After breaking 41-year-old record, Irondale’s Juriad Hughes claimed state, national, Pan-Am titles
Irondale senior-to-be Juriad Hughes will has quite a tale if asked to do a “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” presentation when the new school year starts. He started the summer breaking a 41-year-old state record, then earned a State Championship and eventually National and U-20 Pan-Am Games titles.
Click the video box on this page to watch KSTP Sports’ story on Irondale’s Juriad Hughes. See some of his title-winning jumps and hear his thoughts on breaking a 41-year-old state record; winning state, national and Pan-American titles; and the support he’s received from his parents Leticia and Juriad Sr ever since he started showing signs of talent at a very young age
Hughes soared past the longstanding state long jump record in the run-up to the MSHSL State Meet.
The state long jump record Hughes broke was set in 1982 by legendary St Paul Central athlete Von Sheppard.
Sheppard was a mentor and idol of Juriad’s father, who’s quite an athlete himself. He earned Metro Player of the Year honors when he played high school basketball at Central.
One week after breaking the four-decades-old long jump mark, the younger Hughes won the State Championship.
Then, just a week after that, he traveled to legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon and won the Nike Outdoor National Championship, where he also placed third in the 100-meter sprint.
To cap off an amazing summer, Hughes won the long jump last weekend at the Under-20 Pan-American Games in Puerto Rico, making him the best young jumper in North, Central or South America.
He had previously won the Nike Indoor National Championship back in March.
Now, Hughes turns the page and switches his attention back to his other sport as football practice begins for the season.