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Sports

Manchester High's Hartfield a Couple Jumps Away from Olympics

Former Manchester High School All-American long jumper will compete for a spot on the US Olympic track and field team this weekend in Oregon.

Mike Hartfield was a basketball player who didn’t know much about track and field when he approached Boys Track Coach in the fall of his junior year. Redman has a knack for transforming natural athletes into track stars, but Hartfield was thinking smaller - he needed a part-time job and the practice schedule for track and field offered more flexibility.

Small thoughts turned big for Hartfield, who will compete in the long jump event at the Olympic trials this weekend at the University of Oregon in hopes of earning a spot on the U.S. team for next month’s games in London.

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Hartfield, who is a senior with a double major (criminology and sociology) at Ohio State University, is one of seven current or former Buckeyes in Eugene this weekend.

“Obviously in the sport of track your goal is to go to the Olympics,” Hartfield said last Friday as a visit to his hometown drew to a close. “It’s the Super Bowl of our sport. And now that I’m close, it’s really sweet.”

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Hartfield drove to Ohio on Sunday, worked out with coach Brian Brillon on Monday and Tuesday, then flew out to Oregon with his coaches and teammates on Wednesday.

This spring, Hartfield battled through an ankle injury suffered on the basketball court (his facial expression offered regrets), but feels he is 100 percent healthy and ready to jump on Friday in the preliminary round. If he can stay in the 26-foot range, he should qualify to jump again on Sunday.

“I feel if I can go out to trials and get a legal jump in without fouls or anything like that, it’s definitely an attainable goal,” Hartfield said of a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. “As long as I get a good jump in on day one, I’ll be back to jump again on Sunday.”

A three-time NCAA second team All-American who broke Jesse Owens’ (yes, that Jesse Owens) personal indoor long jump record at the school, Hartfield didn’t have the Olympics on his radar until Ohio State Coach Robert Gary started talking it up.

“Last year in outdoor I was good and kept progressing,” said the 6’3” Hartfield, who maintains a 3.0 or better GPA and has a year of NCAA outdoor track eligibility remaining. “My coach (Gary) went to the Olympics twice and got in my ear and said ‘you should probably think about Olympic trials and world championships.’ I didn’t think I was that good to reach those kinds of feats, but he started getting that in my head and I started working toward that.”

Hartfield, who holds MHS records in the long jump and triple jump and was a High School All-American in 2008, won the Big Ten long jump championship with a personal record 26 feet, 1.5 inch jump this spring and has jumped in the 25-26 foot range consistently in 2012.

“We are so excited for him and really proud of him,” said Redman, who of the Year. “He started in our hallways and now is out there in Eugene, Oregon. We had no idea where it would lead. We knew he was a good athlete and he just caught the fever and chased the dream.”

About that Jesse Owens record. A banner of the 1936 Gold Medalist hangs next to the long jump pit at OSU’s practice facility and the humble Hartfield breaks into a grin nearly as wide as the Ohio River when the record is brought up.

“I barely beat it,” he said. “I knew I was pretty close and that’s actually what I was aiming for at the time. As soon as I jumped it I said to my coach, ‘just want you to know, that’s what just happened.’ It was pretty cool.”

The record setter, which Hartfield has since eclipsed, was 25 feet, nine and a quarter inches vs. Owens’ 25 feet, nine inch jump and was good enough for the 2011 Big Ten championship.

Looking ahead, Hartfield is on schedule to graduate from OSU next spring and would like to see how far he can go with track before possibly following Redman into the coaching ranks.

“My goal this coming year is obviously to stay off the basketball court so I can stay healthy and work on some things for the pro circuit,” Hartfield said. “And I’m going to try and make the world indoor team and try to step up to the next level.”

For this weekend however, Hartfield promises to have fun in Oregon. And he hopes to return with a plane ticket to London.

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