The shoes now fit and Turner wants them to help him set records

Yukon senior clears 7-5 in just second meet of the season, has sights set on national high school standard of 7-7 and possibly higher

By Mary Albl, For DyeStat

At the beginning of the season, the jumps were off for Vernon Turner.

The senior from Yukon OK, who led the nation last year with an outdoor high jump of 7 feet, 4.50 inches, struggled to get a quality jump in.

Turns out, he just needed some new shoes.

“He’s a whole shoe size bigger than last year,” his coach Kevin Ritter said. “He went from a 12 to a 13 and his shoes were too small. Literally, the day he got his new shoes on he’s been a lot better.”

So much better that March 24, at the Claremore Zebra Invitational – just the second meet of the season – Turner cleared 7-5. That height stands as a U.S. leader and equal to the No. 5 all-time outdoor performance for a prep athlete. It also broke the Oklahoma state record Turner previously owned.

Turner made an attempt at 7-6 and almost cleared that, too.

“It was a shock,” Ritter said of the jump. “Second meet of the year, he hasn’t been training, practicing that much. It’s going to be a fun ride.”

Turner spent the winter playing on the varsity basketball team. His offseason consisted of going to one indoor meet with no practice and clearing 6-6 on a wood crate floor.

“I think it’s going to help a lot,” Turner said of his confidence after clearing 7-5. “Just seeing I know I can get up at the higher heights.”

Ritter said Turner has grown a little bit this past year to around 6-3.

“But his timing and approach are still way off and that’s the scary part. There’s a still a lot of things we need to fix,” Ritter said. “He’s very blessed naturally.”

Turner has lofty goals for his final prep season. The University of Oklahoma commit stated he wants to clear 7-8. The national high school outdoor record is 7-7, set by Andra Manson in 2002.

“I definitely want to set a new record on that,” Turner said. “I want to try and take that one out.”

Turner has five more meets left in the regular season, then regionals and states. Ritter said they do not currently have any bigger meets on the schedule, just New Balance Nationals Outdoor in June.

“I honestly thought he was nuts,” Ritter said when he heard Turner’s goal. “Then watching him jump at 7-6 a couple jumps, I was like, ‘On the right day, he might.’”

The next goal is clearing 7-6 and getting the federation standard. After that, it’s how high can Turner go.

“If I keep working and start practicing more, and hitting the weight room more, and I’m going to start doing yoga again, because that helps a lot on my flexibility,” Turner said.

Added Ritter: “He knows he’s good, but he doesn’t realize how good he is. He’s different. He’s a motivated kid.”