Ah, the wonders of a growth spurt.
Alex Lockhart stood all of 5-feet-2 as a freshman and nobody at Swink High School (enrollment 125) was choosing him first for any pickup basketball games. Frustrated after a year of getting knocked around on the football team, he decided not to play his sophomore year.
And then …
“I sprouted,’ Lockhart said.
Sometime before his junior year, Lockhart grew a full foot, up to 6-2, and discovered that not only was he destined for a life of getting things down from the top shelf, his growth spurt had given him a serious set of hops.
Lockhart recently cleared 6-9 1/2 in the high jump and coaches say he has enough potential to clear the vaunted height of 7 feet. Only two high school athletes have gone that high in state history – Brighton’s Jeff Martinez, who went 7-2 in 1987, and Buena Vista’s Matt Hemingway, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
The first signs of flight weren’t visible in Lockhart until he took a few jumps over the bar in street clothes while helping out at a junior high school meet. Also on hand that day was Andy Malott, who at that time shared Swink’s school record of 6-9 with Richard Wheeler, a three- time state champion.
Malott was impressed.
“He said I could go 5-10 at least. I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t think it was possible,” Lockhart said.
About a year later, Lockhart cleared 6-6 and won the Class 2A state title as a junior. Big surprise.
“It was really out of the blue,’ said Greg Wallin, who has coached field events for 15 years at Swink. “When he started as an athlete as a freshman and sophomore, he was just so small. Then as a junior and senior he developed some size and strength and, boy, he just came to life.’
Things were looking good. Lockhart was back on the football team for his junior year and won the high jump state title that spring. He was especially excited for his senior year of football, and there was that high jump state title to defend.
And then …
“I blew my knee out,’ he said.
During a preseason scrimmage against McClave, Lockhart chased a play from his defensive end position and had his right knee crumpled by another defensive lineman. About a month later, he had surgery to repair the damaged ACL and spent the fall on the sideline watching the Lions play.
“It was really hard to stand on the sidelines. But I decided to focus solely on track,’ Lockhart said. “If I was going to blow my knee out, that was the time to do it, I guess. It gave me enough to time to rehab, and once they cleared me for jumping exercises, I really hit it.’
Lockhart takes high jumping seriously now, and even the clunky brace supporting his knee can’t deter him, though it does knock the bar down every now and then.
Ray Headley, Swink’s track coach for the past 31 years, saw that Lockhart was consistently clearing 6-4 as a junior, and the jump of 6-6 at state was his best of the year. Fully understanding the plateau and re-evaluation cycle emerging athletes go through, Headley and Wallin started scheming ways to make Lockhart better.
“We were figuring that as young of a jumper as he was, he still had a lot of things to learn,’ Headley said. “When you start getting up where he is at, it becomes so much about technique.’
One technique tweak came after Lockhart and the coaches watched Hemingway practice. The speed he took to the bar was astounding, and Lockhart quickly incorporated a faster approach. It wasn’t long before a 7-foot jump was looking a bit more possible.
“When he cleared 6-9 1/2, he could have been close to 7-0. He cleared it by a good 3 inches,’ Headley said. “I would love to see it, but whether he gets 7-0 or not, I don’t know.’
All involved are hopeful and will certainly give it every effort, but no promises are being offered.
“I didn’t think 7-0 was possible. I didn’t even think the school record was possible for a while,’ Wallin said. “But after seeing his attempts at 6-10 (at the Warren Mitchell Invitational in Limon last week), I think he has a great chance to go 7-0.’
At that meet, Lockhart just scraped the top of the bar with his shirt on one of his attempts at 6-10. He never is happy after a miss, no matter what height.
“I try to calm myself down, but I get really frustrated when I barely miss it. And I get really disappointed at myself when I miss a lower height,’ Lockhart said. “I know I shouldn’t, but if I’m going to get better …’
He trailed off for a moment before finishing.
“The key to the high jump is mental focus, and if you have any doubt in your mind about clearing a certain height, you probably won’t make it,’ Lockhart said.
Even if he doesn’t clear 7 feet, there always is the 2A state record of 6-11, set by West Grand’s Tyson Parrott in 1999.
