ASU's Keyasia Tibbs pictured (photo courtesy of ASU)A hop, a skip and a jump.
Sophomore Keyasia Tibbs is one of the many new faces on this year’s Sun Devil track and field team making a big impact. A transfer from the University of North Carolina, Tibbs has enjoyed much success this season in her main event, the women’s triple jump.
Raised in Atlanta from the time she was 4 years old, Tibbs has never been a stranger to success on or off the field. Growing up, she was involved in everything and did it all well.
“I’ve always wanted to excel,” Tibbs said. “That’s always been one of my big values; I have to excel on the track, in the books, and anywhere I’m at.”
Throughout her school career, Tibbs was always active in sports. She was a cheerleader, competed in track, and was even the co-captain of her high school softball team. Her hard work on the field paid off, as she was the Georgia state champion in the triple jump in 2012 and 2013. She came out of high school ranked No. 9 for triple jumpers in U.S high schools.
Her accolades were not all out on the fields, either. Tibbs did all of this while maintaining an outstanding 4.0 GPA, which earned her the status of valedictorian when she graduated from Tri-Cities High School in Atlanta in 2013. She was named to the superior honor roll and was recognized as a Georgia Merit Scholar for her academics.
Upon graduating, Tibbs decided to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her freshman year on the team, she was named to the all-ACC academic team and was an ACC finalist in the triple jump. Yet after one year at UNC, Tibbs decided it was time for a change.
On why she decided to leave, Tibbs said, “It really just didn’t feel like home to me. I really also didn’t see a purpose in me being there anymore since I changed my major from sports medicine to fashion design. I just needed to make an overall change.”
From there, she weighed her options and decided on coming out to ASU to become a Sun Devil.
This season at ASU has already been successful for Tibbs, in large part due to the coaching staff that trains and helps Tibbs and the other athletes train and improve to become their best.
“The coaching staff definitely has high expectations which pushes me to have higher expectations myself,” Tibbs said.
“There’s definitely a better coach and student-athlete relationship, which is very important because that’s what helps you improve.”
That improvement is evident this season for Tibbs who has set several personal bests, including her miraculous 12.56 meter leap at last week’s Indoor New Mexico Invitational. That jump set a personal record and an ASU record in the women’s triple jump that has stood for nearly 15 years.
Just before the jump, Tibbs recalls thinking, “This is my chance, and I have to go big.”
Tibbs says that she hopes to go to both the indoor and outdoor national championships, but is open-minded to any form of progress and success she could get this season after a slow freshman year.
“I don’t want to limit myself on what I think I could jump, because I know a big jump is going to come.”
For Keyasia Tibbs, those big jumps are just a hop, a skip, and a jump away.
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