school leaderboard.

Townsend wasn’t done, as she came back Friday and won the triple jump at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene with a leap of 42-00.75.

Townsend earned a spot on the U.S. U20 national team that will compete in Lima, Peru this summer at the World U20 Championships. So did Duncanville’s Brayden Williams.

Williams finished third in the men’s 100 meters at the USATF Under-20 Championships in 10.42 to earn a spot on the 4x100 relay team for the World U20 Championships. Duncanville posted on X that Williams is the first male from the school to make a U20 U.S. national team.

As a junior this year, Williams ran on Duncanville’s 4x200 relay team that broke the national record by winning the Class 6A state title in 1:22.25 — a full second better than the old record. He also ran on Duncanville’s 4x100 relay team that finished second at state in 39.47, the fourth-best time in national history.

Earlier this summer, Richland’s Jayden Finley won the 100 in 10.11 and Williams finished second in 10.16 at the Great Southwest Classic. But those were wind-aided times, which kept Finley from tying the state record that was set by Houston Strake Jesuit’s Matthew Boling in 2019 and prevented Williams from ranking in the top five in state history.

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