@ kansas boi

Ivan I hope to see you jumping again. If not during indoor, hopefully for outdoor or even the season after this one. But you could not have said anything more true.

Even if you are not able to jump again, high jump got you a college degree and that is will serve you whether you can jump again or not....................

Yes TJ was a year ahead of me and we are good friends. TJ's work ethic was off (weight room and running) that’s why he never jumped higher than 2.21 he'll tell you that. I know he had a better social time (partying) than me though.

Thanks Jesse. I would like to keep jumping, but I first have to get my foot fixed, those shots that numb the pain for a while are starting to wear off faster. So to you up in coming high jumpers due better than me by taking care of your body. Ice baths are a necessary evil. Make sure you stretch all week not just before a meet like I did, if you are hurting tell your coach so don’t try to be tough by not telling him, you’ll just hurt yourself more. Hopefully I’ll jump again if not I was glad high jump got me through school.

There was a high jumper a couple years ago named T. Whitley not sure if I spelled it right but you know who I'm talking about.

Ivan you gonna keep on jumping next year? You had a great season last year congrats on that. You have proven to us all that you have what it takes to keep on jumping after college.

@ Guest: what athletes are you referring to that went to U of H and didnt amount to anything as you say? Please I really want to know.

Guest Like I said before I apologize for the rant, and I will watch my choice of words but I can not sit here and let you talk about my Coach. Does Kyle Tellez have the juice? Hell yea. I cant count how many All-Americans he has coach during his time. He not only coaches High Jump but he does multis and many other jumps. He turns sub-par high school athletes like myself and makes them All-Americans. Only thing Texas or any other Big XII school has over U of H is the money. So please do not ever talk down on KT. I cant wait to see what KT does with Toddrick I bet he'll beat anyone of the new jumpers at Texas. I put money on that.

I just want to say another thing, and know one has to agree with this. But the higher you jump the harder and harder the inches/centimeters are to come by. Hell I remember being a Junior in High School and only umping 5'6", that was 5" under the best girl in the state. I was so ready to quit, they talked me into coming out the next year and I jumped like 1.91 and then 2.09 my first year in college. To me those were pretty big steps of improvement but that is just because I wasn't jumping that high. I wasn't very mature or strong for that matter and also had no formal weight training, I am sure that if I had jumped 225m to 230m in high school, I probably wouldn't have gotten that 18cm improvement, LOL. All I am trying to say is improvements come 1cm maybe 2cm at a time once you get to a certain level. Man, I am so looking forward to indoor season!!

Ok people. I have made it clear that my son is NOT a world class jumper at this point and I never said that he was. All I know is the he is ranked #8 in the US in the JUNIOR ranks this year. Jesse asked us to comment on who should be the top 10 in the US. I made my comments. I never tried to include my son.

I am not about to sit here and say that my son is going to beat Andra or any other world class jumper in the next year or even 2. But I will say that with the high jump specific training and weight room work that he is FINALLY going to get, if he continues to improve at the pace that he has, then he will definitely be in the mix along with a slew of other up and coming jumpers which I have named in earlier posts.

Again, Andra is definitely one of the best jumpers in the world along with Jesse and a bunch of others. No disrepect. What I said was my opinion it is not meant to be the end all just part of the discussion. Everyone has an opinion and I'm okay if you disagree with mine. But to try and personally attack me and my son is a little bit absurd.

Anyone that is posting under "guest" tag, please identify yourself so that when the season begins I can be looking for you at the meets and checking the stats.

I post under my profile name and anyone on here can go to my page and see what my son's legal name is. Because some have said I know who you are. Well duh, all of my information is on my profile page. As far as his pics. You can google his name and check the articles and see the pictures. Yes I have taken personal pics, but I do not have to lie about pics for articles that can be easily found.

Please can we keep the discussion about the top jumpers. Like others said it is great to finally have some meaningful dialogue on this site and it is a shame that it seems to be and argument.................Eddie Allen

It's sad that the most active this site is, is when there is an argument going on...

@ Ivan

Exactly, I said EXCEPTION, meaning, you do not fall into that category. I just believe that Mr. Allen should chill out with all of this chit chat, you're not doing your son a favor with all of this hype talk. You can't sit there and try to act like you have high jump knowledge just because your son has jumped 7'1. There are plenty of freshman enrolled in college in the state of Texas that are around or exceeding his mark yet I don't see them or their father's smack talking professionals about their consistency. Consistent or not, Andra Manson is still jumping higher than your son, in high school he was jumping higher than your son, so as far as I'm concerned you should worry about your own son. In the high jump world the issue of consistency should not be a means of attack, I'm pretty sure everybody (even your son) have experienced an inconsistent period.

Also, you're telling me that coach Tellz has got the juice? You should really ask the whole state of Texas about that because as far as I'm concerned there has been a lot of good athletes go there and wind up injured or fall off after a few years. Toddrick could get better, and yeah I wish the best for him, but you're adding way too much pressure that he will not be able to handle. The day your son falls below that 7'1 mark, you already know what the general response is going to be and when Andra Manson smashes him in the TX relays, you already know.

I actually cannot wait for this year's Texas Relays, Andra Manson is going to be that much more hungry and put on an amazing display of skill and talent - Mr. Allen I hope you'll be there to witness so you can humble yourself and your son.