PORTSMOUTH — Northwest graduate and Shawnee State multi-sport athlete Haidyn Wamsley has primarily focused on volleyball during her time at SSU.

It certainly wasn’t an ill-advised choice, after all — as the springy frontline hitter and three-year starter vaulted to first team all-River States Conference honors in 2023.

However, those who know Wamsley well simply know that the skilled student-athlete has a different mentality — because one knows that Wamsley simply has a different motor than the average athlete.

As a result, when the lights are on, Wamsley never disappoints.

A multi-time OHSAA Division II all-Ohio honoree on the track and field side of the spectrum, who finished as the 2022 Mid-South Conference Runner-Up with a 1.64-meter high jump in outdoor track en route to an NAIA National Championship appearance in that campaign, Wamsley showed off her incredible talent in the Shawnee State women’s indoor track and field program’s first meet of 2024 — winning the women’s triple jump with a 10.39-meter mark, placing second in the women’s long jump with a 4.98-meter jump, and notching third with a 1.59-meter performance in the women’s high jump.

Those performances allowed Wamsley to not only collect 10 of Shawnee State’s 29 points by herself, but also allowed her to set indoor track and field program records in both the long jump and triple jump — as the Bears finished second to host Otterbein (Otterbein Invitational) on Saturday afternoon in Westerville.

Wamsley and Jozi Brown, who took home top honors in the 3,000 meter run, each collected victories for the women’s team — and between their performances, ultimately combined for 15 markers on their own.

In her first official college track meet in nearly 21 months (last was May 2022), she also impressed River States Conference voters to the point where Wamsley was able to collect RSC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week honors straight off the rip — as announced by RSC officials on Monday afternoon.

An OHSAA Division II state qualifier in both 2019 and 2021 — with a state runner-up finish and a fifth-place in the high jump as well as a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and a seventh-place finish in the long jump — Wamsley showed no rust with her performances at Otterbein.

Her 10.39-meter triple jump not only bested second-place finisher and Otterbein’s Charlie Dolliver by eight-hundreths of a meter, but put Wamsley within one full meter of a NAIA National ‘B’ Standard mark in the event — while her 4.98-meter long jump has Wamsley within a half-meter of a NAIA National ‘B’ Standard in that event as well.

Her 1.59-meter high jump, however, is even closer to meeting national qualification — as Wamsley sits just six-hundreths of a meter off a NAIA National ‘B’ Standard, and nine-hundreths of a meter from NAIA National ‘A’ Standard qualification.

Wamsley currently sits at the top of the line in the River States Conference in the high jump and triple jump — and is third overall in the conference rundown in the long jump.

Her high jump mark of 1.59 meters — which when converted to feet — is a five-foot, two-and-a-half-inch high jump, and is 33rd in the country after the first meet.

Wamsley is within five-hundredths of a meter from her personal-best in the high jump, and set new personal-bests in the long jump as well as the triple jump — in addition to her school records in the latter pair of events.

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