Athlete: Stephanie Jenks
Year: Sophomore
School: Linn-Mar High School
Location: Marion, IA
800m PR: 2:11.65
1500m PR: 4:28.72
Mile PR: 4:44.50
3,000m PR: 9:26.87
5,000m PR: 16:37.50
Last Friday in Monterey, Mexico, Stephanie Jenks of Iowa, a star track athlete, qualified for the Youth Olympic Games triathlon this summer in Nanjing, China. Jenks, a 16-year-old sophomore at Linn-Mar High School, who has set one record after another in events from the 1500m to 5,000m on the track, won the women’s 16–17 age group at the Americas’ Youth Olympics Triathlon Trials in spectacular fashion to earn her trip to Nanjing. The event came one week after Jenks’ tremendous triple at the Drake Relays, where she excelled in the 800m, 1500m and 3,000m.
Youth Olympics: This year marks the second Youth Olympics, which is held every four years in the winter and summer. The 2014 Summer Games, Aug. 16–28, will have 28 sports and an estimated 3,600 athletes from more than 200 nations. Athletes do not represent nations but one of five regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas, which combine North and South America. Competition is in three age groups: 14–15, 16–17 and 18–19.
Triathlon Set-up: In order to qualify for the Americas’ squad, Jenks had to finish among the top eight in her event, which consisted of a 750-yard swim, 20K bike ride and 5K run, the standard junior-level triathlon distances. Jenks—who competes under the auspices of the U.S. Triathlon Junior Elite Program—also had to be the top American finisher, because U.S. officials said they were taking only one junior triathlete in each gender to Nanjing.
Triple Threat: Jenks, who does 15 to 18 workouts per week in the three triathlon disciplines, nailed her Monterey qualifier with an amazing come-from-behind victory. Trailing American Taylor Knibb by 92 seconds after the swim and bike, Jenks blasted the 5K run in 17:11 to overtake Knibb and triumph by 5 seconds. Knibb ran her 5K in 18:48. The final times: Jenks 59:55, Knibb, 60:00. Forty-five athletes from 15 nations competed.
Unusual Talent: Unique in the vanguard of ground-breaking young female runners, Jenks is following in the footsteps of Lukas Verzbicas, now 21, and training as a professional triathlete. As a high school student in 2011, Verzbicas ran a 3:59.71 mile and a national high school record of 8:29.46 in the 2-mile while also competing in junior triathlon events.
Drake Relays: The week before Monterey, Jenks competed all three days at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. She won the 3,000m on April 24 by 33 seconds in an Iowa state record 9:26.87, took second in the 800m the next day in a PR of 2:11.65, and captured the 1500m on the third day in 4:28.72. The 1500m victory qualified Jenks for the adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile in New York on June 14. Competing in the Dream Mile last year as a freshman, Jenks placed fifth in 4:44.50, one of the fastest freshman mile times ever. This season, a week after the Dream Mile, Jenks will run the mile in the Brooks PR meet in Seattle on June 21.
Indoor Nationals: In mid-March at the New York Armory, Jenks placed second in the 5,000m in a national indoor sophomore record, 16:37.50, and fifth in the mile two days later in 4:49.28. (She won the second section of the mile and her time placed her fifth overall.)
Shoes & Gear: As a freshman, Jenks won the Iowa state cross country 4A race by 18 seconds in 13:42 for 4K and placed third at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional to qualify for nationals. (She finished 41st at the soaked NXN conditions in Portland in 2012, saying, “I was completely covered in mud.”) Last fall, while competing on the high school swim team and skipping the regular high school cross country season, Jenks placed seventh at the Dellinger Invitational 5K in Oregon against college and open women (in a race won by Alexa Efraimson), and took ninth at Foot Locker nationals.
World Traveler: Last summer, Jenks competed in the Pan American Junior Triathlon Championships in Vila Velha, Brazil, outside Rio, and last September she competed at the International Triathlon Union Junior Elite World Championships in London. In March, a week before indoor nationals, Jenks won the North American Junior Triathlon in Sarasota, Florida. Each triathlon trip for Jenks requires endurance in itself. She has to pack up her pro-style bike and lug an array of gear for three sports while navigating security at a number of airports.
Home Runs: Jenks faces logistical challenges daily. She lives on a farm in the small town of Aurora (with a population of 185 and no stoplights), 55 miles from Linn-Mar High School. Her family has an apartment near school where the family lives during the week so Stephanie (and her freshman sister Jennifer, also a budding triathlete) can be close to school and workout facilities. In track sessions, Stephanie trains with the Linn-Mar boys, giving them head starts in 400m repeats and running them down.
Cool Customer: Jenks seems to shrug off any pressure—whether time pressures, school pressures, racing pressures. “She’s not scared of anything,” says her mother, Deb, a one-time college runner who coaches her daughter in running and bicycling. (In swimming, in addition to her school team, Jenks represents the Linn-Mar Swim Team, a club program.) “It’s all about controlling your nerves,” says Jenks about her mental approach. “If I tense up, I don’t perform as well.”
Child’s Play: Jenks started out in age-group track while also playing soccer and tennis and doing Tae Kwon Do. At her mom’s suggestion, she tried triathlon, competing regularly in kids’ sprint distances. Jenks began to train seriously for the three-sport event at 12 and 13. Despite her wall-to-wall practice schedule and grueling trips, Jenks still maintains a straight-A average in school. Her favorite subject: anatomy.
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
