To understand the motivation that keeps Vernon Turner driven to this day, you may have to go back to his appearance at the USA Olympic Track and Field Trials last July in Eugene, Oregon.
The fact that he was there? As a high schooler with a shot to earn a bid to the Olympics as a 17-year-old? It was all kind of a blur, really.
Just three years earlier, the then-junior from Yukon High School in Oklahoma had begun his career in the high jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 10 inches. And now there he was, with future Olympians, looking at an opening height of 7 feet.
"He was the newcomer," said Matt Parent, Turner's track and field coach at Yukon. "And maybe there were going to be a few confidence issues, things like that. He didn't even see himself as an Olympian right then."
Turner, who signed with Oklahoma in November, had cleared 7-4.5 the previous spring to win his second straight state title in the high jump, breaking a state record in the process. However, at the Trials, he didn't clear the opening height. Disappointment followed.
But then a day trip to the coast changed his mood.
"He told coach (Kevin) Ritter, 'This didn't go well today, but in 2020 you'll see me,'" Parent said.
Almost a year later, Turner, who also excels in basketball, has certainly used that motivation to drive him. On Saturday at the Claremore Zebra Invitational, Turner went a state record 7-5 to improve his PR by a half of an inch.
His series went like this: 6-8, 7-1.5, 7-5.
Only seven athletes in high school boys track and field history have gone 7-5 or higher. Only eight marks have been achieved beyond that height, too.
"It felt good to finally go higher," said Turner, who sports a 4.0 GPA. "Once I jumped it, I knew I would make it the second time."
Keep in mind a few things, though.
Two weeks earlier, he had opened up his season at 7 feet… with just two practices.
Before he hit 7-5? He had a little over a practice under his feet.
"There's not a lot to say," said Ritter, who coaches Turner in the jumps and has led three of his teammates to heights of 6-4 or greater. "It's a little bit of a shock, because it came so early in the year."
There's also Turner's size. When he travels to meets outside his high school, prompting coaches and athletes to ask "Who's the 7-5 high jumper?" people rarely point him out.
Because he stands at just 6-foot-3.
"He's probably a legit 6-foot-2 barefoot," Ritter said.
Talent has no size, though. And Turner, who has been measured with a 37-inch vertical, has overcome any questions with his performances.
He cleared 7 feet or greater three times a season ago -- with his debut effort taking first place in April at the Yukon Classic.
"We're all trying to figure it out," Parent said. "He gets up quick. He plants and then he's off the ground quickly. Even in a basketball game, you'll see him once he takes off. It's immediate."
Oklahoma was on the recruiting trail soon after… while Kansas State and Texas Tech chased after him, too.
Turner chose Oklahoma because of fit but maybe also because he has a sister who plays college soccer nearby. Perhaps his home state has something to do with it, too.
"Some of the recruiters said of him, 'He could be one of the next big things in jumping,'" Ritter said.
And so Turner's focus has shifted solely this spring to track and field. Parent believes coaching will make a difference as Turner tries to make a push for the National Federation of High School Associations record of 7-5.5 and the national high school record of 7-7, last achieved by Brenham (Texas) High's Andra Mason in 2002.
"He's already started arching over the bar," Parent said. "That's one of the first times we started seeing him do that. We like to call it the way he wiggles over the bar, they call it "The Worm." It's like he started floating."
Ritter has worked with Turner lately on adjusting his takeoff position and his starting marks. At practice, Ritter said Turner has even started clearing 8 feet using a ramp.
Ritter said one of his goals for Turner is making sure the senior averages final heights of at least 7 feet throughout the season. So far, Turner has cleared 7 feet twice.
There's also another goal.
"Once he gets to No. 1 nationally, he said I'd like to be able to stay there," Parent said.
Before the year, Ritter had all his athletes write down on a piece of paper what their long-term plans were in their events.
"And Vernon, he writes down on the piece of paper, 'I want to hit 7-8,'" Ritter said.
Is it within reach? Turner certainly has presented a good case for making the leap as a senior, just a few weeks in, with just a few practices.
Turner says he reflects on the accomplishment soon after he achieves it.
"In the moment it doesn't look so high," he said, "but then I get down and I look up and it's way up there. It's nice to see I get that high."
