University of Georgia Athletics
Reaching New Heights Together
March 10, 2017 | Track & Field
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Georgia high jumpers Keenon Laine and Darius Carbin were asked the same question, and basically gave the same response. Given how often they wind up side-by-side in things, that's not a surprise.
The question posed to the 6-foot-6 Carbin and the 6-4 Laine was this: Does it still kind of blow you away that you're able to clear a height in the high jump that is substantially above your own height?
I asked the two star Bulldogs, who went 1-2 at the SEC Indoor Championships last month (Carbin took first and Laine second), because to any clear-headed observer, what elite high jumpers can do has to be among the most mind-boggling things in sports. How?
The response from Carbin, the freshman from San Jose, Calif.: "I still am blown away, actually. I sometimes look at the bar and am like, Wow, I can jump over that. You just kind of have to do your thing and get used to it."
The response from Laine, the sophomore transfer (Western Kentucky) from Versailles, Ky.: "Every day I'm like, Man, that's 7-3 and we're jumping over that with ease. Sometimes I am like, How do we do this? I still can't fathom it.
"I don't know how we do it, either."
Laine's personal best of 7-3.25 is nearly one foot above his 6-4 frame — he could high jump over Shaquille O'Neal, with room to spare, for goodness sake.
"I've jumped over a person before," Laine said, when asked if he's ever jumped over anything unusual. "It was a close call, but I got over him."
Both Carbin and Laine have reached 7-feet, 3.25 inches this season, tying them for sixth nationally heading into this weekend's NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, at Texas A&M. Competing as Bulldogs for the first time, they hit the same mark of 7-2.5 in the indoor opener at Clemson in early January.
At SECs, they again cleared the same height: 7-1.75, to take the top two spots. Carbin became the Bulldogs' first men's SEC indoor champion since 1996 because he cleared the height on his second attempt, while Laine needed three tries.
Georgia also finished 1-2 in the women's high jump at SECs, and Mady Fagan and Tatiana Gusin are ranked 1-2 nationally heading into the NCAAs, while Mary Terry is tied for ninth.
There are a lot of Georgia jumpers pushing each other in practice and meets. At Clemson, Laine gave Carbin a taste of what was to come this season.
"At Clemson, the very first meet, I was yelling at him like he was my son, trying to pump him up like, 'Let's get it, Darius, let's get it!' Let's go higher!'" Laine said. "I don't think he was ready for that at all. I screamed it and everybody else was quiet, but it pumped him up."
For all jumpers, consistency is the key: getting the form right, the steps in the run-up right and doing everything right over and over again.
"The technical part is the hardest part," Carbin said. "You've got to work on one thing at a time, you can't just do everything at once, because then you end up messing yourself up even worse."
Georgia's jumpers have consistently been among the best in the nation throughout the indoor season, and their steady performances are part of the reason why the Lady Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 going into NCAAs and the Bulldogs are No. 4. In all, 14 Georgia athletes will be in action this weekend, in a total of 16 events.
Laine said he first considered doing the high jump in middle school, but didn't take it seriously until well into high school, because basketball wasn't working out as well as he wanted.
"I said, man, if I'm not going to get the scholarship in basketball, I might as well try track," he said. "I tried out for track, figured I could jump and the rest has happened.
"What drew me to it was I hated running, so I had to figure out something else. I could do 10 steps and jump, easy."
They sure make it look easy, even if what they're doing is pretty hard to believe.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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