Penn State's most recognizable men's track and field athlete was at a crossroads earlier this season. High jumper Ryan Fritz had built a lofty reputation for his huge leaps as a freshman, and his follow-up season was expected to be bigger and better.
Despite claiming one first place finish and two runner-ups at the beginning of the indoor season, Fritz struggled to clear heights he was accustomed to and failed to break the seven-foot barrier.
Heading into the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 2-3, Fritz was nowhere to be seen on the national level before a simple jump turned his season around.
In practice before the competition, Fritz cleared what he thought was a relatively normal height.
"He didn't know what the height was, he just saw it up there so he just jumped over it. Then he went over to the official and asked what the height was," assistant coach Drew Hardyk said. "He comes over to me and says, 'Coach that was 6-10 that I just jumped in warm-ups.' And it was easy of course for him. I was like, 'Yeah, what did you expect. You're that good.' "
Fritz ended up jumping 7-1 in the event, and that one warm-up jump had a trickle-down effect for the rest of his indoor season.
The end result for this season was a new personal best jump of 7-3.25, placing Fritz fifth in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10 in Fayetteville, Ark. He now ranks second on Penn State's all-time leaders in the high jump in indoor competition, only a foot less Paul Souza's mark set in 1982.
Hardyk believed Fritz struggled early in 2007 because he lacked confidence in his jumps. Fritz said he took longer to progress because he was still adjusting to the demanding early season practices that became easier as the season came to a close.
Whatever the reason was for his struggles, Fritz was able to overcome them and put together a strong season-ending push.
In February, he only missed one jump that was not the last height he attempted. He claimed the Big Ten championship and was named the Mid-Atlantic Field Athlete of the Year. He has also recorded three personal bests in consecutive meets and the last came in the national meet.
"I usually only P.R. [personal record] once in a season, but this past season I did it three times in a row, so that felt really good," Fritz said. "Big Ten's really gave me confidence for the national meet. When I finally went to nationals, I put everything together that I had been doing all season and it just came out good for me."
Before the competition had even started, Fritz's potential best effort was almost grounded.
The stress of jumping in his first NCAA competition caused him to feel extremely nervous and he struggled to even make warm-up jumps at relatively easy heights.
"I had really jittery legs and I was nervous," Fritz said. "When I was going up to my jumps my knees couldn't hold my legs because they were so jittery. I was diving right into the bar instead of jumping up."
The only thing that could cure his nervousness was for the competition to begin. After a successful first jump, Fritz slowly gained more confidence with each leap. When there were only eight athletes left he started jumping for fun, having reached his personal goal of becoming an All-American.
Fritz became the 42nd indoor All-American for the Nittany Lions, and the first since 2002 when Ryan Olkowski took fifth in the same event and eighth in the 200 meters.
After clearing 7-3.25, he was one of five competitors left when the bar moved to 7-4.50. Fritz was unable to clear the height that would have given him the Penn State record.
"The front of the high jump [field] was very, very strong and you had to jump at your best to get a piece of it," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "It was important that he was clean over the early bars and open up smooth and didn't have any troubles on the lower heights. Then, he just clipped away at the upper ones."
For Fritz, the NCAA experience was unique not only because it was his first, but also because he was the only member from the Penn State men's team to compete.
"It was different being with all the girls," Fritz said. "Hopefully next year we get a lot more guys going and finish in the top 25 as a team next year."
Of the four competitors that finished ahead of him, two of them are seniors, one is a junior and one is sophomore. With the majority of his competitors being upperclassmen, Fritz has hope that by his senior campaign he could claim gold in nationals.
For Fritz to get to the top of the high jump, he will have one huge leaper to overcome. Scott Sellers from Kansas State finished third and is the only other sophomore to finish in the top 10. Fritz believes that he will provide the main competition for him over the next two and a half years.
"He was No. 1 in the nation in high school and I was always battling it out with him and I have never beat him," Fritz said. "The next couple years it will be a rivalry between me and him."
