Riley's First Track Meet

I have been telling Riley to join track since he was in the 7th grade and this year he finally did. After only a couple weeks of practice he is the starting Varsity High Jumper. I kept telling him he had some unusual ability to jump and I was right. Today, he competed in his first track meet. This meet happens to be one of the most competitive of the year, so he was nervous. He has been jumping right at 6' during practice, but being so new to the sport he really didn't know how he would compare to others. Honestly, I was a little nervous when I saw all of the other high jumpers. Some of them were huge!! One of the guys he jumped against has a personal best of 6'7". The bar was set at 5'6" as the starting height. Riley was third to jump and had a pretty awful start. He messed up on the run, drug his toe on the track, and missed the jump. In order to move on to the succeeding rounds a high jumper must clear that height and has three chances to do so. Riley's coach was watching another event, so he was alone. I didn't know if I should walk over there and talk to him or just let him be. I decided to go over there and do my best to encourage him. He wanted to watch the video I had taken to see where he messed up. I told him that the pressure was off since they already knew who was taking first and just told him to calm down and do his best. He easily cleared the next jump, so he was able to relax a little. There were a lot eliminated with each round, so things were looking good for Riley. I felt so bad, because with each round I just kept hoping that the other boys would mess up. Riley was one of only four to clear 6' feet and one of only two to clear 6'2". The whole thing was so exciting and nerve racking and I loved it!! It was so much fun to watch him and I am so proud of him!!! In his first meet ever he won second place. His coach thinks he will definitely make district finals. Jeremy pointed out that based on his height and the height jumped Riley definitely won. The winner was 6'5 and jumped 6'6, while Riley is 5'10" and jumped 6'2" :)