Henderson taking a big leap forward

Jeff Henderson, a North Little Rock native and graduate of Sylvan Hills High School, won the U.S. championship in the long jump last year (above) and finished second last week. Up next is the Pan Am Games on July 21-25 in Toronto and the world championships in Beijing on Aug. 22-30.
Jeff Henderson, a North Little Rock native and graduate of Sylvan Hills High School, won the U.S. championship in the long jump last year (above) and finished second last week. Up next is the Pan Am Games on July 21-25 in Toronto and the world championships in Beijing on Aug. 22-30.

A former Olympian saw unlimited potential in his first meeting with Jeff Henderson.

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Jeff Henderson

"He has a gift," said Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple jump gold medalist and NCAA champion Arkansas State who currently serves as Henderson's coach. "Where has this guy been hiding?"

Jeff Henderson glance

AGE 26

HOMETOWN North Little Rock

HIGH SCHOOL Sylvan Hills

COLLEGE Stillman

NOTEWORTHY The 2014 U.S. outdoor long jump champion. … Qualified for the 2015 world championships in Beijing in August. … 2013 NCAA Division II national champion in the long jump and 100-meter dash. … The 2007 Class 6A state champion at Sylvan Hills in the long jump. … Coached by former U.S. track and field star Al Joyner.

The rest of the track and field world is taking notice now.

Henderson, a Sylvan Hills graduate and North Little Rock native, has emerged as one of the top long jumpers in the world under Joyner's guidance.

Henderson finished second in the long jump at the U.S. Outdoor Championships last Thursday in Eugene, Ore., jumping 27 feet, 8 1/4 inches to finish second behind Florida star Marquis Dendy, who jumped a wind-aided 28-5 3/4.

Wind was a factor throughout the event -- Henderson's leap was among the few that wasn't wind-aided -- but Henderson said he came in prepared for such conditions.

"Al always says prepare for the worst," Henderson said. "He says to prepare for these competitions mentally and physically. When we go to practice, we always compete against the wind. We don't even think about it. We do it every day."

Up next are the Pan Am Games on July 21-25 in Toronto before it's off to the world championships Aug. 22-30 in Beijing, but that journey doesn't compare to the one Henderson already has experienced just to get to this point.

Henderson's first love was football, but when he was 14 years old he was introduced to track and field and he excelled at it immediately. Henderson went on to win the Class 6A state long jump title in 2007 with a leap of 23-11 and followed that up by winning the event in the Meet of Champions crown, jumping 24 feet.

After high school, Henderson competed at Hinds Community College in Mississippi where he won NAIA championships indoors and outdoors in the long jump as well as the 100 meters. From there it was off to Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where Henderson won NCAA Division II titles in the long jump and 100.

After college, Henderson teamed up with Joyner, who helped him change his eating habits which led to Henderson shedding 20 points and provided him with technical advice.

"He's been in the game for a long time," Henderson said. "He's not just my coach. He's my friend, my mentor. I feel like he's my stepdad. That's how I feel."

Henderson's breakthrough on the professional level came at the 2013 U.S. Outdoor Championships, where he jumped 26-11 1/2 to take second place and earn a spot in the world championships in Moscow.

He hasn't slowed down since.

Henderson jumped 27-4 in June 2014 at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York, surpassing the meet record set in 2012 by Mitchell Watt.

"That's when I knew I could compete with the world's best," Henderson said.

He followed up that performance two weeks later when he won the long jump at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif., with a leap of 27-7 3/4.

"I was more confident in myself leading into that week," Henderson said. "I didn't know what I was going to jump. Al told me, 'Don't be surprised if you don't jump the world record.'

"I'm not surprised with where I jumped. I was just waiting for it to happen."

Henderson was slowed over the next couple of months by after he bruised his left heel in a meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, but he still managed to win meets in Glasgow, Scotland, and Birmingham, England.

Doctors in the United States told Henderson the injury was rare for long jumpers, but dealing with it helped Henderson realize what could do when he's healthy.

"If I can show people I can jump while I'm hurt, I can be a winner when I'm not hurt at all," said Henderson, whose ultimate goal is to win the gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. "The whole world knows now that if I'm hurt or I'm not hurt, I can go compete."

Henderson said his success can be attributed to two things: Speed and rhythm.

"If you don't have the rhythm, it's difficult to jump," Henderson said. "If you don't have the speed, you can't go far."

Joyner puts Henderson in the same class as himself and Mike Conley, who also won an Olympic gold medal in the long jump in 1992 in Barcelona. He even believes Henderson is capable of challenging Mike Powell's world-record mark of 29-4 1/4 set in 1991.

Henderson's personal-best leap is 27-10 3/4, recorded earlier this year at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

"You have to be fast," Joyner said. "You have to be powerful. Jeff has unbelievable power. I always tell people: It's not when Jeff is going to break the record, it's how many times he's going to break the record.

"It could be any day."

Sports on 07/02/2015

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