It's a special time to be a triple jumper at the University of Manitoba.

Loaded with depth, the men's program represents 25 percent of the field that's participating at U SPORTS nationals, in fifth-year Daxx Turner, third-year Adebare Adegbosin and rookie Matthew Chow. Additionally, fellow rising star Enoch Emolegbe was ranked within the top 12 for most of the year, finishing just outside of nationals qualification, and all four of these individuals are jumping over 14 metres.
 
Of the four mentioned, it's Turner and Adegbosin who've made the most notable noise in Canada this season. The duo enter Saturday's competition ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in in the country, and are looking to accomplish a historic program first.
 
Manitoba has never had more than one triple jumper finish on the podium at the national championship in the same year, and the pair have a chance to not only do that, but to do so in the gold and silver medal positions.  
 
"Triple jump is such a niche event. It's so hard to have just one high performer anywhere, because so few people do it, and even fewer people do it well," said Turner, the only triple jumper in school history to go five-for-five as Canada West champion.
 
"It just makes you think of how lucky we are to be in this moment, at this point in history."
 
"It's community. It's family. These are my brothers," added the 6'4" Adegbosin, who surpassed the U SPORTS auto standard of 14.85 in his first meet of the season, jumping a then personal best of 14.99.
 
"I come to practice every day and everyone is here to bounce ideas off of."
 

Different backgrounds, same goal
Turner and Adegbosin come from drastically different backgrounds in the sport. But what unites them, is their shared desire to do the work, grow and push each other.
 
The ever-animated Turner is the poster child for triple jump in Manitoba.
 
A 14-year veteran of the sport, the pride of Neepawa owns the U18, U20 and senior outdoor provincial records, along with the U18 and U20 indoor records. He's ridiculously close to the senior indoor record of 16.06m as well, achieved in 1986 by Dexter Belton.
 
Turner's personal best (also a school record) is 16.05m, achieved at the Bisons Classic at home this season. It's the tenth-best jump all-time in Canadian history indoors. On top of that, Turner set a new Canada West standard this season, when he reached 15.70m at the conference championship.
 

Adebosin, in comparison to Turner, is a fresher face in triple jump circles.
 
The Fort Richmond grad didn't start competing until late in his senior year, originally giving track a try as a way to supplement his skills as a basketball player. His story is not unlike that of assistant coach Gee-ef Nkwonta, a fellow Centurions grad who also played basketball and picked up the sport late in high school. 
 
"One thing about me, is I can jump, so I liked dunking. But I wasn't really fast. I wanted to do track in my last two weeks of high school, so my gym teacher was like you should do long jump, triple jump and high jump. I did all three and I found out I like triple jump best."
 
Adegbosin was a quick learner, and much like Turner, he got "that itch."  
 
Both athletes are students of the game, constantly working with legendary coach Mingpu Wu on ways to improve their technique and approach.
 

"I think everybody here is similar. We're all hop, step guys. Our hop step is really, really solid. The difference between him and I just experience. I've been jumping for 14 years," Turner remarked.
 
"I feel like the thing that gets us further, is not being scared of the ground. That's a big thing. Whenever I talk to the group, it's more about feeling. Feeling very big and very tall. I mentioned a few weeks ago about not really feeling anything when you jump, letting it kind of happen. Just go for it."
 
And while Turner commanded the headlines this season with his record-breaking jumps, Adegbosin's season was just as notable.
 
He auto qualified for nationals during his first competition of the season, hitting a then personal best of 14.99m. From then on, he's been pushing Turner on a weekly basis with jumps far exceeding 15m, including a personal best of 15.47 at the NDSU Bison Open in February.
 
The pair of Manitobans, along with Arwin Mathivathanan of York, Lauchlan Irish of Lethbridge and Tegra Jan-King of Alberta are the only competitors at nationals who've jumped over 15m this season.
 
"They're not trying to beat each other, they're trying to work together to get better. [Turner] knows there's nobody that's been that close to him for a while. He knows that Ade is breathing right down his neck," said Bisons head coach Claude Berube.
 
"When were in NDSU, I don't think it was until the fifth round when Daxx finally went past him. Ade was leading at that point. When he's jumping in the mid 15's, that's a national level jump. You have to jump well to get over top of that."
 
"The energy is just contagious," added Adegbosin.
 
"When I see [Turner] jump something big out there, it just pushes me. If you jump far, that's just going to push me to jump farther. However that phases out, I'll be happy with it."
 

On Saturday, the pair will get a chance to match each other's energy yet again, in front of what should be a capacity crowd at the James Daly Fieldhouse.
 
The men's team has had a 1-2 finish each of the last two times they've hosted nationals, but not in triple jump. Adegbosin and Turner are hoping to change that.
 
"In 2019 when we hosted, Oyinko [Akinola] and Alhaji [Mansaray], they went 1-2 in the high jump. And then two years ago, Tyrell [Davis] and [Jordan] Soufi went 1-2 in the 60m. I think it would be sweet to go 1-2 in the triple," smiled Adegbosin.

Catch Turner, Adegbosin and the rest of the Bisons at nationals this Thursday to Saturday. Click here for tickets.