Burbank High senior jumping sensation Jayla Flowers has committed to Sacramento State University.
Flowers made her commitment live Friday on her Instagram account.
“For one, it is close to home and I realized that my family is here. It was nothing against the other colleges, it was just that I felt I could see myself going there,” Flowers told Myburbank.com during the virtual commitment ceremony. “It was like me belonging there. They made me feel very comfortable in everything.”
Flowers selected Sacramento State over the University of New Mexico, Cal State Fullerton and the University of Mary in North Dakota.
As a sophomore, Flowers finished fifth in the California State Meet, going a school record 39 feet, 6 inches in the triple jump.
What was impressive was that Flowers improved each and every level of postseason competition.
She went 36-2 in winning the Pacific League title.
In the CIF preliminaries she went 38-3 ¾. A week later in the CIF finals, she went 38-5.
Flowers jumped 38-11 ½ in the 2019 CIF Southern Section Masters meet.
In the California state championship preliminaries, she went 39-1 ¼, before reaching her personal best in the final.
Flowers was also a 2019 CIF finalist in the long jump, where she jumped 17-10 ½.
Her personal best in the long jump is 18-0, which she also accomplished during her sophomore year.
Not wanting to peak too early, Flowers got off to a slow start in 2020 and did not equal her personal bests before the season was cut short due to Covid-19.
Her 39-6 from 2019 would have ranked her No. 17 nationally in 2020.
Flowers played basketball for two years at Burbank High, before deciding to focus on the sport that she knew she would be competing in at the collegiate level.
Flowers said she started in track and field at eight years old.
“I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” Flowers said. “
