Cheyenne White competing at the NAIA outdoor track championship in Alabama. | Indiana Tech
Cheyenne White competing at the NAIA outdoor track championship in Alabama. | Indiana Tech
Cheyenne White is proving to be a perfect fit for the Indiana Tech women's track team.
“They are known as national champions,” White told the Chicago Tribune of the school’s tradition. “It’s really awesome to see what we can still pull together as a team.”
It was business as usual recently at the NAIA outdoor track championships, where White, a 2015 Waukegan grad known to her new teammates as “Champ,” won the triple jump and finished second in the long jump.
Cheyenne White
With her family looking on at the Gulf Shores, Alabama event, White leaped 40 feet, 4.25 inches to win the triple jump and 19.9 feet for second place in the long jump, propelling the Warriors to a third-place finish in the team standings.
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” White told the Tribune, adding that her family looking on served as a source of motivation. White added that her grandfather, Johnny White, had passed away just a month earlier and she was also driven by the thought of making him proud.
“I knew he was watching over me,” she said.
During her days at Waukegan, White was pretty much a jack of all trades for the Bulldogs, specializing in the triple jump and long jump while also running relay races and setting the school record in the shot put.
“Starting off jumping at Waukegan started my love for the triple jump and long jump,” she told the Tribune. “I had amazing coaches that helped me progress.”
In Alabama, White was in rare form, establishing a personal best in the long jump and registering her best mark in the triple jump on her first attempt.
“That was really nice," she said. "Everything I put together in practice was working out for me. I was really excited to see what comes after that knowing I could progress like that in such a short amount of time.”
When all was said and done, White’s reaction was golden.
“I screamed and danced,” she said. “I was so happy. I knew there was a purpose for everything I worked on in practice. To go to nationals and take home titles really meant a lot to me.”
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