When you’re a returning state champion, the goals for a new season have to be fairly simple.
For Liberty Christian senior jumper Tommy Meyer, who won the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic …
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When you’re a returning state champion, the goals for a new season have to be fairly simple.
For Liberty Christian senior jumper Tommy Meyer, who won the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic Association (MCSAA) state championship in the high jump, his simple goal is to compete against, and better, the standard he set last season in winning the high jump with a height of 1.88 meters.
“I’m just trying to get higher than I was last year,” Meyer said. “I just love jumping and I want to go all out and do the best I can. I appreciate all of the guys on this team coming out and working hard. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have a team.”
Also, amongst the boys on the team this year, and also a returning state medalist, is junior Cole Nelsen.
Nelsen finished third at the MCSAA state meet in the 800-meter race in a time of 2 minutes,13.79 seconds.
While Nelsen said he’s excited to see what the team can achieve as a unit, he knows he’s going to have to work hard to play his part in any overall success.
“Hopefully, we can win this year and go all the way,” Nelsen said. “For me, I want to get my time down to between 1:55 and 2:05 by state. I know I want to put in the work outside of practice and, when I’m at practice, I just have to go my absolute hardest.”
Liberty Christian Coach Doug Smith said that he’s excited to see that last season’s success, including an individual state champion, a state medalist and a third-place team finish at state, has broadened school interest in the sport.
The coach said that the team has grown to 20 participants this season.
“Any time you have a modicum of success, that instills confidence, which instills the desire to do better,” Smith said. “They just kept getting better last year, over and over. (For our state qualifiers), their best performance last year was at the state meet. Each meet throughout the year brings excitement.”
The building excitement this season will begin on March 24, when the boys head to Montgomery County for the Early Invite, which is scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m.
No matter how many medalists, trophies, or personal bests the time achieves, Smith said he wants the team once again to be guided by a single principle.
“The most important thing for our school is that we represent Christ well,” Smith said. “The kids that are out here were given gifts by God and they should go and represent him to the best of their ability.”
