RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The journey to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminary for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) freshman jumper Rayja'nae Pettit has been about perseverance. 
 
Pettit's freshman year has featured ups and downs, injuries and comebacks, and a lot of trust – trust in her faith, in her coaches and in herself. She focused on growth and let the training process run its course, and that took her further than she might have expected. 
 
"It's literally a story of overcoming for Rae," UTRGV assistant track & field coach Mike Embry said. "We took time to slowly build everything up, and everything started matching up at the end of the year. There were times she didn't want to trust the process, I saw it on her face, she wondered if it's really going to work. But she got to the point in this last month and a half when we started to see the best Ray." 
 
Pettit opened her collegiate career with a third-place finish in long jump at her first indoor meet. Three weeks later, she had a coming out party at Texas Tech's Jarvis Scott Open, finishing second in both the triple and long jumps. She set a UTRGV indoor program record in triple, marking 12.49 meters, and took the No. 10 spot in the record books in long jump with a clearance of 5.81 meters. Pettit finished fourth in long jump at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Indoor Championships. 
 
She worked through some physical setbacks during the outdoor season, taking advantage of the schedule setup to train through certain meets and give her body time. Finally, she was 100% going to the WAC Outdoor Championships, and she showed out with her best jump yet. 
 
Pettit won bronze in the long jump with a mark of 6.16 meters, checking off a pair of goals with that jump – clearing 20 feet and punching her ticket to the preliminary round. She'll compete in the women's long jump Thursday at 8 p.m. (CT) at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium in the NCAA West Preliminary, aiming to earn a top-12 finish to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. 
 
"When I came to UTRGV, I wanted to hit a personal record of 20 feet or better. At the conference meet, I finally hit that and I was so excited," Pettit said. "It means a lot to me. I've been trying and suffering to get to this point, and I finally did it. I trusted God and he guided me into that. That's really good going into regionals and I hope I advance to nationals so I can be an All-American." 


 
Jumping is still fairly new to Pettit, who didn't start those events until she was a junior at Judson High School. Her abilities were a bit of a surprise, but once she saw what she was capable of, she became determined to get better. 
 
Early on, the focus in practice was on setting up the approach. Don't muscle too much, Embry says at practice, don't overthink trying to get height; build up power to explode that into speed, but when you're going through the board you want that speed to be finesse, you want to be smooth. 
 
Pettit has that down pat by now, which she proved at the outdoor conference meet. Embry said her jump was OK, but her approach was exactly what he wants. Pettit believes if she can continue executing her approach and tune-up everything that happens after the board, she'll post a significant mark at the NCAA West Preliminary. 
 
"I have the runway down, so now I'm working on my landing. I struggle with bringing my knees up. Coach Mike always says, 'cycle, cycle, cycle.' Now I'm getting it and if I do what I've been doing and don't lose form or focus, I'm going to do way better than I did at WAC," Pettit said. 
 
Embry is confident Pettit can build on her mark at the preliminary meet, too. He's also looking big-picture and knows that Pettit has already accomplished a lot, but she can do even more, and this meet is a good step toward that. 
 
"She's a sneaky athlete. I got a lot more than I knew I was getting with her. It's a very welcome situation," Embry said. "The scary thing about Rae is she actually jumps way further than what her marks say. We've seen it in practice all year. I'm really hoping that she can take her performance from conference and carry it to this meet and catapult herself to another level."
 
The highs and lows of her freshman year have taught Pettit valuable lessons, and she's thankful for it all. She'll enjoy every moment of this first postseason experience and use this well-earned opportunity to push herself to bigger dreams.  
 
"It's good to be just a freshman and already be here. It shows how much I can do, so imagine over time?" Pettit said with a smile. "Coach Mike said there's more coming, and I believe him. Maybe I can make it to the Olympics. But for now, I want to PR at regionals and go to nationals. If it happens, we'll celebrate." 

Support UTRGV Track & Field | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube