CHARLESTON-North Clay Freshman and a member of the Flora Wolves track team, Myles Kettleson, put his long jump ability on display last week at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
The IHSA state track meet was in full swing early Thursday morning when Kettleson and Wolves track Coach Phil Leib made the journey north.
Kettleson was the first participant in the second heat Thursday and with his first jump, set the bar high for the other state long jump qualifiers.
The NCHS Freshman jumped an outstanding 20 feet 10 inches, a mark that would not be beat in his heat.
Kettleson made two more jumps in the heat.
The first was 19 feet, six-and-one-half inches and the second was 19 feet two inches.
He then had to sit and wait while the other two heats finished to see if his jump was long enough to advance to the IHSA state finals on Saturday.
Kettleson was not the only Freshman to qualify in the Class 1A state long jump finals.
Dontae Pryor from Kewanee joined Kettleson as the young jumpers.
The North Clay Freshman had his work cut out for him as six of the 12 jumpers who qualified for state had a longer preliminary jump.
Kettleson was ready for the challenge and a warm, dry day helped the young long jumper beat his preliminary jump by three inches.
The 21 feet one inch jump allowed Kettleson to finish in 10th place of the IHSA Class 1A state long jump finals.
