Quick Chat: Riyon Rankin

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Riyon Rankin has, to use his word, "bounce." You can see in the way he walks and moves. The lean, 6-foot-3 Georgia freshman high jumper looks capable of hopping over cars if he wanted to, or taking off from the top of the key and throwing down a dunk.

Last year, Rankin, from Brunswick, Ga., set the state high jump record, soaring to 7 feet, 3.75 inches to win the GHSA 6A state title, his second in a row. And he later won the Nike Outdoor Nationals, as well.

In his first meet as a Bulldog, he cleared 7 feet, 3 inches, the seventh-best mark in program history, to win the indoor Clemson Invite. He later went on to place seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a height of 7-1.75. Rankin cleared 7-3 to place second at the Tom Jones Memorial meet at Florida earlier this month, and he will be in action at the LSU Invitational on Saturday.

During a Quick Chat on Thursday, Rankin talked about his start in the high jump, his basketball days, his goals for the future, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:

Frierson: How would you assess your freshman year, both on the track and the overall college experience?

Rankin: It's been a little tough, but manageable. Not too bad. As far as performance, I feel like I've done all right, but I feel like I can do better. I feel like I haven't jumped as well as I can.

Frierson: The high jump is one of those events in which technique is so important, so how hard was it when you were first starting out to get the coaching you needed? Or did you just make it up as you went along?

Rankin: I made it up as I went. I'm learning how to do the technique here, now, and it's gotten better. We looked at video of me jumping the first week of practice and now, and you can tell the difference in my technique. Now, I drive the knee more so I get more rotation and my hips are usually higher than my shoulders as I'm going over the bar.

I see a lot of progress from when I first got here, for sure.

Frierson: How much does that excite you about the future and where you can go in the high jump?

Rankin: Oh, a lot, a lot. Just in the short amount of time I've had to work with Coach (Ryan) Baily, I've improved a lot. If I can keep working with him, I can improve even more.

Frierson: What is it like to be able to high jump over a bar that's a foot taller than you are? Just the idea of that is kind of mind-blowing to me.

Rankin: When I just sit around and think about it, it's like, what am I doing? If you just walk up to something like that, at that height, you'd be like, nobody's jumping over this. When it comes to competition, I'm like, yeah, I got this. I can do it. It's just a different mindset, I guess.

Frierson: Do you remember the first time you cleared a height and were like, whoa?

Rankin: I have a video of when I first cleared 7-3. I hopped up so excited. It was just like, I just did that. [Plays the video on his phone] I was like, LET'S GO!!!! ... I went to my teammates and was high-fiving and dabbing up, I went to my mom and them — it was just crazy.

Once I cleared the 7-foot mark in 11th grade, that's when my coaches were like, "You can be really good at this. Not many people jump over 7-foot in high school." My 12th-grade year, I was clearing 7-foot for a while and then I cleared 7-1 or 7-2 every now and then, and then I got to (the state meet), and that state meet is something different, and I jumped up and I was gone over that pole.

Frierson: How were you as a basketball player?

Rankin: I was pretty good. I was first-team all-region my 12th-grade year, and I think I was second-team my 11th-grade year. Those were the two years I started on varsity.

Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk?

Rankin: I can't remember; I dunked all the time. I was dunking while I was playing JV and stuff like that. I've got a video of me throwing down a crazy dunk, I think in my 11th-grade year. [Plays video of him throwing the ball to himself, jumping, catching it, passing the ball between his legs and throwing it down.] I've always been bouncy.

I went to Ramsey (Center) the other day just to hoop a little bit, and I did it without the bounce. I was like, boom! And all these people came up all excited.

Frierson: What drew you to the high jump in the first place?

Rankin: Like I said, I've always had bounce. I used to run the 100 and stuff like that, and I had a cousin that was like, try jumping. I tried it at a competition and I came in second without even knowing what I was doing. Then I was like, I can probably be good at this if I keep working at it.

Frierson: In a perfect world, what are you doing in 10 years?

Rankin: Probably the Olympics. That's the goal.

Frierson: Is it exciting to say that as an answer?

Rankin: Yeah, that's the goal. I want to, bad. That's why I'm working so hard. My opener in college was 7-3, and I was like, whoa. I surprised myself. Every time I compete I want to win, but 7-3 as an opener, that was just a preview of what I can accomplish. If I can keep on getting stronger and progressing like I'm supposed to, hopefully I can jump something crazy this year. That's the goal.

(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)

Assistant Sports Communications Director 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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