Mikayla Jumper and Haden Gibson
It’s not surprising that Mikayla Jumper will continue playing basketball in college. After all, the Brookfield High School senior has played since kindergarten, with her dad, Ken, as her first coach.
However, Haden Gibson, a highly decorated football quarterback, is taking a left turn in college athletics – he will run track.
Both recently signed letters of intent — Mikayla with Penn State Shenango and Haden with Mount Union.
Mikayla, a shooting guard who also has played soccer and softball, said she wanted to stay close to home for college, and PSU Coach Daniel Johnson was eager to accommodate her.
“The coach was really nice, and he really wanted me to play with them,” she said.
Basketball has been her “safe place” throughout her life, Mikayla said.
“I’ve very excited for it,” said said of continuing to play in college, where she will major in nursing.
Haden called football “probably my favorite sport and the one I care about the most,” but he felt like he was ready to concentrate on something else.
“I had my four years, so it’s time to move on to new things,” he said.
Haden started running track as an eighth-grader, and the combination of early success – “I ended up going down for the state meet, and then I placed first in the 100 meters” – and encouragement from older members of the track team motivated him to see how far he could go.
“That kind of opened my eyes a little bit and something I wanted to work at, so I started wanting to get faster and lifting and doing all the drills,” said Haden, who also has played basketball and baseball.
Haden recently made the finals in the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches’ State Indoor Track Meet, and finished sixth in the 60-meter dash with a personal best time of 7.25 seconds.
At Mount Union, Haden plans to run the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the 400 meters, participate in the long jump, and could run relay races.
Haden said he enjoyed his visit to campus, spending time with coach Kevin Lucas and meeting some of his future teammates.
“They know a lot about winning,” he said. “It’s nice to have that culture.”
Haden, who has been taking college classes through the College Credit Plus Program with Youngstown State University, plans to major in engineering, most likely mechanical or electrical.
“I’m excited right now to go,” he said. “I can’t wait to run, get working.”
