NEW HEIGHTS
Watching Yukon’s Turner is world-class experience
V ernon Turner stood under the high-jump bar and looked at the fiberglass pole perched 7-feet, 7¼ inches off the ground “Aw, geez,” he said. My thought exactly. Thursday morning, I went to Moore High School for the Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference track meet. That might not sound like the center of the sports universe, but for about half an hour, everyone there got to witness something amazing — Turner leaping heights cleared by only a few people in the world. Not a few high school kids. Turner is a world-class high jumper who also happens to be senior at Yukon High. He already has state and national high school records, but now he has his sights set even higher.
“I don’t know how he does it,” his mom, Melonie, said
Only one other competitor remained when Turner started jumping Thursday. He drank Red Bull and sat around in a black windbreaker, black sweats and white Chuck Taylors while extremely athletic guys struggled. Many were long and lithe and bendy, but by the time the bar hit 5-foot-8, they were clipping it or flat out crashing into it.
On Turner’s first attempt at 6-foot-8, his first height, he had his own crash.
“I’m not feeling it today,” he told his mom.
But on Turner’s next attempt, he cleared the bar, and when his
lone competitor failed to do so, Turner was left to attempt whatever height he wanted.
“Six-10?” the man in charge of the event asked. Turner shook his head. “Seven-1,” he said. Turner soared over on his first attempt.
Think about that. Turner is 6-3, so he jumped a height that is 10 inches higher than he is tall. A height that is taller than every player on the current Thunder roster. So, he could pretty much jump over every person living in our state.
Turner raised the bar another three inches to 7-4 and removed a pair of baggy black shorts that he’d been wearing with his red Yukon singlet. It was time to go with the Lycra shorts. Time to get serious.
Turner clipped the bar on two attempts, but on his third and final attempt, he started slowly clapping his hands. The large crowd that had gathered around the high-jump area joined in.
Turner ran toward the bar, hung a hard left, turned his back to the bar, then flung himself over head first.
The bar wobbled but stayed up.
The crowd exploded. One kid standing near the bar threw his hand over his mouth. Another standing on the other side of the mat immediately replayed what he’d just recorded on his phone.
Yukon jumps coach Kevin Ritter has his guys doing a heavy workload in practice, so neither he nor Turner had high hopes, no pun intended. They’ll cut back for regionals and state, but Thursday, Turner wasn’t at his best.
“When he has his natural legs, it’s a different bounce off the ground,” Ritter said. “It’s a good thing when you say it’s not a good day and it’s 7-4.”
And Turner wasn’t done there. He wanted to attempt 7-7¼. That would have broken the current under-20 American record. I say current because seeing Turner make a run at it Thursday, it’s pretty clear that it’s only a matter of time before he breaks it.
And still, it is a remarkable height to consider, even for Turner.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever walked up and been like, ‘Wow,’” he said.
It was so high that the kids helping work the event had to stand on their tippy-toes to get the bar back up.
“I think the best part is watching him walk up and look at the bar,” said Lisa Williams, whose son Jordan also high jumps for Yukon and has been best friends with Turner for years. “Then you get a clear picture.
“That’s what he’s jumping in real life?”
Even his misses are spectacular. Turner came oh-so-close to clearing 7-7¼, but he never quite did. He hopes to do that and more before the end of the season. His goal is 7-8.
That mark won the Olympics last summer.
Vernon Turner might win gold one day. He might not. Either way, he’s here in our midst now doing amazing things. Video doesn’t do justice to what he is doing. Neither do any words I might write.
Two meets remain. Go. Watch. He won’t disappoint.