Former
Badger Turpin
makes
All-American
David Turpin clears the high jump bar at six feet, eight inches in college competition.
COOS BAY, Oregon — Yosemite High School’s 2000
graduate, David Turpin, was awarded junior college All-American status in three
track events — high jump, long jump and decathlon. Turpin is a sophomore at South Western Oregon Junior
College. In the league championship, David had a high jump of
6 feet 8 inches. He had a long jump of 22-3/4, and he ranked eighth in the
decathlon with 5,804 points. He missed the school’s decathlon record by 10
points.
David is also a basketball player. He did not play
last season and has not made up his mind about playing next year. David led the
Badgers in scoring in his senior season at YHS.
Turpin is on a scholarship that pays most of his
tuition and living expenses. David is leaning towards majoring in physical
education and communications. He has a 3.5 grade point and made the dean’s
list. “I plan on returning to South Western Oregon this
fall and will see what doors are open for me at the end of two years,” says
David. “Oregon and Fresno have expressed interest in me.” David set the school record by scoring 58 points in
one league meet. He participated in nine events. Turpin also runs a leg in the
4X400 relay team. Turpin likes his coaches, Dan Neal and Kermit Walker,
but he believes a better recruiting effort could be made by the coaching
staff. Next season he would like to score in the 7,000 in
the decathlon and to improve his marks on the other events.
Photo right: David Turpin wins a college decathlon event. He has All-American status in this event
and in the high jump and long jump, too. His best long jump was 23 feet.