Obra D. Tompkins HS, Katy, TX, c/o 2024
AthleticNET Bio
Jayden Keys comes from a family who has always been around sports. His father, Sean, ran hurdles collegiately and his mother, Louella, swam in high school. An uncle, Scott, played wide receiver for the Eagles and Bills. His brother Clayton is a junior running for Nebraska, and his sister, Lanaye, competes in track and field at Houston Christian.
At a very young age, Sean made little hurdles the kids could jump over.
“When they were really small, I built some small miniature hurdles. They were like four or five and I had them go over hurdles then. I said to myself, one way or another they’re gonna be hurdlers,” he says with a laugh.
Jayden wanted to be like his older siblings. Anything they wanted to do, he wanted to do, but better. He would work out and enjoyed the work track and field entailed.
The work he put into it paid off. He finished second in the 80 m hurdles(11-12 years old) in the USATF JO Nationals. He continued to compete and place nationally. He added the long jump to his short and long hurdle events after seeing his brother and sister compete.
“My brother and sister were jumping good and then I wanted to jump good too. It was more of a if they do it, I’m gonna do it better. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of trying to do that.
By the time he arrived at Tompkins HS, he was a seasoned competitor. He qualified for state that year and finished third with a leap of 23-11.25(+3.3). He didn’t quite make it out of his area meet in the 100m hurdles (14.97,-1.2) or out of his 300m hurdles regional meet(39.27), though those two times were his freshman bests. Jayden wasn’t surprised by his efforts despite being a freshman.
“I just kind of put the work in. No one is going to give me it to me because they’re older and I’m younger. I just kind of kind of worked as hard as I could and I got there. It was a surprise, but not a surprise at the same time.”
His sophomore year, he really improved. He leapt a personal best of 25-04.75(NWI) at his district meet and a 25-01.5(+0.7) at his region meet before finishing third at state with a 24-08.25(+2.5).
His region performance was a memorable one for him. The previous year, Aaron Davis of Humble Summer Creek had taken off his shoes before the long jump competition had ended. Jayden felt disrespected and though he scratched leapt over 25 feet on his final jump, he used that as inspiration for the next time they met. A year…
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