Log In


Reset Password
Sports Youth Sports Professional Sports More Sports College Sports High School Sports

Former Durango High School track and field standout Gabi Razma starring at college level.

DHS grad Razma finds instant track and field success
Razma

The pieces all are coming together for Gabi Razma.

The 2014 Durango High School graduate made the dean’s list her first two quarters at Rose-Hulman Technical Institute – a school known for engineering – and hopes to make it three in a row this spring while pursuing a major in biomedical engineering.

In just her freshman year, so, too, are the pieces coming together for Razma in athletics at Rose-Hulman. A two-sport athlete at the school in Terre Haute, Indiana, she was a standout on the Fightin’ Engineers’ volleyball team last fall and is coming off a strong indoor track and field season over the winter.

This outdoor season, Razma has found success in the triple jump, long jump, 100- and 200-meter dashes and in the relays. Last weekend, she tied the school record in the triple jump, and Razma will get a chance to break the school triple jump record at a meet Friday.

It’s an event she especially enjoys – because of the pieces, which indeed are coming together nicely.

“I love the triple jump because of all the pieces you have to put together,” said Razma, daughter of Dr. Peter and Kristina Razma of Durango. “The speed and the explosive power to do the jumping, and there’s the technique aspect that I really like.”

Earlier this month, in addition to tying the school record in the triple jump at 35 feet, 11.25 inches, she also had the second-best long jump in school history at 16 feet, 9.25 inches. Both were good for third-place finishes in the DePauw Invitational in Greencastle, Indiana, leading the Division III Engineers to a second-place finish in the highly regarded meet. And last weekend, she was part of the school record-setting team that won the 4x400 relay at the Indiana Division III championships, also at DePauw University in Greencastle. Razma added runner-up finishes in the triple jump (35-1.25) and long jump (16-1).

Last month, Razma was named a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week, winning the triple jump in the Rose-Hulman Early Bird Meet.

“I’ve been focusing a lot on technique,” Razma said of her growth in the triple jump. “My jumping coach helps me out each week, and I’m working hard in practice and the weight room.”

Razma is confident she can set the school record in the long jump, and for good reason: She said she jumped 36-9 in high school at Durango. She said she also recorded a 17-foot long jump for DHS, which would be good enough for the record at Rose-Hulman, she said.

But after a long volleyball season, Razma is just starting to get her track-and-field legs back.

“I haven’t quite hit it yet,” she said of those high school numbers. “I’m really excited to see what happens in the next four years.

“I used the indoors as a transition. It was more to get me into shape.”

Although co-holder of the school’s triple jump record and still second in its long jump annals, Razma is ranked first in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in the long jump and second in the triple jump heading into next weekend’s conference meet in Lexington, Kentucky.

“I want to break the school record and eventually make it to nationals,” Razma said of her goals in the triple jump. “We’ve been looking at old results from previous years and 37 to 38 feet, we think, will get it. That’s for the next couple years.

“In the long jump I definitely want to hit 17 (feet) again. I haven’t seen that in a few years. I’d like to win the conference championship in that event. And the triple jump.”

Her aspirations for the 100 and 200 aren’t quite as lofty, but she hopes to make an impact.

“If I’m able to place fifth or sixth ... (to place) fifth as a freshman at some of these meets and just keep getting better,” she said. “I’d like to break 13 seconds in the 100 – my best time is 13.14. And in the 200 to break 27 seconds – I’m in the low 27s now. Everything is right there; placing at the conference meet in the top four is an attainable goal for me (in the 100 and 200). I think (the conference meet) is going to be a good chance to show all the work I’ve put into the season and that it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman and that you come from wherever.

“If you work hard and have a competitive drive, you can surprise people.”

bpeterson@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments