By: Con Marshall
CSC Sports Information
Former Chadron State College star athlete Isaac Grimes will be representing the United States in the long jump at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this coming week. He was both a conference champion and an All-American four times as CSC.
Since then, after being the runner-up at several large meets during his star-studded career, Grimes won the long jump at the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Eugene, Ore., on Aug. 1 with a leap of 26-feet, 9 inches, or 8.15 meters.
That earned him the spot on the U.S. team for the World Championships, which begin Saturday, Sept. 13 and run through Sept. 21. The long jump qualifying competition is Monday and the finals are Wednesday.
A native of Moreno Valley, Calif., Grimes long jumped almost as far as his USA Championship mark while competing for the Eagles six years ago. His best at CSC was 26-6 ¼, which was good for the silver medal at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships at Kingsville, Texas, in May 2019.
After spending three years at Chadron State, that was the last time Grimes jumped for the Eagles. He had used just two years of athletic eligibility at CSC, but transferred to Florida State so he could compete in Division I. He continued to excel in the long jump there and now at age 27 is a pro and has the opportunity to win the world championship.
It’s an intriguing story how Grimes came to Chadron State. He had shown promise in track while attending Rancho Verde High. Although he recalled long jumping more than 20 feet only once in high school, he high jumped 6-foot-6 and triple jumped 47-9 ½. He also ran on a 4x400 relay team that was timed in 3:14.02, the fastest in California and third fastest in the nation his senior year in 2016. However, prior to the state meet, one of the relay runners was injured, ending the bid for more national acclaim.
Since Grimes’ high school grades were not spectacular, he did not receive much attention from college coaches. However, Brad Gamble, then the Eagles’ track coach, connected with him by telephone, liked his potential and attitude persuaded him to enroll at Chadron State.
The lanky Californian could not compete his first year on campus in 2016-17. But he became a dedicated student, made the Dean’s List and was a full-fledged member of the team the next year.
Grimes won both the long and triple jumps at his first collegiate meet with marks of 23-11and 47-9 and continued to place high with similar marks throughout the indoor season. However, he also had hamstring issues and could not compete at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Indoor Meet.
The good news was he had previously qualified to long jump at the NCAA Division II National Meet and placed sixth there by going 24-9. His previous best was 23-9 ¾ and he exceeded that mark during all six of his jumps at nationals.
It was an excellent start, and many more great jumps would follow whenever Grimes’s hamstrings cooperated.
By then, Riley Northrup had replaced Gamble as the Eagles’ head coach, and limited his budding star’s competition. The highlights occurred at the RMAC Outdoor Championships, where Grimes won the gold medal in both jumps. He long jumped 25-6, the third longest in the DII that season, and triple jumped 49-8 ½ to set the Chadron State record.
The twin wins netted him the meet’s Field Athlete of the Year award and he also was voted the conference’s Male Freshman of the Year.
Even though he had set the CSC triple jump record, it did not qualify him for the national meet. But he long jumped 24-6 ½ and placed fifth, his first All-American honor.
Grimes also got his second season of competition at Chadron State in 2019 off to a great start. At the first indoor meet hosted by Colorado School of Mines, he won the long jump at 26-1and had automatic national qualifying marks on all six of his attempts. He also won the triple jump at 49-3 ¾ to set the Eagles’ indoor record.
Grimes continued to long jump during the indoor season, setting both meet and facility records at the Chadron State Invitational (25-11 ½) and at South Dakota State (25-7 ¾), but he seldom triple jumped again that winter. Since he was already qualified for nationals in both, he skipped the triple jump at the RMAC Meet, but won the long jump by going 25 feet even.
Nationals at Pittsburg, Kan., were next and Grimes was remarkable. He was the long jump gold medalist by leaping 25-8 ¾ and the triple jump silver medalist at 51-8 ½. The latter is Chadron State’s indoor record that still stands.
Shortly after the meet concluded, the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association selected Grimes as its DII National Indoor Field Athlete of the Year for 2019.
The outdoor season had its ups and downs. Northrup and Grimes were cautious. Grimes primarily competed at big meets. He won the long jump at two early meets in Colorado with marks of 25-4 ¾ and 25-7 ¼, skipped the rest of the outdoor schedule before winning the event at the RMAC Meet with a pedestrian mark of 24-10. He never triple jumped, even at the RMAC Meet, but the next week qualified for Nationals by going 49-3 ¾ at a Last Chance Meet.
Texas A&M-Kingsville hosted the National Meet. He placed second in the long jump by going a career-best 26-6 ½ on his final jump, and it was just three inches shy of his winning jump at the recent USA Nationals. There were 20 contestants at the DII Meet and he was the only one to exceed 25 feet on all six attempts.
The next day he triple jumped just once and had to withdraw. His hamstring tightened again.
That also was the last time he competed for Chadron State. He transferred to Florida State, saying he wanted to go to a place with a larger environment, much to the disappointment of his CSC coaches and teammates.
However, Grimes didn’t go away unhappy. He realized his time at Chadron State had been beneficial, and gave CSC Sports Information Director Kaleb Center the following statement.
“Chadron has been a great experience for me. It grew me into the person I am today. I was blessed by the opportunity to come here. Family, friends, coaches—everybody has been so helpful, pushing me to be the best person I can be. It’s a blessing to be an All-American and also a national champion at any NCAA level.”
While he apparently never triple jumped again, Grimes’s long jumping career continued to blossom at Tallahassee. As a senior in 2021, he was the runner-up at both the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Meets with marks of 27-4 ¾ and 26-5 ½, respectively.
The indoor jump is the Seminoles’ record.
After turning pro, Grimes leaped 26-5 ½ and was the runner-up at the USA Indoor Championships in 2024. He also was second at the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Belgium with a jump of 26-8 ½ earlier this year.
Then came his winning jump of 26-9 at the USA Championships last month, which gave him the opportunity to compete at the World Championships in Tokyo this coming week.
Stay tuned!