Stroud sophomore Sophie Young had already won the high jump at the Tiger Classic track meet Saturday.
She had cleared five feet and her chief competition, Jayden Epperley from Mannford, had gone out at 4-10, so first place was hers.
So when Stroud coach Kelly Brown asked if she’d like to raise the bar higher, Sophie said yes.
The only thing was: Coach Brown wasn’t going to tell her how high she was setting the bar.
So Sophie took a minute, made her run and easily cleared the bar.
The height? Five feet, four inches, the same height Sophie jumped to win the state championship last spring.
“We have this activity in practice where I set the bar for her,” Brown said. “She has no clue what it is - I just want her to jump.
“So when she finally won it Saturday, I was like: ‘how do you want to approach this?’
“She said ‘just like we do in practice.’
“So I set it to her PR, the best she did last year, her best jump. And she cleared it smoothly.
“I think it’s just her mindset - if she hears it, a lot times, she doesn’t jump as well.”
Sophie agrees with her coach - she does better not knowing the height.
“It’s a mental block, I guess,” she said.
In practice, Sophie jumped 5-8, Brown said, which puts her an inch away from the Stroud school record, set by Kylie Mixon, who now jumps for Oklahoma State.
And that record height - five feet, nine inches is Sophie’s career goal.
Brown says it’s do-able because of her work habits and focus.
“Our goal for this year is 5-8,” Brown said. “She’s determined.
“She has the strength and ability, obviously, and height. It’s going to be the mental focus.”
In addition to Young’s firstplace finish, Stroud got two first places from senior Peyton Davis, who won the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash and Amarie Bobo who won the shot put.
North Rock Creek’s Abby Bloyed won the 400 meters, C.J. Stephens won the 200 meters, Raiden Simmons won the 800 and the 4x100 relay team of Reid Rollins, Lance Carter, DeWayne Wallace and Deion Frazier won their events.
At the Brandon Jacks Memorial Invitational meet at Madill, the Prague girls’ 4x800 relay team of sophomore Jocelyn Ward, senior Harley Johnson, sophomore Hanna Rolette and junior Hailey Johnson finished second with a time of 10:16.87.
Hailey Johnson took second in the 800 meters with time of 2:32.05 Sophomore Moses Burdine from Prague finished second in the 400 meters.
Ryan Copeland of McLoud finished fourth in the 3200 meters.