When the bar is a foot above your head, a high jumper
has to play mind games to think he can defy gravity enough to
get his entire body over the bar. Mike Morrison's mind game is
to raise his goals one inch at a time. He tells himself, "It's
only one inch. I can do that.".
Morrison did that in the Hispanic Games to raise
his New York Armory record an inch to 7-3, best in the country
this year. He did it in dramatic fashion before a clapping, cheering,
foot stomping packed house in the New York Armory. Jumping alone,
Morrison went down to his third attempt before clearing 7 feet,
and also missed twice at 7-3. Then, on his last attempt, he soared
high over the bar with so much clearance that more inches appear
to be in Mike's future. But he saved that for another day and
called it quits this time with his fourth straight 7-foot jump
this season. He also leads the country in long jump at 23-8.25.
A Latin and history student, Morrison will continue
high jumping in college (Arkansas, Tennessee, or Clemson) because
"track makes me tick."
Mike
Morrison past performances
Event Mark Meet
B-HJ 7' 3 1/11/2003, Hispanic Games NY, # 1
B-HJ 7' 2 12/21/2002, Bishop Loughlin Game NY, # 1
B-LJ 23' 8.25 12/21/2002, Bishop Loughlin Game NY, # 1
B-LJ 23' 1.75 1/11/2003, Hispanic Games NY, # 3
B-HJ 6' 8.75 3/10/2002, PG-NIC MD, # 2
B-HJ 7' 0 2/26/2002, Arm-EasternStates NY, # 1
B-HJ 6' 6 2/11/2002, Arm-RidgewoodVarsity NY, # 1
B-HJ 7' 1 2/2/2002, Meet of Champs NJ, # 1
B-HJ 6' 8 1/20/2002, Group 3 Ch. NJ, # 1
B-HJ 6' 10 1/7/2002, SJTCA large NJ, # 1
B-HJ 7' 0 1/6/2002, Relays Grp 3 NJ, # 1
B-HJ 6' 8 12/30/2001, Seton Hall Games NJ, # 1
B-HJ 7' 0 12/27/2001, Arm-Holiday Classic NY, # 1
B-HJ 6' 6 12/20/2001, SJTCA large NJ, # 1
B-LJ 22' 5.25 12/15/2001, Arm-Bishop Loughlin NY, # 2
B-HJ 7' 1 12/15/2001, Arm-Bishop Loughlin NY, # 1
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When the finalists toed the starting line in the LSU
Classic for the girls 55 meter dash, most eyes naturally turned
to defending champion Janice Davis and Stephanie Smith, each of
whom has a long list of elite credentials, or hurdles champion Jessica
Ohanaja.
Less than 7 seconds later, however, all eyes were
on Courtney Champion, whose best prior achievement was a double
at the U-Kentucky Invitational last year. Courtney smoked the field
in 6.85 seconds, grabbing the US#1 spot in DyeStat
Elite national rankings and making it to 17th on Jack Shepard's
all-time list in HIGH SCHOOL
TRACK 2003.
Since Georgia has no indoor track season, Collins
Hill coach Andrew Hudson is not allowed to work with Courtney right
now. She is training with New Horizon club coach Laselle Lewis,
who has been working on her starts.
Champion is in the sports medicine program at Collins
Hill and works as an athletic trainer for the basketball team. She
is making A's and B's in Honors classes, and is also involved in
Collins Hill's exceptional dance program.
Courtney
Champion past performances
Event Mark Meet
G-55 6.85 1/11/2003, LSU Inv LA, # 1
G-60 7.59 p 3/10/2002, Armory-NSI NY, #
G-200 24.53 2/16/2002, U-K HS Inv KY, # 1
G-60 7.53 2/16/2002, U-K HS Inv KY, # 1
G-55 7.11 1/12/2002, LSU Inv LA, # 2
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