There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, and the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays provided that sunshine for Jefferson High School senior Genevieve Tebeau.

After a tough start to the season with some off the track hurdles to jump over, Tebeau was able to clear her mind on the bus trip over to Jesuit High School on April 25.

Lining up for her second go in the long jump, Tebeau launched herself 18 feet, 10 inches, a new personal record.

Originally, it was listed at 19-10 and later changed, ultimately giving her second place in the event. But Tebeau still had the best leap of any 6A competitor and the 18-10 jump currently stands as the second-best mark all season at the 6A level, only behind Jesuit’s Iman Foster’s 19-0.5 mark.

The week prior to the Twilight Relays meet, Tebeau was finally able to crack into the 18-foot range again, and that helped give her confidence to perform on one of the biggest stages in high school track and field at Jesuit.

“I just had to give myself confidence and realize the best I can do is the best I can do, I can’t do anything better than that,” Tebeau said. “And it’s my senior year, I wanted to just do my best. I’ll never be here again because I’ll have graduated.

Tebeau’s day wasn’t done either as she also competed in the girls 100 meter elite race and took home third place with a season-best time of 12.27 seconds despite a 2.1 headwind.

Five days later, Tebeau followed up her 100 performance with a season-best time in the 200 in a home meet against Roosevelt, crossing the line in 25.50 seconds.

“I realized that things will get better, it’s not always gonna be a dark time,” Tebeau said following the April 25 competition. “I realized I had to come out here today and do even better than I did last week, the weather is great and it’s a perfect environment to PR.”

Tebeau is far from alone in representing the Democrats this season on the track and in the field with Jefferson’s sprint squad taking a step forward.

Senior Austin Snyder, a transfer from Mannahouse Christian Academy, currently holds the fourth best time this season in the boys 100 (10.74), the 12th best time in the 200 (22.03) and the seventh best time in the 400 (49.19). The 400 time is a new school record set by Snyder.

Junior EJ Cozart is making the natural progression, posting the 21st best 100 time in 6A (10.94) and the fourth best time in the 300 meter hurdles (40.58).

Not only that, but Cozart is reaching new lengths in the long jump as well with a PR mark of 22-11.25 earlier this season with his club squad, which is the third best mark in 6A. For the high school season, he’s reached 22-7, which is a new school record.

Put Snyder and Cozart together, along with Isaiah Clark Anderson and Robin Lawson, and the Demos have the 12th best 4×100 relay time this season at 43.03 seconds. It’s also the third fastest time in school history.

Having the boys to train alongside has been a boost for Tebeau not just in numbers, but in confidence as well.

“I like working with the guys because I feel like it gives me a good gauge of where I need to be at,” Tebeau said. “A guy will normally jump farther than a girl, so if I’m jumping the same as them or running similar to them, that’s good for me.”

Tebeau still has plenty to aim for this season, but her PR mark of 18-10 in the long jump is easily the Jefferson record by over two feet. She also owns the 200 meter record with a PR time of 24.90 from the state meet last season and her PR time of 12.11 in the 100 from last year has her in third in the school record book.

There is plenty of time to improve all those marks though with the state meet still a few weeks away, scheduled for May 29-31 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Tebeau said her goal is to break into the 20s on her long jump and get under 12 seconds in the 100, the latter goal would give her the new school record that is currently 12.04 seconds.

It’s lofty, but Tebeau doesn’t have to worry about what comes next after high school. She’ll be attending Grand Canyon University next year in Phoenix where she’ll continue her track and field career.

So no matter where Tebeau might end up come the end of May, she’s still been an outstanding winner for the Demos and is setting herself up for a senior year to remember.

“I’m so excited because I know the weather is amazing out there,” Tebeau said of GCU next year. “It’s just a beautiful campus and I love coach (Tom Flood). I’m just so excited to go out there.”