With no ceiling in sight, Muhlenberg’s Gabe Sample continues to soar

Track & Field coverage presented by ATT Sports, Inc.

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

What started as a childhood game has turned into a makeshift training session for Gabe Sample. With each inch he has grown, the activity has become a little more dangerous.

Muhlenberg’s senior does it anyway. He still races from the laundry room into his bedroom and leaps toward his mattress. If he jumps too high, he bangs into the ceiling. If he jumps too far, he slams into the wall.

“I try to get better,” Sample said. “So I do that in my free time.”

Once an athlete reaches Sample’s lofty territory, every bit counts. It gets harder and harder to add to those distances.

Sample ranks among the best jumpers in the state. His 22-9 in the long jump puts him fifth and his 45-8 in the triple jump places him second. He’s the District 3 Class 3A leader in both events.

The first glimpses of Sample’s potential were on display last May. That’s when he took an important step forward. He was the lowest-ranked qualifier for the District 3 field and placed sixth with a PR of 21-6. The numbers have kept climbing.

“He started to come into his own near the end of last year and then it was over,” Muhlenberg coach Jason Kilgore said. “He had a good indoor season and he’s really come out of the gates on fire this year.”

When Sample hit 22-9 at the Oxenreider Relays in March, it was an announcement that he was in new territory. That’s a big number for so early in the season. Only six PA jumpers reached 23 feet last spring.

The final weeks of Sample’s junior season were a roller-coaster ride. He initially missed the cut for districts before someone scratched to give him a second chance. Then he missed qualifying for states because of a tiebreaker.

It was all valuable experience and it boosted Sample’s confidence. That performance at districts showed him his ceiling was higher than the one in his bedroom.

“I started to see my potential,” Sample said. “It made me excited. It really did. It just gave me another chance to compete.”

Sample initially split his time between sprinting and jumping, which is one reason he generates so much speed down the runway.

He realized the jumps were his calling. That goes back to being a kid and gliding onto his bed. The mattress served as a sand pit in his imagination.

Jumping couldn’t be matched. It was like nothing else.

“You’re running and flying in the air,” Sample said. “Who doesn’t want to do that? It’s so fun.”

The senior, who hopes to compete in track in college, owns the Berks best result in three events. His 6-2 in the high jump ranks him in the top five in the district.

Sample gets more lift than most of his rivals. He doesn’t jump. He soars. He explodes off the board with his arms extended and then pushes them behind him to create more carry.

“There are moments when it’s like, ‘Good lord, he’s not going to come down,’ ” Kilgore said. “He’s just refining some of what he’s doing in the air.”

Some sky-high goals are in sight for Sample. He wants to surpass 23 in the long jump, which no Berks athlete has done since Schuylkill Valley’s Joe Jardine and Brendan Sparr were competing for state gold four years ago.

Sample hopes to reach 46 or even 47 in the triple jump. That’s a place no one from Berks has entered since Schuylkill Valley’s Jared Horne nearly a decade ago. The goal is to qualify for states in both events.

“He’s been really consistent at a high level,” Kilgore said. ”He could do some real damage. I think he’s still just scratching the surface.”

Whether it’s in his room or on the track, Sample is going to keep trying to make it farther. After all, who doesn’t want to fly?