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<< Previous   of   Next >> Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Mariner track star Marzell Jenkins   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008 Marzell Jenkins is on track for success Nothing's ever come easy for the Mariner High senior but being a top-notch sprinter is opening doors that might have stayed closed for this track star MUKILTEO -- Marzell Jenkins' day begins at 5 a.m. He can expect a call from his track coach at Mariner High School, Dave McFadden, who is on his way over to Jenkins' abode to take him to McFadden's classroom, where Jenkins studies for an hour, starting at about 6 a.m. Then he catches a bus to ACES Alternative High School, where he takes eight classes a day. After school, Jenkins walks the 2½ miles back to Mariner for track practice, returns home, eats dinner, studies and goes to bed around 11 p.m. The next day is a rerun. It has to be. He has ground to make up. "If I have to stay after school, I'll stay after school to do my work," he said. "I'll come here and still do my workout when everybody's gone. They'll tell me what they did and I'll do it." This is a story about a teenager who has caught exactly zero breaks in his young life and is working relentlessly to make his own. One of six children of a single mother, Jenkins didn't attend school many times because he didn't have bus money. He and his family have moved in and out of residences countless times, both in town and out. He has spent some time living with an older brother. "I've probably gone to every school in the state," he said. Jenkins' life has seen repeated failure, much of it he's had little to do with. It's not that Jenkins never wanted to succeed. It's that he had neither the means nor the knowledge to. "I've never really had a (male) role model," he said. A senior now, Jenkins is just discovering a path. Sprinting, he knows, is his ticket to better things -- to college and beyond. After winning the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dashes in Friday night's 4A District meet, Jenkins is a legitimate threat to win state titles in those events. He also runs the anchor leg on the Marauders' 1600 relay. Jenkins is ranked in the top six in the state in the 100 and the top five in the 200 and 400. He has all the ingredients major college track programs are looking for in a sprinter: speed, explosiveness, everything. "He is, without doubt, the most gifted sprinter I've had the opportunity to coach," said McFadden, in his 14th year coaching the Marauders and 20th overall. Jenkins has everything except an acceptable cumulative grade-point average, which he is working hard to correct. He hopes to attend a community college -- Clark (where friend and former Mariner teammate Nate Washington attends), Clackamas, Lane and Spokane are likely suspects. If all goes well, Jenkins hopes a four-year program is on the horizon, not to mention the Olympic Games. If Jenkins forgets his potential, he can always look at a letter of inquiry McFadden received about him from LaMonte Vaughn, sprint coach at the University of Washington. Add that to Jenkins' list of motivational tools, a symbol that tells him that, despite all that has gone against him, despite a past that would lead many to quit school and find a life on the streets, Jenkins has a chance for something better. In the big picture, Jenkins' story doesn't stop with his times in the 200. His story is about using the sport as an example of what he can achieve once track is done. "He's had a great taste of success this year," McFadden said. "More important, that success has come because he's worked hard. It just hasn't been given to him. He's a tremendously talented athlete, but he's running as well as he is because he has worked so hard -- academically, athletically, across the board." The light has turned on in Jenkins' head. He has realized the connection between hard work and success. He has a support group -- Jenkins names McFadden, MHS social studies teacher David Knutzen and English teacher Bob Stoors as among those who have gone out of their way to help him. But Jenkins also knows that so much is up to him. "If you don't work hard, things won't go right," he said. "Normally, they won't. It's been like that since I was little. I don't want to do the bad things. That's the easy way out. I'm not going to take the easy way out." James Cowan, who set school records in the 200 and 400 meters in the early '80s that still stand and serves as sprint coach for Mariner, says he hopes to see his records fall. If they fall to Jenkins, Cowan says, bring it on. "Look at him," Cowan said after a rainy, dark, windy practice. "He's the last one out here. He does the training and puts in the time. If I tell him to run another 400, he runs another 400. He never asks why. It's fun to see him succeed as he has." The real fun will be in watching Jenkins run to success in his life after track. Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, turn to sleeper@heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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