Olympics / Team USA Local Olympic Spotlight: Christina Epps, Morristown, NJ – US Track & Field by Daniel Popoloski July 20, 2016 Christina Epps (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) Christina Epps qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team after finishing second in the Trials behind Mount Olive native Keturah Orji, posting a career best jump. Epps is relatively new to the international jumping scene, having only competed in three international competitions. Her best international finish was only seventh at the Pan-Am games in 2015. This year in the Indoor World Championships, she finished tenth overall. In 2015, she also won the triple jump event at Penn Relays. She is the second best American woman in the triple jump, only behind fellow Morris County native Keturah Orji, making the top jumpers from New Jersey. She came very close to not even making it to Rio. Coming up on her fifth of six jumps, Epps still hadn’t hit the Olympic qualifying mark of 14.15m, and her career best at the time was only 14.09m. It was then, on her fifth jump, that she mustered her strength to hit a personal best, 14.17, enough to make it to Rio, and good enough for second place in the competition. It is very unlikely that Epps is going to come home from Rio with a medal in hand. Despite jumping the best marks of her career, she is still nowhere close to the level that she needs to be in order to join the world’s elite triple jumpers. Her personal best was barely enough to punch her ticket to the Olympics, so it’s unlikely that she can continue to excel enough to make the podium. However, if she continues to develop the way she has recently, she could develop into one of the more feared jumpers heading towards Tokyo in 2020. If an American woman is going to break the American medal drought, with no American woman medaling since the event debuted in 1996, it will be fellow New Jersey native Orji, and not Epps. Her steep upward trajectory is taking her to bigger and better things, but Epps isn’t ready for the podium just yet. After graduating from high school in Morristown, New Jersey, Epps attended Coppin State as a volleyball and track star. After tearing her ACL in 2012, she gave up on volleyball and focused on track and field full time. Her jumps in the Trials made her the first ever Olympian in the history of that college. She currently trains with the Garden State Track Club. Post Views: 1,668 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Daniel Popoloski Dan is a Staff Writer here at DoubleGSports.com with a focus on Team USA and the Rio Olympics Latest posts by Daniel Popoloski (see all) Team USA Proves it Can Win without Phelps, Lochte - July 30, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin becomes first Repeat Gatorade Athlete of Year - July 18, 2017 Local Swimmers Looking to Thrive at World Championships - July 18, 2017 Sydney McLaughlin Dominates New Jersey Meet of Champions - June 14, 2017 Related TopicsChristina EppsOlympicsRioRio OlympicsTeam USAUS Track & Field Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 From Paramus High School to CBS Sports, Spero Dedes is making waves in sports broadcasting by Sunil Sunder Raj | posted on October 27, 2020 Women in Sports: Podcast Host, New York Riptide Sideline Reporter, Dani Wexelman by Luke Porco | posted on March 3, 2020 Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics by Anthony Paradiso | posted on April 18, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 109: The Athletic’s Marc Carig (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 19, 2021 More in Olympics / Team USA Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics The 2021 Summer Olympic games are scheduled to take place from July 23 –... You Know I’m Right, Episode 94: Olympic Gold Medalist Lilly King (Audio/Video) On the 94th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst was joined by olympic... The Tokyo 2021 Olympics Will Feature New Amazing Sports Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, baseball and softball will compete at the Summer Olympics. You Know I’m Right, Episode 82: NBC’s Mary Carillo (Audio/Video) On the 82nd episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Twitter and The NBA Partnering On Original Content Deal Local Olympic Spotlight: Connecticut Native, Devin McEwan Follows Father’s Footsteps Competing in Canoe