Wright State track: Lively adds indoor high jump title to outdoor crown

“I saw her as being a 6-foot jumper the first day we started practicing. It was just a matter of her putting in the work and how she would develop,” said Ross, who was a 7-foot high-jumper himself and a two-time national high school champion in the 1980s at Lakota.

“She’s doing everything she needs to do to be that 6-foot-plus jumper.”

Lively — who has the skill and the build at a slender 5-foot-8 — won the Horizon League outdoor high jump last spring with a leap of 1.69 meters (5 feet, 6.5 inches). And she did even better at the HL outdoor championships a couple of weeks ago.

She found herself in a tense duel with Milwaukee’s Olivia VanZeeland with both clearing 1.75 meters. But Lively had more misses to that point, which meant the Panther star would prevail if neither could cover 1.78 (5 feet, 10 inches).

“I knew going into the meet I’d have to jump my best — I didn’t think I’d have to jump that high, though,” Lively said.

“I prayed to God before it and said, ‘If this is what you need me to do, I’ll be gracious.’ The energy, the adrenalin, having my mother and brother there — it was everything we’d been working up to. It was my one chance to execute, and I definitely did.”

Lively tied the championship record and then won the crown when VanZeeland missed her final attempt.

“This was probably the most exciting high jump I’ve been a part of. Both were handling the pressure, pushing one another. That’s exciting to watch,” Ross said.

“She came over to me (before the last attempt) and said, ‘I’m tired.’ I told her, ‘You can’t think about that right now. You’ve got to think about making this.’”

She not only set a Wright State record (again) but tied the all-time HL championship mark.

Coach Rick Williamson, whose team starts its spring season Friday at Miami, said if Lively has a secret potion, it’s her effervescent personality.

“At meets, she’s a social butterfly. She’s not one to get into her own little world and focus that way. She enjoys the atmosphere of the whole thing, and when it’s time to jump, she does it,” he said.

“It’s pretty unique. Other athletes have to be in the ‘zone,’ and they have their headphones on. She’s always cheering on her teammates.”

Lively just missed qualifying for he NCAA outdoor championships last spring, but her current 1.78 jump would have put her in the top 15 of that meet.

She’s the league favorite this year and virtually assured of being an NCAA qualifier. But she has higher goals than that.

“The Olympics are in four years. That could be four more years of training if I stay with coach Ross, who is an amazing coach, and that’s what I’m planning to do. I always tell him, and I tell my mom: ‘I’m going to be in L.A. in 2028,’” Lively said.

“My coach has never told me that’s impossible. My mom has never told me that’s impossible. The only reason I’m here is because nobody ever told me something’s impossible.”