April 1, 2011
By Art Garcia for UTAMavs.com
ARLINGTON, Tex. - One spot is all that kept Isiah Clements out of the NCAA Championships in the high jump two years ago. That spot also happened to be help by a fellow teammate at UT Arlington.
Clements plans to leap over that one spot and assure his place in the NCAAs this year. That's what he does, after all.
"I know what I can and can't do," said Clements, a junior and one of the leading high jumpers in the region.
Clements heads into UTA's home meet this weekend - the Bobby Lane Invitational - tied for 20th nationally with a jump of 2.10m. That mark won the recent TCU Invitational and translates to 6'10.75".
The graduate of San Antonio Judson is eyeing 7-feet. Each year at UTA he has systemically increased his best height and figures that 2.12m and eventually 2.14m (7'0.25") are in reach before the outdoor season is done.
After wrapping up the meet title at TCU, Clements and assistant coach Brandon Berger discussed going for 7-feet. At that point, Clements wanted to see what he could do without the pressure of necessarily competing.
"You can keep jumping if you want to, but for me if I feel I have good legs I'm going to continue to jump a little bit more," he said. "I want to increase my national rankings so it can help me secure my spot in regionals to make nationals."
Clements is somewhat of a track anomaly in that he also competes in the 200m and 4x400m relay. In an age of specialization, contributing where he can on the team is personally important.
"I know I'm not necessarily the fastest guy on the team, but I know if I'm presented with the opportunity I can help my team in the 400m or 200m if they need me," he said. "I just don't know too many people personally who do high jump and run mile relay."
But there's no question where his heart lies. Even if you couldn't tell so at practice.
"If you came out to practice you probably wouldn't think I could high jump," Clements said. "I probably miss more attempts in practice than I make. We don't put the bar too high. We work more on endurance and technique. In practice we'll maybe jump as high as 6-6. It depends on the day really.
"You know that you're expected to do this day in and day out, so it's just another day. You just try to get better the last go around. We do have plenty of guys that you wouldn't believe what they do in meets. In practice they're just there, but meets are what they live for."
Built with a wiry 6-foot-2 frame, Clements said a lot of his improvement has come from just learning what he can do physically. His vertical jump is an average 36", so technique is crucial to Clements. His weight training coming into the year has been more efficient, and there's a better understanding of the expectations from both Berger and himself.
Clements is counting on the progressions he's made continuing through the rest of the season, including the Texas Relays, Drake Relays and Southland Conference Championships.
"When I got here I was wet behind the ears and Coach Berger was showing me what I was doing wrong," Clements said. "I know I can be better in certain aspects of my technique, and hopefully I can do that before conference."
And claim that NCAA spot.
