Photo by Mike Scott from rhodyphotos.smugmug.com
If it wasn’t for his best friend, Rhode Island senior high jumper Quindel Wilson’s life may be vastly different from what it is today.
Walking down the hallways of West Warwick High School, Wilson was prepared to try out for the basketball team when his best friend convinced him to reconsider and join the track team.
“But you don’t have to try out,” Wilson recalled his friend saying. “If you join track, you are already a part of the team.”
That was enough to convince Wilson to ditch basketball and join the track team, a decision that would turn out quite well for him.
He would go on to win a pair of Rhode Island Class B Indoor and Outdoor championships, break the school record for high jump (both indoor and outdoor) and be named All-State his senior year. The accomplishments earned him a spot on the University of Rhode Island Men’s Track and Field team.
During his three seasons with the team, Wilson has consistently finished amongst the top high jumpers for the Rams. His presence on the team has also made practices and competitions funnier for his coaches and teammates.
“He’s got a great personality and he brings that literally every single day to practice,” Assistant Coach Trent Baltzell said.
During his sophomore season, Wilson won the URI Pre-Conference meet and the Holy Cross Men’s meet, jumping 1.95 meters high. He finished in the top five in six other meets, but the most defining moment of his collegiate career so far came at one of the biggest stages of his career: the 2020 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships.
After finishing eighth in the high jump and setting a personal best of 2 meters, Wilson was slotted into the triple jump after Baltzell told him that the team needed a fourth triple jumper.
“I honestly thought he was kidding,” Wilson said when he learned that he’d be jumping in a new event. “And then I got to the meet and he said, ‘“Yeah, you’re actually doing it.”’
Wilson would go on to jump 13.92 meters and finish fifth in the event, helping his team earn crucial points that would allow them to win the Atlantic 10 championship. He had said he felt “extremely good” that day, but hadn’t expected anything of that sort to happen.
Almost a year after this stellar performance, Wilson will return to the track Friday for a pandemic-shortened indoor season. Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams will take on New Hampshire in a dual meet. Baltzell anticipates that Wilson will continue to raise the bar this season.
“We are talking about a 2 to 3 percent increase from what he has done in the past and I think that’s attainable for him,” Baltzell said.
Wilson is setting the bar as high as he can, too.
“I just want to have a personal best in the high jump and the triple jump,” he said.
Wilson also says he plans to stick to high jump this season with the potential of adding triple jump for bigger competitions.
Off the track, Wilson is passionate about animals and pets. He is currently studying animal science on the pre-veterinary track and works at an animal hospital in his free time. When he graduates in May, he is planning on taking a gap year in order to gain more experience at the animal hospital before heading to graduate school.