Scottie Vines and his family have a West Coast road trip planned next month that figures to be a lot more exciting than most summer vacations.
Having breezed to his third Class 1A high jump title on a windy Saturday at Jeffco Stadium with a jump of seven feet — 10 inches higher than second place in 1A, three inches higher than the next best jump across all classifications — the De Beque phenom is headed to Eugene, Ore., “Track Town, USA.” There he will compete in the U.S. under-20 championships on June 13, followed by the Olympic Trials there two weeks later.
“We’re going to pack up the camper and it’s going to be a family affair,” said his mother, Leslie Weis. “We’re all going to Eugene.”
Vines will rank as the favorite in the U-20 nationals by virtue of having the current world-best U-20 mark of 7 feet, 4.25 inches, which he’s hit twice. That mark also qualified him for the Olympic Trials.
Track-savvy spectators were well aware of his exploits. So when it was time for him to jump on Saturday at the CHSAA state track and field championships,they came alive.
After the rest of the 1A high jump field finished with Ethan Tesman of Elbert taking second place at 6-2, Vines began at 6-8. He easily made that height, 6-10 and 7 feet. He took three cracks at 7-2.25 and failed to clear it, blaming a gusty tailwind that affected his timing.
“I felt pretty good,” Vines said. “The wind, you could feel it on your back and it was like pushing me into the bar. I tried moving my mark back to compensate. I can’t complain. The atmosphere was great. I’m happy with what I did this season, I’m satisfied, and just happy that I had all these people come out to watch me. It was just really fun.”
No one was watching more closely than his father, also named Scottie Vines, who lives in Alabama and drove here with his family to see his son perform. He won an Alabama state high school title with a 7-foot jump.
“It reminded me of when I was at state, the wind was blowing the same way,” said the elder Vines, who played three seasons with the Detroit Lions as a wide receiver. “I (attempted) 7-1 and a quarter, I barely hit it with the back of my foot and the wind just blew (the bar) off.”
Scottie could see his dad, who stood out in the crowd with his dreadlocks, from the jumping area.
“I’m very grateful that they came to watch me,” Vines said. “It means a lot. I got to meet my little brothers and little sisters.”
Also in the crowd was an Olympic medalist. Matt Hemingway, Vines’ mentor, set a Colorado high school record at Buena Vista at 7-4 in 1991 that Vines broke this year. Hemingway, who took silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics, concedes Vines will be favored at the U-20 championships, but he’d probably have to jump 7-7 or 7-8 to make this year’s Olympic team. He wants Vines to focus on gaining experience at the trials.
“He hasn’t had any real competition for a long time,” Hemingway said. “While you are still jumping against the bar, the stage is different, the operational process is different. They do all these things you don’t have at a high school track level. The real goal is, go have fun, enjoy this and don’t put additional pressure on yourself because it’s really easy to do that.”
Vines will compete next year for the University of Colorado. He’s already jumped higher than the school record of 7-4.
“Even going to CU and the conference they’re in, Scottie will be really competitive his freshman year,” Hemingway said. “He’s got to have a vision that’s much bigger and much broader than just what’s in front of him.”
After his third state title was secured, anticlimactic as it was, Vines hugged Hemingway and his high school coach, Melissa Rigsby. She told him she was proud of him, that they had accomplished everything they set out to do. The reality of his high school career being over was setting in for her.
“It was bittersweet, for sure,” Rigsby said. “It was little sad. He’s a good kid, he’s got a good heart. I think he’s going to do really well. You put good things out there, good things come back to you. I’m really hoping that’s how things move forward for him.”
De Beque is a small town on the Western Slope between Rifle and Grand Junction. Vines’ graduating class has four students, but his shoes were covered with signatures of friends, schoolmates and teachers.
“Having them on my shoes reminds me that they might not be here in person, but I still have their support,” Vines said. “I think they’re going to hang my shoes up at my school, so that would be pretty cool. It’s a community up there.”
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