Jasmine Varner entered her junior season at Bowling Green hoping to build off a top five hurdles finish at the state track and field meet last year.

Turns out she’s building more than confidence. She’s building muscle and adding to her arsenal.

What started out as a hobby has turned into a new challenge Varner is embracing this season on top of racing toward another top placement in the hurdles at state later this month.

Varner is one of several Bowling Green runners who added field events on top of their sprinting skills. As good as Varner has been in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, she’s quickly discovering her hobby of weight lifting outside of school is helping her win long jump events for the Purples.

“It’s totally different,” Varner said. “I have strong legs, why not jump? When it comes to college, I don’t want to run in college, but I thought jumping might be fun. So maybe a jumping scholarship is something I’ll look forward to and that’s why I thought I should start now.”

And she happens to be pretty good.

On top of consistently winning in the hurdles – 13 wins this year between the 100 and 300 events to be exact – Varner has won three long jump events and placed second on two occasions in Bowling Green’s nine meets this season.

She’ll attempt to place well enough for state in all three events in next week’s Class 3A, Region 2 meet at John Hardin High School.

As a sophomore last year, Varner placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 3A in 15.45 seconds and fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 46.29 seconds. Most recently at the City-County Meet on Tuesday at Warren East, she beat both those times by going 15.32 seconds in the 100 and 46.16 seconds in the 300.

Varner said she feels good about her chances this season with Alexandra Lawson, the defending 3A champion in the 300-hurdles, competing in 2A now. When it comes to the hurdles, Varner is racing herself until state.

“You have to think you’re racing against time in your race,” Varner said about approaching the 300. “It’s a very strategic race. I have to actually count my steps in my race so that will push me and the ghost of Alexandra will be there.”

Hurdles are the easy part. The long jump is the new challenge.

It started when Jasmine’s father, James, got her into power lifting last fall. Being a long jumper himself, James started working with Jasmine to the point she started lifting enough to gain national recognition.

She claimed the national record with a 363-pound deadlift in the winter among her age and weight class through the United States Powerlifting Association. She’ll shoot for the world record of 374 pounds the national meet in Las Vegas this July.

“I was actually conditioning my legs for track season and just so happened to blow up,” Varner said. “I’m enjoying it so much. My dad was a jumper so that’s another thing we can bond with and he’s like, ‘If you’re going to be out there, you’re going to be great.’ I’m excited.”

Balancing the long jump and hurdles has taken a special dedication that BGHS coach Tyreon Clark has seen spike recently in Varner. In the hurdles, runners working to gain speed are constantly burning muscle. Succeeding in the long jump is all about building muscle.

“She’s been able to prepare her mind for it over a period of time,” Clark said. “(Her dad) does a great job in the offseason preparing her for track and field because we don’t do a lot of lifting in August.

“She’s always been a competitor. I think this year she’s coming back into a zone where she’s a junior and has another year to attack the grind and really make the most out of her opportunity.”

With Varner already holding top five finishes in the hurdles at state and national records as a power lifter, it’s no surprise she’s setting the bar high as a long jumper before she finishes her high school career.

The winning distance in the long jump at last year’s Region 2 meet was 16-10.00 and she has eclipsed that distance twice this season.

“Really, I’m in the process of just learning all that I can,” Varner said. “I’ve gotten a couple of 16s, but I want more. I want to medal at state. I want a 17 or 18 and the state record (in 3A) is 19. By senior year, I want to get it.”