A centimeter. That is what made the difference in setting one Laker’s name alone in the record books.

In the meet at the College at Brockport on Jan. 30, junior sprinter and long jumper Adam Crumb leaped just far enough to surpass the Oswego State long jump record, previously set at 6.78 meters, with a distance of 6.79 meters.

Crumb recounted what was going through his mind after he landed in the pit.

“After my jump, I got up, looked at where the tape measure was,” Crumb said. “I saw that it was close to 6.8 meters… I started freaking out.”

Even his coach, Derek Rousseau, was excited when that moment of realization came.

“As soon as he hit the board, I knew it was going to be [close to the record],” Rousseau said. “Once they pulled the tape back we were getting ready to celebrate.”

Some might say that breaking the record by such a small distance is interesting, but not all that impressive.

But while a centimeter is certainly a small distance in relative terms, in long jumping, it might as well be a mile.

In fact, the top four Oswego State long jumping records are all set apart by a single centimeter.

Crumb was happy to reach the record by any distance.

“Once I found out I got it, I turned to my mom and just blew up,” Crumb said. “It was awesome.”

In what was a special moment for him, the place where Crumb broke the record has a special meaning to him, as well.

Last season, also in a meet at Brockport, Crumb recorded his lifetime best jump of 6.74 meters; just five centimeters from breaking the record.

After coming so close to the mark in Brockport last year, Rousseau said he expected Crumb to break the record this time around.

“The fact that he did it in Brockport makes it even less surprising,” Rousseau said.

Rousseau added that this expectation stems from watching Crumb make significant improvements from his freshman year onward.

“We worked on a lot of things to improve on his jumps,” Rousseau said. “But you have to give him credit…He kept at it and reached his goal.”

Crumb said it was a long road to accomplish his goal. He credited changes in his training and preparation.

“I worked a lot on my sprinting this year… It has been progressively getting better,” Crumb said. “Technicality wise, we changed up my runway… We actually backed me up a whole step, which helped me bring a lot more speed and power into my jump. I think that definitely played a big role in this.”

Rousseau knew that his sprinter’s new approach had great potential for success once he saw Crumb’s first few jumps in the meet that day.

“Seeing him being able to harness that power out of his sprints in his first few jumps… It made us realize that he was going to have a big day,” Rousseau added.

Rousseau said while these changes to his approach definitely played a significant role, but said experience can be the most powerful element of progression.

“We changed his approach to maximize some things that that he had been doing very well this year, sprinting being one of them,” Rousseau said. “But I think it was just a matter of time and natural progression before we would see him get that record.”

“When he came in as a freshman, we saw that he has a lot of the raw skills and talent you look for in a jumper,” Rousseau added.

It certainly took time and effort from freshman year, but all of the hard work paid off in that one centimeter.

Now, Crumb has a new goal: to break his own record.

“I’m definitely striving to break it,” Crumb said. “I’m always pushing to go farther so that the underclassman have a goal for themselves to reach.”