Despite legs feeling ‘like noodles’ at the start, Elijah Wytcherley of Glendale fights back to claim 1A boys high jump championship

By René Ferrán 

Elijah Wytcherley didn’t feel quite like himself when he arrived at Hayward Field in Eugene on Thursday for the first day of the OSAA track and field championships.

The Glendale senior had a busy day ahead in the Class 1A boys meet — prelims in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles and finals in the high jump, in which he was the all-classifications state leader, and the long jump, where he was the 1A leader.

As he made his first attempts in the high jump, his legs felt “like noodles,” and soon enough, he found himself facing a do-or-die attempt at 5 feet, 10 inches — a height he typically didn’t have to try hard to make.

“I was freaking out,” he said. “I had to put it all aside and just go for it.”

With that clearance out of the way, he found himself in an unexpected battle with Prairie City junior Eli Wright, whose career best before Thursday was 6-2. When he made that height on his second attempt while Wytcherley needed three tries, that gave Wright the lead.

Wright made 6-4 on his first try, and Wytcherley needed two jumps, dropping him further behind in this high-stakes game of high jump poker.

At 6-5, Wytcherley snatched the tiebreaker by making it on his second try while Wright needed three attempts. The bar went up to 6-6, and after Wright missed, Wytcherley got over it with relative ease.

“I didn’t think he’d jump that high, but once we got up to around 6-5, 6-6, there’s a lot more pressure,” Wytcherley said. “Once I cleared it, that definitely helped. It was nice to finally put the pressure on him rather than me being under pressure.”

Finally, Wright folded, and Wytcherley had an official OSAA state title to go with the unofficial title he won last spring.

“I’d been picturing winning state all year,” he said. “I might have worked out a little too hard for state, and I didn’t have much spring for high jump. But when the pressure was on, I figured out my steps better, and I started going for it.”

Those tired legs and the effort expended to win the high jump cost Wytcherley his dreams of being a four-time state champion. He came up an inch short of Days Creek junior Keith Gaskell in the long jump final, finishing second.

“Now, I’ll have to try to win both hurdles events now to make up for it,” said Wytcherley, who will attend Charis Bible College in Colorado next year.