Cherokee Trail triple jumper Kaeli Powe carries on legacy started by record-setting mom

LAKEWOOD — Before she could claim consecutive Class 5A triple jump state titles, Kaeli Powe needed to win a bet with her mom.

Powe, Cherokee Trail’s senior star, who won the triple jump crown again on Thursday at Jeffco Stadium, was a sophomore when she first surpassed the mark of her mom, Joni Johnson-Powe. As a Cherry Creek standout in the late 1980s, Johnson-Powe set the state record with a triple jump of 40 feet, 1 inch, and became the first Colorado girl to break the 40-foot mark.

By the time Kaeli got to high school, Joni knew her daughter had enough potential to proffer a proposition.

“We had a little bet: If she jumped further than 40 feet, I would buy her a car, and she definitely took that one to heart,” Johnson-Powe recalled with a laugh. “At the time, she was driving my old car from 2008. So she had to drive a hooptie for a little while before she earned that new car.

“The day she broke 40 for the first time, and also broke my old record, it was at my old middle school. I wasn’t there at that meet, but right after, she called me and she was like, ‘Guess whattttttt?! I beat your record!”

Powe says the legacy of her mother, who won four overall state titles in triple jump and long jump before going on to compete at Nebraska, was a motivator as she’s emerged as one of the best triple-jumpers in state history. Powe’s best jump of 42-1.75 ranked fourth in the nation heading into Thursday’s state meet, where the Central Florida commit earned another title by jumping 41-4.5.

For Powe, who was undefeated in the triple jump over the past two years, her emergence was underscored by bitter runner-up finishes her first two prep seasons.

As a freshman in 2022, she took second after being tied at 37-9.50 with Fort Collins senior Brooke Naughton at the end of the finals. The tiebreaker was the second-best jump, which Powe narrowly lost. Then, as a sophomore, Powe underperformed with a mark of 37-8 and was second to Pine Creek senior Joy Nnantah.

As a junior, she was determined to break what her family described as the “Jeffco Curse.” Powe proceeded to jump 40-6.25 to win her first state title by more than two feet over runner-up Zenobia Witt of Eaglecrest.

“After sophomore year, a switch flipped in my head, because I definitely didn’t want that to happen again,” Powe said. “I knew me and Jeffco aren’t best friends, because I hadn’t performed that well there up to that point, but I wanted to get the place where even if I jumped poorly, I would still be jumping better than everyone else.”

Johnson-Powe saw a noticeable shift in her daughter’s performance last year, when she not only emerged as a champion, but also began to flirt with Mullen grad Agur Dwol’s state record (42-5.50) from 2022. Powe jumped Dwol’s record on scratches a few times this season, including at last week’s Centennial League meet when she scratched with the end of her toe.

“I see a different kind of confidence,” Johnson-Powe said. “When she was younger, when she had a bad jump or scratch, she would start to get really nervous. But I’ve seen her grow in confidence and maturity and knowing that one bad jump doesn’t matter. She’s really blossomed because she doesn’t get intimidated or nervous at big meets anymore.”

As she’s extended the distance between herself and the rest of the state, Powe hasn’t been content with simply winning. A quiet competitor who leads by example for her teammates and excels in the classroom, Powe has her eyes set on being competitive at the next level.

“She’s not really concerned about what the other competitors are doing,” Cherokee Trail jumps coach Arthur Nelson said. “From the point of looking forward to competing at the next level, where you need to be jumping 41, 42 consistently, she’s focused on that and made sure she’s consistently in that 41-plus category at every meet.”