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EUGENE, Ore. | Kansas State’s Scott Sellers and Nebraska’s Dusty Jonas have faced off in the high jump ever since their prep days in the Lone Star State. They weren’t in the same high school classification, but they’d compete at the Texas Relays. Then they both came to Big 12 North schools.
In the league outdoor meet in May, Jonas took the Big 12 title and Sellers finished second. However, that was nothing compared to the drama they found themselves in Saturday afternoon at the Olympic track and field trials. Some unusual circumstances put them into a jump-off for a trip to Beijing.
“It was one of those things, do-or-die,” Jonas said. “I figured if I didn’t clear it, Scott is a great jumper. So I better clear it.”
Jonas, who just finished his senior year with the Huskers, won the jump-off. A despondent Sellers, who’ll be a senior this fall with the Wildcats, was left agonizing short of the Olympics.
Sellers didn’t want to talk after the competition, but K-State coach Cliff Rovelto summed up what he surely felt.
“Sometimes,” Rovelto said, “it’s easier to not be close at all than to be that close.”
And Jonas described his emotions during the course of the competition as, “Excited … upset … really excited.”
It was a strange day indeed at the high jump, an event that has a very strong connection to Manhattan, Kan., because of Rovelto’s expertise.
“He’s awesome,” said Jesse Williams, who won the trials title Saturday after clearing 7 feet, 6 1/2 inches. “As far as I know, he’s the best coach in the world. I stumbled upon him, luckily. I couldn’t leave him after this.”
Williams went to Southern Cal and won the 2006 NCAA Division I title. Last November, he decided to start working with Rovelto. Williams lives in Oregon but comes to Manhattan periodically and trains with a group of high jumpers there that includes Sellers, 2004 Olympic trials champ Jamie Nieto and 2007 USA Outdoor champ Jim Dilling.
All four of them were in the finals here, advancing after Thursday’s preliminaries. Sellers, 21, is the youngest of the bunch, with another year of college eligibility left. He won the NCAA Division I title in 2007, but finished fourth at that meet this year.
An ankle injury affected him the last few months, although it didn’t stop him from competing.
“I haven’t jumped all that well this outdoor season,” Sellers said Thursday after making the final. “It’s good for the sport, though, that we’ve had so many guys capable of jumping high any given week.”
Jonas, 22, had the best leap in the world this year, 7-8 3/4 , at the Big 12 meet in Boulder, Colo. Jonas is from La Vernia, Texas, outside San Antonio, while Sellers is from the Houston suburb of Katy.
“I’ve been jumping against Dusty for seven years,” Sellers said. “I’ve known him since I was a freshman in high school. At the competitions, we obviously push each other. And in practice, it’s another motivator, just knowing that we’re both working hard.”
Saturday, both Jonas and Sellers cleared their first three heights without a miss. But then both went out with three misses at 7-5 1/4 .
“I was pretty disappointed,” Jonas said of only clearing 7-4 1/4 . “Because that would have been the lowest jump of the year for me.”
But … the competition wasn’t over.
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