Raising The Bar
After Tuesday, I think it's safe to say that 2023 is now the greatest high jump year on record for boys in Tennessee. The only year that can compare is 2015 where two jumpers, Isaiah Kyle and Jacob Patten, both cleared seven feet with Joseph Hall also clearing 6-10 and winning the state title. As of today, we now have three jumpers over 6-10 and another over 6-9 with Grant Campbell now clearing state record heights. Just a week after clearing seven, Campbell cleared a bar just over the current state record of 7-2 after this jump of 7-2.25.
This result, while pending record ratification, is now the All-Time #1 mark in our database and the current US #2. If not ratified, the meets remaining for Heritage will all have the necessary components present to do so.
Boys US High Jump Rankings
Tennessee currently has three high jumpers in the Top 20 after, on the other side of the state on Tuesday, Bartlett's Dajuan Montague, also cleared 6-10.
Montague's best heading into to 2023 was 6-4. He finished 5th last year at state.
The winner of last year's competition was Rockvale's Lewis Lagrant who currently sits US #11 with his early season clearance of 6-11. He came close to matching this on Saturday with another clearance of 6-10 at Riverdale.
Not far behind these three is Ravenwood's Donovan Starr who is tied for US #38 with a clearance of 6-9, a height no one reached in 2022.
With 11 jumpers in total now at 6-6 or higher the chance to keep adding Tennesseans to the list of guys in the US Top 50 is high and I expect to see more there as the weather continues to improve across the state.
For now, if you are going to be at a meet with some of these jumpers, maybe show up a little early for field events if you've normally shown up for the start of running in the past.