Mansfield Senior's Ware, Upchurch finish season with All-Ohio honors in state high jump
COLUMBUS — All season long, they've finished at the top. Side-by-side. Neck-and-neck.
Mansfield Senior's Maurice Ware and Amil Upchurch made a habit of distancing themselves from the rest of the competition in the high jump. Really, for each their main threat was the other.
The results were evident of that this year.
Ware won the Ohio Cardinal Conference title; Upchurch was runner-up.
Ware was a Division I district champion; Upchurch was runner-up.
Upchurch was a Division I regional champion; Ware was runner-up.
On Saturday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, they didn't place in their usual one-two position at the state meet in Division I but they both made it to the podium to earn All-Ohio honors, with Ware finishing as the state runner-up and Upchurch placing seventh.
Joel Addo from Olentangy Orange High School finished first.
Ware said he was excited to compete at state for the first time.
"It's definitely a high level of excitement for me, my teammate and my coach," he said. "All year long we were one and two in high jumps. Coming here was really a big booster for me."
"It was much different than it was last year," said Upchurch, who was a state qualifier in the high jump last year. "Last year it was at a high school. This year it's at a university. There's a lot more people and a lot more energy in the air. There's a lot more competition this year at this level."
Indeed it was.
After missing two consecutive jumps at 6 feet, 6 inches and the rest of the field holding steady throughout the day, Ware needed to shift the energy in his favor. He decided to skip 6-7 and go straight to 6-8.
The move paid off.
Ware cleared 6-8 — his highest jump of the day — on his very first attempt and let out a shout to fire himself up.
"Yeah, it kind of boosted my confidence," he said. "I had a few misses on 6-6 that I shouldn't have had. I skipped 6-7 and wanted to go straight to 6-8. I've been doing it all year, going up two inches. I was very confident in myself, and went and cleared it on the first try."
Upchurch's best jump was 6-6, which he cleared on his first attempt. But he was eliminated with three misses at 6-7.
Asked if he executed his jumps the way he wanted, Upchurch replied, "In all honesty, yes and no. I feel like I had a PR in me today. I was really close to it. I had one miss on 6-4 that I wish I would not have had. Other than that, I cleared all other heights on the first attempt.
"I did really good and I really thought I was going to get that last one."
Ware said the rest of the competition really provided a challenge but overall he was satisfied with his second-place finish after a brilliant season.
"It really pushed me to jump my hardest because there were other great jumpers here," he said. "I felt like my performance was excellent. I'm proud of my placement today."
Upchurch was asked to put the season in perspective for him and his senior teammate.
"Well, from the beginning of the season we knew what our goals were," he said. "Our main goal was to make it to the podium. As the season progressed, I think it changed when we realized how well we were doing. We realized how fast we were progressing, especially since we had like five meets canceled.
"I think we're in a really good spot for where we wanted to be, and we successfully completed our goals."
Mansfield Senior Keontez Bradley earns All-Ohio in 400
Joining Ware and Upchurch as an All-Ohioan performer from Mansfield Senior at state was Keontez Bradley, who placed eighth in the 400 meters Saturday.
Though he made it to the podium, Bradley had mixed feelings about his showing.
"I feel like I did everything that I could have done being in Lane 1," he said. "It sucks being in Lane 1 but you just gotta give it everything you got. I wish I would have ran a better time in prelims so that I could have picked out a lane."
Bradley said he needs more preparation in the event to really succeed in it.
"I feel like if I would have gave this specific event more time to train for, I feel like I could have done more," he said. "I just gotta train for the 400. If the 400 is gonna be my race, then I gotta really train for it."
Though placing top eight in state is quite an accomplishment, Bradley said he's still not satisfied with his result and will use that as motivation heading into football season in the fall.
"Nah, I'm not satisfied," he said. "I just wanna go into this football season with a chip on my shoulder."
jsimpson@gannett.com
Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Senior's Ware, Upchurch make podium at state high jump
