Peterson Flips The Switch

Article reprinted courtesy of Fargo Forum and reporter Eric Peterson. Picture courtesy of Fargo Forum photographer Dave Samson.

Moorhead---About 20 minutes after she broke her own school record in the women's high jump at the Drake Relays, Concordia senior Emma Peterson was stopped by a spectator she didn't know.

The man was impressed with how intense Peterson was during the competition in which she cleared 5 feet, 7¾ inches.

"It was really fun to watch you," the man said to Peterson.

The man also told Peterson he asked the group of people around him watching the high jump: "Do you think if we put a brick wall in front of her that she'd run right through it?"

"I get really into it," Peterson said with a smile. "I flip a switch."

That focus is one of the reasons Peterson has qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in two events. She has the fifth-best high jump mark heading into the meet, which starts Thursday, May 25, in Geneva, Ohio. Peterson is ranked No. 7 in the triple jump with a distance of 39-10½.

"She's got some charisma," Cobbers women's track coach Marv Roeske said. "When she high jumps, you can see some people in the immediate area stop. ... She's an intense young lady when she's jumping. She's an extremely explosive athlete."

From Benson, Minn., Peterson is a two-time All-American. She finished seventh in the high jump at the Division III outdoor meet last season to go along with an indoor All-American honor in March.

The 5-foot-7, 128-pound Peterson set the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet record in the triple jump earlier this month, even though she's relatively new to that event.

Roeske said Peterson has competed in the triple jump in about 10 meets during her college career.

"She's still just a novice triple jumper," Roeske said. "That may even be her best event. ... The talent is there, but she is seeking the consistency."

If her technique is off in the triple jump, Peterson said, she still has attempts in which she tumbles or belly flops into the pit.

"I am just so amateur at it that if I do a phase wrong, it's kind of humorous," Peterson said. "I just have to shake it off and keeping going. It's fun because I can't be as hard on myself. ... Triple jump it's just so new to me."

Peterson credits Concordia jumps coach Martin Peper, who Roeske calls a master technician, for her development in both the high jump and triple jump.

"That's what I love about track," said Peterson, who has squatted more than 300 pounds. "It's personal development, self improvement. Every day you go out and practice, there is one goal, to do the best that you can."

Peterson competed in volleyball, basketball and track in high school. When she got to Concordia, she didn't want to compete in track because she would get so nervous during competition. In high school, Peterson didn't know how to harness her nerves during meets.

"I didn't enjoy feeling those nerves," she said.

In her first two years at Concordia, Peterson competed in track and women's basketball before she decided to focus on track. Near the end of her junior year at Concordia is when she figured out how to better deal with being nervous during competition.

"I think that as I've developed as an athlete, I've learned how to harness and channel my nerves into a way that is a strength for me," Peterson said. "I care so much. I want to do so well."

Heading into her final college competition, Peterson doesn't want to put a cap on her potential in the high jump and triple jump.

"I want to do my absolute best, and what mark that is, what height that is, I have no idea," Peterson said. "I don't want to say I want to jump this height and jump this far. I just want to do my best. I want to walk away feeling like I tied the bow on my career and feel good about it."

Concordia seniors Mikayla Forness and Mandy Mercil have also qualified for the national meet. Forness is competing in the heptathlon (4,721 points) and women's javelin (144-7). She is ranked fourth in the heptathlon. Mercil is ranked ninth in the women's shot put (46-2½).

On the men's side, senior Jackson Schepp qualified in the decathlon, scoring 6,455 points on the final meet of the season, the second highest point total in school history.