GILROY—Gilroy’s Tim Van Horn had two goals for his senior year: break the high jump record and earn a scholarship. On April 15, he checked off both.
Just hours after signing his letter of intent with California State University, Bakersfield, the 18-year-old Van Horn recorded a 6-foot, 6-inch leap and snapped the 34-year-old Mustangs’ high jump record during a dual meet with Seaside at Gilroy High. The record was previously held by Chuck Hodgen, who set the mark at 6-5 in 1981.
This is the first time the senior jumper had cleared this height, but he made it look easy. His previous best was a respectable 6-4, but he wasn’t satisfied.
“I’d been wanting to beat it since last year,” Van Horn said. “I’m just super stoked that I was finally able to do it. I was starting to get to discouraged this year as I wasn’t doing it.”
While Van Horn broke 6-6 on his first attempt, his day of jumping was almost over before it began.
He didn’t even start jumping until the bar’s height was at 6 feet, but only cleared it on his second attempt. As the only one left jumping, Van Horn got to choose what increment the bar went up by. Not one to make things easy, he chose to go up by 3 inches each time.
Van Horn needed all his tries to clear 6-3, but didn’t blink as it was raised to 6-6. His coach Chris Leong, on the other hand, wasn’t as quick to throw caution to the wind and asked if he’d rather try 6-4 or 6-5 first. But Van Horn was set on 6-6 and his tenacity paid off.
“You should’ve seen his face light up when he and his other teammates realized he broke 6-5. He was just so, so happy and his teammates were ecstatic too,” Leong said.
A few hours earlier breaking a school record was the furthest thing from Van Horn’s mind. Instead, he was thinking about his future as he signed his letter of intent with the Roadrunners in the Gilroy High library in front of his family, friends and teammates.
“I chose to go there because they gave me an opportunity to jump in college and to lessen the load of paying for college, which is nice,” Van Horn said of signing with CSU Bakersfield. “I’m excited to continue to be able jumping (in college).”
Van Horn, who also competes in the long and triple jump events, began his track and field career in sixth grade. He laughs as he recalls his reasoning for trying out for track: he didn’t make any of the other sports teams. In hindsight, that turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him.
“(I) always did it really just because it was fun,” the Mustangs’ Van Horn said. “I never really thought it was going to go anywhere until last year when I started getting letters.”
And the offers weren’t just handed to Van Horn, either. Leong said that Van Horn works extremely hard in practice and inspires his Mustang teammates to do the same.
Van Horn, along with his senior classmates, leads the daily warm-ups before they split off to work with their individual coaches. It’s here that he jumps and jumps and when he’s done with that, he jumps some more. He also does Plyometrics—or jump training—and sprinting to gain power and speed.
“I’m just so proud of Tim and of having one of our track and field athletes out there signing a scholarship,” Leong said of the signing. “Usually it’s those big (sports) like football and field hockey. It’s nice that our sport also gets recognized.”
Van Horn not only put in work on the track to earn his scholarships but in the classroom, too. He wants to major in biology with an emphasis on biotechnology when he gets to Bakersfield and has given himself a head start by taking three advanced placement classes this year.
“I’m hoping it can lead to a job that I enjoy doing,” Van Horn said. “This year has been hard…AP Calculus isn’t the easiest. I’m just trying to get through it and make sure I can still be eligible for everything.”
Van Horn’s tenure as a Mustang will end in just a few short weeks as graduation draws near. But Leong said he’s hoping Van Horn’s work ethic has rubbed off on his teammates and lingers long after he’s left the halls of Gilroy High.
“I think it’s going to set a precedent,” the Mustangs coach Leong said. “Hopefully he leaves that impression that you can get a scholarship, it’s out there, and if we work our behinds off we can get there.”
