COLUMBUS − Orrville’s Mark Lorson already had the Division III state high jump title in the bag.
However, he had one more feat to accomplish…and that was achieving a personal best of 6-feet, 9 inches. His 6′ 8″ leap was good enough to win the OHSAA state title but Lorson wanted more.
He missed his first attempt at 6′ 9″. Then right before he started walking over for his second attempt, the announcer voiced over the intercom that the state track meet was being suspended due to lightning in the area.
Lorson had two more attempts at clearing 6 ‘9″ but there was a sudden delay.
Now what?
“The official told me she got clearance to jump one more time or two more times, if I wanted to. So, I told her I wanted to get it in now,” said Lorson afterwards.
Forced to move quickly, Lorson’s second attempt failed. He had one more go at it but had to hurry up, as fans in the stands were exiting Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium swiftly with once sky blue clouds getting darker.
“I didn’t really have a lot of time to gather my thoughts because it was rapid fire,” said Lorson, on his third and final attempt at 6′ 9″. “I really wanted to go for it. I really didn’t have anything to lose. Hoping my last one was my best one.”
Lorson hurried over to his spot. Got himself set. Went through his motion and took off.
And he cleared it. Just in the nick of time.
“I wanted it bad,” said Lorson, before he hopped on the podium to pick up his gold medal. “I was trying to get myself fired up and I wanted to get the crowd fired up before. And I went for it. It felt like a great jump. I got all the timing in the air right. It felt good.”
As the top seed coming in with a clearance of 6′ 8″, the sophomore said he felt some pressure as the favorite.
“A little bit more than I thought,” said Lorson, who was a Division II state qualifier last season as a freshman with his highest jump being 6′ 3″.
On the day, he was as clean as he needed to be. Lorson didn’t miss his first jump until his first run at 6′ 9″ — he skipped 6′ 5″ to go to 6′ 6″ — and assessed his performance throughout.
“Up until 6′ 4″, I was doing some weird approach with my jump,” said Lorson, who also qualified in the long jump at this year’s state meet where he finished ninth on Friday. “I wasn’t quite leaning into the curve like I should have. On that 6′ 6″, I started to lean back into it and get more comfortable, which allowed me to jump higher at 6′ 7″ and 6′ 8″.”
For Lorson this season, he’s really done it all in the high jump.
He was the PAC (Principals Athletic Conference) champion. District champion. Regional champion. He broke the PAC meet and Orrville school high jump record with a leap of 6′ 7.5″ in May. Then he rebroke the school record for a second time at the Division III district meet (6′ 8″).
And with Saturday’s jump of 6′ 9″ at the most important time of the track season, Lorson broke the school record for a third time.
He summed up just how good his sophomore season has been.
“I am really surprised. I wasn’t expecting that type of growth from freshman year to sophomore year,” said Lorson, who credits lifting more weights, coaches in other sports helping him and having a good offseason program in football being some key factors in him developing into a state champion. “I’m really happy with the way it turned out. I’ve really enjoyed the whole season.”
jamessimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X: @JamesSimpson II
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Orrville’s Mark Lorson wins Div. III state high jump title
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record | USA TODAY Network
