Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Preps: Track star Ehizuelen follows in fathers footsteps

Almost as soon as he could walk, Charles Ehizuelen loved to jump.

"My dad says I used to take off my shirt and see if I could jump over it when I was three years old," said Ehizuelen, now a senior at Cimarron-Memorial High School. "So I guess it was in my genes."

Indeed, considering his father, Charlton, is a former five-time NCAA champion in the triple and long jumps, it isn't terribly surprising that Ehizuelen has become one of the top triple jumpers in Nevada.

What is somewhat shocking, however, is how far Ehizuelen, the defending 4A state triple jump champion, has come since taking up the sport in earnest just three years ago.

Like so many children of top-notch athletes, Charles spent most of his life hesitant to follow in the footsteps of his father, a man who set several NCAA records, qualified for two Olympic teams and nearly eclipsed a world record after immigrating to the U.S. from Nigeria.

"I never tried to encourage him to jump, and I never tried to discourage him from jumping," said Charlton, who starred for the University of Illinois from 1974-77.

Instead, the younger Ehizuelen concentrated his energies on basketball. He joined his middle school's track team as a sprinter only to improve his skills on the hardwood.

"I just took up track to get into shape, and I just got into it," Ehizuelen said.

After moving to Las Vegas during his freshman year of high school, Ehizuelen decided it was time to give jumping a try -- a choice Spartans' coach Harold Vaughn has not regretted.

"He came to try out, and I looked at his name and said, 'Is your dad's name Charlton?,'" said Vaughn, who competed against the elder Ehizuelen during his college days at fellow Big 10 school Purdue. "When his father went to Illinois, he just came in and blew up everybody."

With technique and training tips from his experienced father, Ehizuelen had a mildly successful sophomore season, finishing fourth at the Southern 4A Zone meet.

But looking back, he admits he was intimidated both by his fellow jumpers and the reputation Charlton's legacy already had earned him.

"When he traveled to meets, people were asking about his dad," Vaughn said. "He's such a shy, humble kid. It shocked him."

"I was scared of the competition, kind of hesitant," Ehizuelen said.

When his junior year started, though, the 6-foot, 148-pounder had a new mental approach. Setting his sights on a college scholarship, Ehizuelen decided he was ready to challenge the state's elite jumpers.

"It was just a matter of him having confidence in himself," Vaughn said.

After a solid regular season, Ehizuelen headed to Reno for the state meet as one of a handful of jumpers with a chance to take home the title.

When he came up with a personal best of 45-9 on his final triple jump, he suddenly stepped out of his father's shadow and took the first step toward leaving his own mark on the track world.

"His eyes got so wide when he saw how far he'd jumped," Vaughn said. "He's probably not going to jump 56 feet like his father, but he's going to do the best Charles can do."

For his senior year, Ehizuelen will try to repeat as state champ while devoting more energy to the long jump, his second-best event. He'll also try his hand at sprints again, in an effort to improve his speed for the jumps.

"I want to win it again, and if I could break records that would be a plus," he said, referring mainly to the Cimarron triple jump mark of 50-8, set by current Purdue star Ike Olekaibe. "And I would like to jump in college."

And for that final goal, Charlton wouldn't mind seeing his son follow in his footsteps one more time.

"He wants to go to Illinois and my coach is still there," Charlton said. "So we'll see what happens."

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