USATF Indoor Championships: Jackson, one of two shot put competitors from Los Alamos, rolls to another national title

From the outside looking in, it was business as usual for Chase Jackson.

The Los Alamos native and Los Alamos High School grad strode into Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday evening, makeup meticulously applied. She joked with her competitors during shot put warmups and in the moments before she toed the circle and uncorked a throw that sailed perilously high and long before thudding into the turf.

Normal stuff for the reigning indoor and outdoor shot put champ. However, after struggling in training to start the year, the leadup to another appearance in the USATF Indoor Championships was anything but normal.

“I didn’t come in feeling very confident,” Jackson said while speaking with media Friday night. “But there’s just something about throwing in front of my people and my family being here, (it) brings it out of me. I feel really confident now going to Glasgow and starting an Olympic year like this.”

With almost all the comforts of home, Jackson (nee Ealey) won her second straight women’s shot put national title at the convention center on Friday night, coming up with a world-leading 20.02 meters on her third toss of the night. She said it’s been a “crazy” year — Jackson married in January — but said this was about as good a start as she could hope for with World Indoor Championships next month in Glasgow, Scotland and the Paris Olympics on the horizon.

“I didn’t know how crazy it was gonna feel,” Jackson said of it finally being an Olympic year, “but I’m feeling like, really kinda hyped. And coming off two world championship titles and now I have a world lead at the beginning of the year, I just feel really good. I’m really excited and I think it’s gonna help my training and help me feel confident.”

Adding to another memorable night? A familiar face in the lineup.

New Mexico State’s Rebecca Green, after breaking the school record (16.10 meters) in the shot put at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 3, qualified for the USATF Indoor Championships. And by competing in Friday’s shot put, that meant there were two Los Alamos natives competing against each other.

Green’s best throw of the day traveled 15.40 meters, ensuring a last-place finish. But the improvement that she’s shown — her personal best last season was 15.22 meters — and the thrill of making it to a national championship only gave her more confidence heading down the home stretch of the Aggies’ indoor season.

“It means everything,” Green said. “I’m so happy. Coming from last season, (which) wasn’t my best season, just the growth that I’ve shown, it’s really meant the world to me. And seeing Chase and (Maggie Ewen) and all these amazing throwers — I feel like I belong.”

The rarity of two Los Alamos natives on the big stage wasn’t lost on either.

“I mean, what do they put in the water up there? No, I’m kidding,” Green laughed. “I think it’s great. It just shows me someone that I could be one day, or (who) I look up to (and) that I could get to where she is.”

“I think it’s amazing,” Jackson added. “Seeing her — I trained at home a few days ago and she was there. And to have two people from Los Alamos in the national championship is really good and made me really happy.”

Both have plenty to look forward to, with Green vying for a conference title at the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships next week.

“I feel like I have nothing to worry about after doing that,” Green said, “because that was super nerve-wracking. But, you know, I pushed through. Going into conference, I’m just trying not to worry about it all because I just did a huge thing for myself.”

And Jackson? She wasn’t shy about why she delayed her honeymoon.

“Olympics come first,” she said. “And then I’m just gonna wear (the medal) to sleep, I’ll wear it on my honeymoon. You’ll see the picture.

“I’m gonna be in my bathing suit with my Olympic gold medal,” she laughed.

Around the track

The women’s 60-meter hurdles world record had stood unchecked for just over 16 years.

Until the last five days, that is.

After Bahamas’ Devynee Charlton broke Susanna Kallur’s long-standing world record with a run of 7.67 on Sunday at the Millrose Games, Tia Jones issued a near-immediate answer. Jones ran a record-tying 7.67 in the 60-meter hurdles prelims Friday night before winning a national title with a 7.68 in the final.

“I mean, it was easier than I thought,” she told reporters after her win. “It (felt like) a 7.72, which is why I know I can execute and go faster. But whenever you’re prepared, it feels easier.

“I just hope it keeps getting easier.”

And if Jones’ run was the early talk of the evening, Grant Holloway made sure he put the spotlight back on himself. Perhaps the greatest 60-meter hurdle runner of all time broke his own record (7.29) with a blistering 7.27 — also in the prelims.

Holloway wasn’t immediately available for comment following his historic prelim, nor was he after the final. He did, however, issue a statement of his own via X.

“Someone find my race. Right now,” he tweeted. “World f-----g record baby!”

Holloway, however, did not win the title. After he opted out of the final with a record in hand, Trey Cunningham surged to a win with a 7.39, 0.06 seconds ahead of the closest competitor.

Daniel Haugh broke the world record in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 26.35 meters, bettering Lance Deal’s 29-year-old record by 49 centimeters.

The University of New Mexico’s Elizabeth White finished eighth in the women’s long jump on Friday, jumping 6.29 meters to finish eighth out of a 12-person field.

Photos: Day one of the USATF Indoor Championships