Brenton wins track & field national championship

RANGELY I After earning All-American honors three times on the Western State College Mountaineer track and field team, Rangely graduate Jason Brenton took three years off from competing in track but returned this year to win a NCAA Division II national title in the triple jump.
Brenton competed in the 2012 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend in Mankato, Minn., winning the triple jump competition and earning his fifth All-American honors award with a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon.
Brenton won the 2A triple jump competition while at Rangely High School, setting a record (48-4), which still stands today. He then continued his success in Gunnison with the Mountaineers.
“After my third year at Western, I took a year off to do ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Brenton, who has several fights under his belt, said. “After that, instead of returning to school as an athlete, I became a volunteer coach at Mesa State for one year then the next year I was hired on at Lake Superior State University in Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.”
It was at LSSU Brenton returned to track competition in order to repay a bet he lost.
“Last year I made a bet with my athletes and if I lost, I’d have to use my last year of eligibility,” Brenton said. “Well I lost and so I owned up to my bet this year. It was a struggle though, because I was out of shape and injured — I had surgery on both knees in October and wasn’t competing very well at the beginning of the season before things started clicking and my performance started to improve.”
Things were clicking for Brenton until the very end, he won the national title on his final attempt, when he hopped, skipped and jumped 15.39 meters (50-6). Brenton had three other jumps of 14.25, 14.99 and 14.92 and two scratches.
Men compete in heptathlon in indoor track and field and the decathlon in outdoor meets. The heptathlon includes seven events and Brenton did the best in his two favorites.
“I’d say my favorite events in the decathlon and the heptathlon are the high jump and pole vault,” Brenton said.
Brenton placed third in the pole vault (15’1”), tied for fourth in the high jump (6’6”), was seventh in long jump and shot put, ninth in the 1000-meter run, 11th in the 60-meter hurdles and finished 12th in the 60-meter dash.
“I was never a national champion until this year,” Brenton said. “It feels great to come out of retirement and win it all.”
Brenton is excited about competing in the outdoor national finals in two weeks and doesn’t plan on retiring again yet.
“I’ll definitely be doing the decathlon at the outdoor nationals at CSU-Pueblo,” Brenton said. “It will be great to finish back in my home state. Hopefully, I’ll be able to repeat as national champion and be an All-American in the decathlon.”
But Brenton is not finished.
“I’m hoping if things go well, I can hit an Olympic B Standard and compete at the Olympic trials in the triple jump,” Brenton said. “As far as fighting goes, I took some time off because my body was too trashed to even train. Now that I’m healthy, I plan on returning to fighting this summer. I still have big hopes of making it into the UFC, especially now that they have lighter weight classes.”