Simply the best: Cahokia’s Ja’Mari Ward accepting new challenges

Ja’Mari Ward has spent a large part of the past three years mastering his craft to the point to where he has become the premier high school combination athlete in the state in the long jump and triple jump.

Ward’s talent and dedication have helped earn him a pair of Class 2A state track and field championships in both events. His performances during the high school season and in national-level events have annually been among the best in the nation.

But in this his senior year at Cahokia High School, Ward is expanding his talents even further.

Competing in the open sprint events for just the second time in his career last week in the Illinois Top Times Indoor Championships, Ward showed he could be just as dominant running as he is in jumping. Ward showed that by winning the Class 2A 60 meter dash in a time of 6.81 seconds and the 200 meters in 22.37 seconds. Those wins along with equally impressive victories in the long jump (25 feet, 3 1/2 inches) and triple jump (48 feet, 11 inches) capped another memorable day in Ward’s career.

“I ran the 400 meters one time when I was a sophomore and I think my time was something like 51.3 seconds. But that was the only other time I had ever run in an open event,” Ward recalled on Wednesday. “Competing in the sprints is something I’ve always wanted to to try to do. Now that I have and showed that I can be successful, I think it’s something I’ll continue to do this season.”

Ward is the Belleville News-Democrat’s Athlete of the Week for winning four titles in the Class 2A event that was held on Saturday at the Sherk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

Ward has been a major factor in the Comanches winning the past three of their current streak of five straight Class 2A state championships.

And if his performance last week against the top Class 2A athletes in the state is any indication, Ward is determined to end his high school career with the Comanches winning their sixth straight championship.

Competing in the sprints

Cahokia’s veteran coach Leroy Millsap said the plan for the last year has been to give Ward a chance to compete in open events.

“The first couple of years he just had fun running relays with his friends and seeing what times they could put up. This year its about helping the team win again and also giving him the opportunity to win four individual state titles,” the resourceful Millsap said. “Do I think he can win four? That’s the plan.”

Headed to the University of Missouri in the fall where he will compete for the Tigers, Ward admits there is still a lot of work to for him to do in the 100 and 200 meters. His time of 6.81 seconds in the finals of the 60 meters last week in Bloomington helped him edge Triad senior Adam Nelson (6.83 seconds) for first place.

But what was even more impressive that competing in the event for the first time — ever — Ward’s times got better as the day went on. His opening time was 6.93 seconds, and dropped to 6.85 seconds in the preliminaries to 6.81 seconds in the finals.

The toughest event of the day for Ward came in the 200 meters. After combining to jump seven or eight times in the long and triple jump, running three times in the 60 meters and twice in the 200, even a well conditioned athlete like Ward was fatigued in the finals of the 200.

“I was tired. Very tired. I was just hoping to run a good enough race to win and that’s what I did,” Ward said. “My starts are not good. If I can get out of the blocks faster, I think my times will get faster.”

Millsap said “when” Ward’s starts get better, his times will drop by a lot and they will drop very quickly. With experience will come better performance.

“He just hasn’t done it. He’s run one open event in his high school career,” Millsap said. “We just need to teach him to get out of the blocks better. When that happens, we’re looking at very fast times. I think he could run 10.4 in the 100 meters and 21 flat in the 200.

“He hasn’t been pushed in the 200. He’s just coasting the last 100 meters and he’s running 22.3.”

Ward also wasn’t totally pleased with his effort of distance in winning the triple jump. One of the Cahokia High School records Ward does not hold is the triple jump mark of 52-5 3/4 inches set by former Comanches thinclad great Kali Jackson.

“Not really. But it was good enough to win the event,” Ward said when asked if he was pleased with the jump. “Again, we haven’t been outside much and it’s still early. I just haven’t practiced on it much. Once we get outdoors with the longer runnway and with hard work, I think it will be fine.

“My goals are to go 26 something in the long jump and 52 or 53 feet in the triple.”

The near future

Ward also plans on competing after the completion of his high school. He hopes to qualify as a member of the United States junior world team and will also travel to New Mexico to compete in the Great Southwest Classic, a meet he has been at for the past two years.

“The plan is to compete the first half of the summer and then take some time off and get ready to start college in August,” Ward said. “I have mixed feelings about my high school career coming to an end. I’ve got a lot of great memories with my teammates here at Cahokia, but I’m ready to begin the next chapter of my life.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Simply the best: Cahokia’s Ja’Mari Ward accepting new challenges."