With Marion Jones in sprint purgatory — and not long jumping much anymore — the title of best American female horizontal leaper is a tug-of-war involving Grace Upshaw and a few others. Grace won’t turn masters age until September 2010, but a newspaper story about her gives welcome credit to her biggest fan and supporter — sister Joy. Competing as Joy Upshaw Margerum, big sis is a world champ and record-holder in her own right. And as masters chair of the USATF Pacific Association, she brings her incredible energy and enthusisasm to all her roles.

On Sunday, Grace will compete in the big-time Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Here’s the Eugene Register-Guard’s story on Grace — and how Joy made her latest success possible:
Upshaw makes leap of faith
By Bob Rodman
Published: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Slow start. Late bloomer. Call it what you will.
But before Grace Upshaw could label herself an Olympian and women’s national long jump champion, she had to endure a lot of obscurity and eventually quit the sport.
“After college,” she said, “I thought I was done.”
And that was after two colleges – Oregon and California.
At the age of 30, however, Upshaw is ranked third in the world. She is a two-time USA Track & Field Outdoor gold medalist, a national indoor champion and has a personal record of 22 feet, 5 1/4 inches.
Not bad for someone who had no titles before she turned 26.
“I never made it to nationals when I was in college,” said Upshaw, among the headliners in the women’s long jump competition at the Prefontaine Classic, an IAAF Grand Prix meet taking place Sunday at Hayward Field.
She never was recruited to college. Upshaw walked on at Oregon in 1993 only because former UO assistant coach Mark Stream had some encouraging words for her.
“I think he saw some potential in me,” said Upshaw, whose interest in the film and entertainment industry as well as her slow-moving long jump performances contributed to a decision to transfer closer to her Bay Area home.
At Oregon, she managed a sixth-place finish in the Pac-10 Conference meet with a jump of 19- 1/4 in 1994, but that was it for the Ducks.
At Cal, “no one really knew what to expect out of me. I worked hard, but when I was done I thought I was finished.”
A second-place jump of 20-5 3/4 in the 1997 Pac-10 meet was as good as it was going to get.
“I thought it seemed a little far-fetched to keep going,” she said. “I thought I was done. I didn’t think I could get to the next level and figured I would get on with my life.”
Which is why on Upshaw’s resume there is a two-year gap – 1998-1999: Did Not Compete.
She went to Hollywood and worked for a couple of years in the music video business as a production assistant, an experience highlighted by the production of a Prince video, she said.
Not everyone, however, was convinced Upshaw’s athletic career needed to stay in mothballs.
One of her three sisters, Joy Upshaw-Margerum, believed Grace Upshaw’s long jump tank was far from empty. She introduced Grace to Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner in December of 1999, and the rest is slow but steady history.
“I just knew that there was huge potential in Grace that had been untapped,” said Upshaw-Margerum, a former all-American track athlete at Cal State Hayward.
Joyner knew, and so did Stanford coach Edrick Floreal, who tutored Grace Upshaw for a time, and Upshaw-Margerum, who is now the sister/coach.
The genetics were there, too.
The Upshaws’ father, Monte, broke Jesse Owens’ national scholastic long jump record on May 29, 1954, with a leap of 25-4 1/4 , surpassing the mark of 24-11 1/4 set in 1933.
At the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000, Grace Upshaw’s long jump push began with a ninth-place finish at 20-11 1/4 . But a year later, at the USA outdoor championships, she upped her distance to a silver-medal finish at 21-8 3/4 .
By the end of the 2002 season, she was ranked No. 1 in the United States by Track & Field News.
In 2003, she claimed the USA outdoor title, crossed the 22-foot barrier (22-1 1/2 ) and was ranked No. 5 in the world.
Her personal record rose to 22-5 1/4 in 2004, the year she became an Olympian, finishing 10th in Athens. In 2005, Upshaw won the USA outdoor championship again, was third at the world championships and inched up to a No. 4 ranking in the world.
“It’s been a hard, unbelievable process to get to this point,” she said amid her recent preparations for a third appearance at the Pre Classic.
Upshaw has paired her drive with an emphasis on technique and power.
“A lot of athletes just have the natural ability,” Upshaw-Margerum said, “and Grace does have some natural ability. But in order for her to take it to another level, she had to concentrate and work on technique.”
The obvious targets remain.
A 23-foot jump? “That’s always a big goal, and if I didn’t think it was possible, I wouldn’t still be jumping,” said Upshaw, a resident of Menlo Park, not far from Stanford University.
The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing? “That’s another goal,” she said. “Any time you’re in a technical event, you have the potential to get better as you get older … as long as you stay healthy.”
Upshaw-Margerum said her sister is taking a “year-by-year” approach.
“We do the training, the base work, take little steps within a season, doing the layers and making Grace stronger and stronger,” she said.
As has been Grace Upshaw’s athletic history, the best may yet be to come.