MANSFIELD, Ohio — The calendar read March, the temperature suggested February and Shelby’s Cody Stine jumped like it was June.
In his first outdoor meet of the season, Stine smashed his own school record when he cleared 6 foot-10 in the high jump competition at Tuesday’s tri-meet with Madison and Ontario on a sun-splashed but chilly afternoon at Madison.
The high-flying senior, who won an indoor state title with a leap of 6-10 earlier this month at the University of Akron, narrowly missed clearing 7-feet on his third and final attempt Tuesday. He topped his school record of 6-8, set last year.
“My goal is to clear 7 feet,” said Stine, who was third at the outdoor state meet last June with a jump of 6-7. “I thought I would do this eventually, but not this early in the season, especially today. The conditions weren’t great.”
Stunning Debut: As impressive as he was in the high jump, Stine was even better in the long jump. Competing in an event he has only dabbled in at practice, Stine won the competition with a leap of 20-2.25. That effort nearly would have landed him a spot at the state meet.
“I’ve never done it before,” Stine said. “It’s just something I thought I would try.”
Easing In: Stine also won the 300 meter hurdles, but the race was without its two marquee names. Madison’s Frank Douglas and Ontario’s Lenell Shelby, both state placers last spring, sat out the 300s.
“It’s early in the season and it’s cold out,” said Douglas, who won the 100 and 400 dashes Tuesday. “I didn’t want to pull anything, but I’ll run the hurdles Friday (at the seven-team Madison Invitational).”
Shelby won the 110 hurdles Tuesday, but did so in less than overwhelming fashion. He slipped coming out of the blocks and hit a hurdle nearing the finish line.
“I was really rusty, as you could see,” Shelby said. “I’ve spent more time coaching some of the younger people than I have working out. This was literally only the second time I have gone over the hurdles this year.
“It’s early in the season, but I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
