Mike Morrison
Latin student and high jumper

Mike is an 18 year old high school senior who says, "track makes me tick." He started out in track at age 12 to stay in shape for basketball following in the footsteps of his sister who was high jumping. In a short time, Mike was good. In middle school, he won the Junior Olympics at 5'6 in the 11-12 age group. In high school at the start of the indoor track season, Mike found he couldn't continue in both sports. After convincing arguements from his track coach, Mike picked track over basketball. He has never regretted the decision. He now spends his time preparing, competing and socializing through track.

In 10th grade he took up long jump at the coach's suggestion. The transition from verticle to horizontal jumping was easy for him suprising his coach. Today his best long jump has been in the 23-24 foot range.

This year Mike has been preparing for high jump through weight lifting 3 times a week in the fall and once per week during indoor season. How does he do so well? Mike says he gets in the zone and thinks of jumping 1 inch at a time. As he says, 1 inch is very small, so he thinks 1 inch is easy...."I can do that." He approaches each jump from that 1 inch perspective.

In school Mike is into history and has been taking Latin at his Mom' s suggestion since the 7th grade. While he doesn't talk much Latin, he can read and write it. Mike plans to study sports marketing in college. And speaking of colleges, he is looking at Clemson, Arkansas and Tenneessee for next year. In his spare time, Mike watches old tapes of his jumps and talks track with friends. Mike is 6'2 and 170 lbs. For advice to young jumpers Mike offers the following suggestions: "Don't hit the bar because it can hurt."