It was nearly 10 p.m. on May 10 and Liberty Christian Academy’s Tommy Meyer stood alone with four other competitors in the high jump at the MCSAA Division 1 track and field championships.

One by one, each athlete cleared 5 feet, 10 inches. When it was Meyer’s turn, he rose to the challenge, clearing six feet with ease. But so did Jacob Cochran from Rivers of Life Christian.

Now, it was down to just two — Meyer and Cochran.

“I just kept praying in that moment,” Meyer said. 

With eyes fixed on the high jump pit, Meyer pushed himself to new heights, clearing 6-2 — a personal best. Cochran followed and matched the height on his final attempt. The two battled back and forth but neither could clear 6-4.

However, Meyer’s victory was already sealed. He had cleared the highest mark with fewer attempts. 

“It was really exciting,” Meyer said. “I told (coach Doug Smith) that day I was going to clear 6-2, so I wanted to make sure that happened.” 

Meyer’s win was historic, not just for him but for the entire program. In the inaugural season of Liberty Christian’s track and field team, he became their first-ever state champion. 

Amazingly enough, Meyer never had a second thought of the high jump months prior as this was his first season in the sport. 

“It was definitely a little rough in the beginning of the season, but (Smith) taught me the technique really well and that helped me improve faster and more efficiently,” Meyer said. “I was able to learn quicker than normal and it was all put together thanks to Mr. Smith.” 

Smith quickly acknowledged Meyer’s “innate athletic ability” in the beginning of the season. In the early days of practice, Smith noticed Meyer’s natural ability to jump. 

“He wanted to work at it and get better,” Smith said. “He just listens, puts a lot of his time and efforts into it and improved dramatically.” 

Meyer was not the only standout performer at the state meet as Liberty Christian had several other medalists. 

The boys and girls team earned third-place plaques at the meet and several competitors earned second-place medals. 

Eighth-grader Morgan Boenker finished second in the 300-meter hurdles in 55.04 seconds. 

“To come into that meet as an eighth grader and walk out with a silver medal was pretty neat for her,” Smith said. 

Other second-place finishers were Samuel Chemin (400, 57.52 seconds), Laila Barron (high jump, 1.37 meters) and the 4x800 team of Van Carlisle, Landon McCarthy, Cole Nelsen and Asher Lyons (10:09.21).

Third-place medalists were Nelsen in the 800-meter run in 2:13.79, the girls 4x400 relay team of Skylin Chowning, Elsie Goodfellow, Barron and Kennedy Buche in 5:31.20 and the 4x800 girls relay team of Buche, Goodfellow, Trina Scheltens and Addelyn Scheltens in 13:27.01. 

“They really picked up on it and got a lot better as the year went along and I think that’s shown in how we finished,” Smith said. “Barron didn’t even do track the first half of the season and came out and ended up in second place.” 

Smith reflected on the team’s growth. At the start of the season, many athletes didn’t even know how a track meet worked. Now, they’re state medalists.

“At the very beginning of the season, we had kids who didn’t even know what all the events were or how a track meet worked. I would say triple jump and they had no idea what that meant…we had no concept of how to do pretty much anything,” Smith said. 

Smith touted his team’s eagerness to learn as key to their accelerated success. 

“They’re great kids and they’re coachable,” he said. “I had numerous kids who were coming up on the weekends working on stuff on their own time. They just had a desire to be better.” 

Pleased is not a strong enough word to express Smith’s pride in his team and their success this season. He hopes this will bring more competitors out for next year. 

“I’m so proud of them. I think in terms of performances, we exceed what I had hoped for and I can’t wait to do this again,” Smith said.