As Grandview high jumper James White continues to soar to new heights, he raises his own expectations with each new conquest.
That trend continued last Tuesday at the Winnetonka Invitational where he cleared 7-feet, 5 3/4-inches, snapping the 25-year national high school record set by Cedar Shoals (Ga.) high jumper Dothel Edwards.
For White, Grandview head track and field coach Andy Leech and the rest of the Bulldog athletic department, the last week has been one of heavy demands as well as much admiration.
“Can you hear my phone ringing right now,” Leech joked when asked about the attention the school has received over the past seven days. “That’s the way it’s been around here. Just crazy.”
Heading into Tuesday’s competition, White had intended on stopping at 7-feet. But, after clearing that mark with ease, he decided to continue on.
Grandview's James White soars to a record-breaking mark.
Photo By Jonathon D. Greene
The 5-foot-10 junior needed just one attempt each in throwing himself over the bar set at 7-2 and 7-4 to assure his shot at Dothel’s standard of 7-5 1/4. White’s first attempt at what he thought was 7-6 followed suit.
Once he secured the record, White took three stabs at former Brenham, Texas, high jumper Andra Manson’s World Junior mark of 7-7, but came up short on each attempt.
White is confident he will eventually conquer that height.
“I want 7-7,” White said. “Then I just want to see how high I can get. My goal is to break my own record every time I jump. Then, once I clear that height, I’m not intimidated by it any more.”
Although Leech would like to see White ease up for a week or two, he foresees the self-proclaimed basketball player getting his entire body over a bar set at 7-9, a height that Leech said is reachable this season.
“There was no arch in his record jump,” Leech pointed out. “I can see him breaking the national record again. If not this season, then next season.”
Since White is only a junior, Leech will have the luxury of having him around for another season. But the evidence shows that White is ready to compete at the next level.
White’s latest personal best would have placed him eighth at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and would have netted him a runner-up finish at last year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
That same mark would have garnered White an individual high jumping title at this year’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship, and ranks him fourth in the world according to the International Association of Athletics rankings.
Breaking records isn’t new to White. Four days prior to upending Edwards’ mark; he made history by clearing 7-3 1/4 at the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, bettering Shawnee Mission East (Kan.) high jumper Sheldon Carpenter’s 1992 record of 7-1 1/4.
Last Saturday, White unseated former Bulldog athletic director Jim Blankenship as the school’s top long jumper by posting a 22-8 1/2 mark in an event that consumes very little of his time. Blankenship’s former record of 22-5 1/2 was set in the 1960s.
Looking back on his freshman season, White recalled soaring over a bar set at 5-8 for his first height conquest. By the end of the season, White’s 6-10 leap surpassed the school’s old record of 6-8 he and senior teammate Brandon Kinnie shared for part of the season.
White, who has never worked on high jumping outside of the track season, cleared 7-0 for the first time last season and finished that season with a personal best of 7-1.
“I never would have dreamed he would raise his personal best by five inches this season,” Leech said. “Once you hit seven foot, every inch is a foot.
“But he has a God-given talent to fly. He’s so tough mentally. For anybody to look at a bar that high and think, ‘I’m going to go over that,’ you have to be mentally tough. He’s confident that if you put a bar up there, he’ll go over it. He has no fear at all.”
Next up for White is the Belton Invitational Friday. Then following a stop at the Suburban League meet, White and his Bulldog teammates begin their quest for a spot at the Missouri State Track and Field Meet in late May, with appearances scheduled for district and sectional meets.
