When it comes to high school track and field, most jumpers enjoy just sprinting to their launch point and taking off. And then there’s Robbinsville High School junior Bonvie Fosam, who enjoys the analytical approach.
It’s a quality that helped Fosam qualify for the Meet of Champions in the triple jump last spring, and take second in the Central Jersey Group II high jump this winter.
“I think a lot of kids would rather just run really hard and jump as far as they can,” Ravens girls’ coach Kristina Connors said. “But she’s always worried about the small things and those small things always make such a big difference.”
In the triple jump and the high jump, there are a lot of small things to worry about. But it’s especially true in the triple, which is the proverbial hop, skip and a jump.
“I think it’s something special about her, just she’s very articulate and she likes the technical aspect of triple jump,” Connors said. “Long jump, even though it’s technical, it’s about running fast. With triple jump, you have to think about your phases, each phase needs to be perfect. So she is focused on that rather than just seeing how far she can jump. She’s got to worry about her knee drive and where she is throughout the whole jump since there are three different phases.”
It requires combining physical and mental talents, which Fosam enjoys.
“I think it’s great that there’s so many different elements that goes into triple jump—it’s not the one thing you focus on,” she said. “I love all the different aspects of it and how you can incorporate it into one big jump.”
Although there is no triple jump in NJSIAA winter track, Fosam won the Hispanic Games at the New York City Armory with a PR jump of 38. That was accomplished without even working on the event during winter.
That is because Fosam has been focused on the high jump and 55 dash, which she won in 7.49 in the Central Jersey Group II meet. Her high jump mark was 4-10 in the sectionals, good for second place. She did not advance to the Meet of Champions, however, finishing ninth in the 55 prelims in 7.53 and eighth in the high jump with a mark of 5-0, which tied her PR.
Still, she is continuing to progress.
“Winning the 55 was really unexpected, to be honest,” Fosam said. “I knew I was going to be in the top eight. Coach Connors told me I was somewhere in the middle of where they would place. All I focused on was that I had to have a good start and keep driving, drive, drive, drive all the way to the finish line.”
Once she came across, Fosam had no idea what place she was in.
“I kind of have tunnel vision when I run, so I wasn’t really focusing on what other people were doing around me,” she said. “I didn’t know I won until my coach told me. I was really happy, it really boosted my confidence.”
Fosam was born in England but moved to Robbinsville at age 2. As a child, she did gymnastics and cheerleading. In ninth grade, she went out for spring track after watching the success big sister Andin had.
Andin did not start track until her junior year, which was Bonvie ’s freshman year, but still went on to have two spectacular years as a thrower at RHS. She is now throwing for the University of Pittsburgh.
Fosam focused on gymnastics as a freshman but decided to try track in the spring.
Her confidence got a boost when she won the Freshman Division of the Mercer County Freshman/Sophomore meet with a triple jump of “around 30 feet.” That year, she also qualified for the New Balance Freshman National meet in North Carolina and took sixth place in the triple with a 33-11.
Until then, track was just “a fun thing to do on the side,” she said. But once Fosam saw her potential, track became her primary focus.
Fosam gave up gymnastics (but remained on the award-winning cheerleading team) as a sophomore and decided to try throwing shot put in winter track. But she didn’t have the same talent for it as her sister, so she decided to focus on sprints and jumps in the spring.
In winter track last year, she finished seventh in the high jump at the county meet with a 4-8, and was 19th in the 55 with a 7.96. She just missed getting the state Group II meet in high jump, finishing seventh in 4-8. She was 19th in CJ II with a time of 7.84.
In the spring, Fosam hit her stride, winning the MCT triple jump in 36-10.50 and taking fourth in the 100 meters in 12.87. She won triple jump again at the CJ III meet with a distance of just over 37 feet and finished fourth in the 100 (13.09). Fosam advanced to the Meet of Champs with a second-place in the triple jump (36-8) in Group III. She finished 14th in the 100. Her triple jump was 36-7.5 at the MOC.
“After she gave up the throws and started sticking strictly with the sprint, we first tried her at long jump and triple came soon after that,” said Connors, who was an assistant at the time and worked individually with Fosam quite a bit. “I think that’s what did it for her. When she started jumping, she just got really involved in track and field. That’s what really made her want it. If we talk about it now, if I say ‘We’re jumping today,’ she gets so excited because it’s what she wants to do. She really loves to jump. And she really likes triple jump and high jump. They’re both very technical and she’s done well in both.”
The coach calls Fosam “a dream to coach” because she actually listens to coaching, and is big on self-analysis.
“Whenever we go through starts at the starting blocks, or whether it’s the jumps, after each one, she likes to think about how the previous one was, thinking about it and moving forward to the next one,” Connors said. “You ask her to do one thing different and she’ll change it on the next attempt.”
Prior to a meet, Fosam gets extremely quiet, but not because she’s rude. She’s focusing, Connors said.
She has a routine before each event.
“I usually visualize my race or my jump and I make sure I’m really, really warm,” Fosam said. “I just get in the zone and don’t focus on anyone else around me.”
With the winter season completed, Fosam and Connors are anxiously looking forward to big things in the spring. In the meantime, Fosam will continue to ply her trade.
“Sometimes I go online and watch videos of Olympic triple jumpers,” she said. “Or I’ll do reps and reps and reps in practice, see how my feet are placed and weight balance and things like that.”
All that technical stuff, which makes jumping such a joy for her.
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