By Kevin Coughlin
The Olympic quest of Morristown native Christina Epps ended in Rio on Saturday morning when her triple jump fell short of qualifying for the finals.
Keturah Orji of Mount Olive was the last jumper to make the cut for the gold medal round on Sunday evening, according to the Olympics website.
But Epps, 25, can hold her head high, said Morristown Councilwoman Hiliari Davis, who was a hurdler at Morristown High School.
“The U.S. track and field team is the hardest track club in the world to make. What she’s done is nothing to sneeze at. It’s pretty incredible,” said Davis.
NBC coverage of the triple jump qualifying round
The councilwoman said she plans to speak with Mayor Tim Dougherty about organizing a local celebration of Epps’ achievement of becoming an Olympian.
“It’s huge for her as an athlete, and huge for the town. We’re such a little place. To think one of our own was on the word stage” is worth celebrating, said Davis.
The community raised money online to help send Epp’s mother and stepfather to Brazil to cheer for her.
Epps finished 15th out of 37 competitors, with a jump of 14.01 meters.
The top three finalists are World Champion Caterine Ibarguen of Colombia ( 14.52), Paraskevi Papahristou of Greece (14.43) and Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan (14.39). Orji registered a 14.08 mark.
After graduating from MHS in 2009, Epps competed in the triple jump and volleyball at Coppin State University, where she now works as a student adviser. She trained for the 2012 Olympics but was sidelined by an injury.
Editor’s note: Congratulations to Olympian Christina Epps for her remarkable achievement.
Good job……
Try again