Turner enjoys rocky rookie year with Bisons

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This article was published 24/03/2022 (1498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Daxx Turner spent nights running up and down the stairs of his aunt and uncle’s Winnipeg home, doing whatever he could to stay ready for his shot.

The Neepawa product joined the University of Manitoba Bisons track and field team in 2020 as one of the most promising jumpers in the country. His first season was devoid of competition due to COVID-19, and a “roller coaster” physically and mentally when it came to training with all the changes to restrictions.

He said it was a test of discipline and dedication, both of which he possesses in abundance. Turner capped the Canada West season as the conference’s rookie of the year, with a triple jump gold medal and the Bisons’ first men’s overall championship since 2009.

Without hesitation, he said he’s most proud of the team title.

“Especially to do it at home, my parents and my girlfriend were able to come to watch and it was really exciting,” Turner said.

“We have such a great group of boys on our team this year, especially after … all our big jumpers had aged out. The jumpers had some shoes to fill but we won long jump gold, triple jump gold, got a high jump medal and I’m really proud of the team. Even on the sprinting side, guys were going way faster than I ever thought they could. It’s really great.”

The six-foot-two, 175-pound rookie topped the triple jump field with a leap of 14.95 metres while finishing fourth in the high jump at 1.97m. He’s headed to the U Sports championship March 31-April 2 in Saint John, N.B. Athletes qualify by meeting a standard — the average score of sixth place at the past three national championships — finishing top two at the conference finals or being ranked top 12 in the country. Turner is ranked sixth in the high jump.

While he appeared on a fast track to stardom when he shattered the provincial record with a 15.04m triple jump in 2019 — the fourth best by an under-18 athlete in Canadian history — the last few years certainly haven’t been easy.

His U of M career started normally in the fall of 2020 before an immediate shutdown in November for a few months. It was a big step up in volume from his training regimen with Prairie Storm Athletics and coach Bryce Koscielny. Instead of three training sessions and two days in the weight room per week, it’s five and three.

The technical training and resistance weights provide is tough to replicate. Turner said the goal during the lockdowns was simply to stay fit enough to do the workouts when they returned. Or, surviving, not thriving.

He worked out in his garage, then would bundle up and train at an outdoor track as soon as possible in the spring. It was tough to gauge progress as a lot of events were cancelled that year, but Turner feels he didn’t fall back much.

On the other hand, he developed mentally.

“Mindset was a big one. I had to give it a lot of time and opportunity to change how I thought about track as a whole,” Turner said.

“Looking at the differences between the 2020-21 season and now, I’m definitely a lot more confident in my abilities. In 2020, I knew everything was there but I was on the fence on whether or not I was still moving forward. Through the last year, year and a half, I became more confident in my ability to grow as an athlete, rather than worry whether or not I had peaked as an athlete.”

Turner found his years of work with Prairie Storm made the transition to university sport smooth. The big difference is he’s now on a team of 120 instead of around 12. And he’s part of a group full of talented, driven jumpers that dominated the podium at the Canada West finals.

“It’s just camaraderie,” Turner said. “On Prairie Storm, I was a jumper amongst sprinters. I had Riley Neufeld there with me as well but now we have a whole group and a whole team of people who are always at the track, always cheering each other on, always analyzing each other’s jumps.”

The turning point this season came on Jan. 22 at Alberta’s Golden Bear Open, where Turner jumped a personal-best 15.10m to win triple jump gold by more than half a metre.

However, he tripped on the final rep of his last set of hurdle hops in training a month later, landing awkwardly and forcing him to miss the Feb. 25-26 Bisons Classic 2.0. Manitoba’s athletic therapist initially feared it was a meniscus tear but turned out just a hamstring tendon strain.

Turner focused hard on recovery and ended up back in the winner’s circle at his biggest university meet yet. Well, until next weekend.

“It was great. I have a tendency to lose belief in myself if I’m not seeing constant improvement so it was nice to see some big numbers,” Turner said. “I know it’s there. It’s less a matter of ability, more a matter of time and I’m hoping that time is next week.”

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