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Record day for Tiger jumper

3/30/2009

By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Freshman high jumper Morgan Witzel started the indoor track season shortly after she completed the year for Fort Hays State University volleyball last fall. Immediately, first-year Tiger high jump coach Ty Haas knew Witzel had special talent.

"Kind of have that wow factor," Haas said. "She has some things that you can't teach, they are just natural. Steer them in the right direction and let them go."

In the next few months, Haas rebuilt the athletic Witzel's approach, changed her from sprinting spikes to high jump shoes and refined her technique. Witzel improved by five inches and tied her all-time personal record Sunday at the Alex Francis Classic at Lewis Field Stadium.

Witzel won the high jump with a mark of 5-6 (1.68 meters) and qualified provisionally for the NCAA Division II national meet. Witzel, a two-time state high jump champion at Burlington (Colo.), had jumped 5-6 once in high school.

"I didn't expect to get 5-6," she said.

"I was hoping to do good, but you never know, but I am thrilled. (Haas) has helped me out so much. My approach is completely different in a good way."

Witzel's performance was one of several first place finishes at the Classic, a meet postponed from Saturday because of inclement weather throughout the state. Fort Hays won both divisions of the seven-college tournament. On the women's side, the Tigers had 276 points, while University of Nebraska-Kearney was runner-up with 201.5. For the men. Fort Hays defeated Kearney 260.5-227.

For the women, Fort Hays junior Darcie Schmitz took first in the triple jump (38-2), long jump (18-10), 100 meters (12.43), while the Tigers also earned titles in the pole vault, hammer throw, high jump and javelin.

On the men's side, Fort Hays picked up five champions with senior All-American Bryan Haynes winning the 100 (10.49) and 200 (21.22) and the Tigers yieding titles in the 400 meters, pole vault and javelin on a day with 30-mile-per-hour winds.

Senior Lindsay McCormick, a two-time national qualifier and former national runner-up picked up the javelin crown with a toss of 125-1, a toss more than 20 feet under her personal record.

"The wind wouldn't die down at all," she said.

"You are supposed to throw up but the wind was catching it and just bringing it right back down. I was trying to hold it closer to my head and not point it up as much as you supposed to so it would go kind of more straight instead of up and get caught by the wind."

Sunday marked second competition for the javelin throwers, an event that does not compete in the indoor season. McCormick worked off-season and preseason with sophomore Amy Wilson, a Hays High graduate, 2008 national qualifier and the runner-up Sunday.

"We get really eager to throw," McCormick said. "Indoor is not the same as outdoor. We get frustrated when the weather doesn't cooperate and we have to go inside."

Over spring break, McCormick went to a meet at Bethany College. Under calm conditions, she set a personal record and achieved a season goal with a mark of 146-10, more than two feet farther than her second place throw at nationals and a toss that placed her on the 2009 national list. Her next goal is the school record of 158-7, a number that was nearly impossible to meet in Sunday's weather.

"These are the worst conditions to throw in," she said with a smile.

Haynes, a former indoor national champion in the 200 meters in 2008, and a 60-meter All-American in 2009, picked a provisional mark in the 100 meters (10.49), four one-hundredths off the automatic mark.

"Basically what we wanted to do with the wind is just get out and just run and get my feet wet," Haynes said. "Get everybody's feet wet and just build off of that. Not too bad for the first outdoor meet."

Witzel delivered a high standard in her first outdoor competition. Last fall, Witzel had to redshirt the volleyball season because of mononucleosis and said she "still gets tired really fast." The talent base, though, was evident for Haas, a former Tiger high jumper and Thomas More Prep-Marian assistant track coach.

"She was pretty raw," Haas said. "She just kind of ran and jumped which is understandable. She is a great athlete and then we started refining things a little bit."

Witzel, who had always jumped in sprinting spikes, switched to high jump shoes, a shoe with a full-plated spike for better traction on plants. Witzel, at first, had trouble feeling comfortable and adjusting. Sunday marked the first meet she jumped with the high jump shoes.

"That has obviously helped a lot," Witzel said.

Witzel hit 5-1, then remained at 5-3 for part of the indoor season before she improved to just over 5-5. Haas made Witzel's approach more narrow at the bar.

"When she was in high school, she was really wide, she was out quite a bit wider than she should have been," Haas said.

"She kind of was guessing was about 16 feet, she was not as used to running quite as narrow. You can see when she puts her speed on the approach and gets it going and leans out, it is very, very solid."

Witzel started volleyball practice last week and had practiced little before Sunday's meet.

"(My legs) are a little sore," she said. "Could be better, but it was nice to get to jump again. I haven't jumped much this week."

Witzel, though, continually improved and cleared 5-6 on her second attempt, a height she had cleared in practice. Witzel smiled when she climbed off the mat and received a fist pump from Haas.

"She is really starting to take off," Haas said. "Her 5-6 jump was great."

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