Jalan Rivers is a name that is becoming synonymous with high flying jumps. His last three meets have proven that he is among the elite high jumpers in Texas if not the US. At the Claudio Garcia Ram Tough Relays on February 27, 2021 he placed first with a PR of 7-0. This record tied him for the state leading mark and tied him for 2nd in the US. His next two meets were no slouch presentations either. At the Dan Green Invitational on March 6, 2021 he again won 1st place with a jump of 6-10 and at his home meet the Summer Creek Generations Park Relays on March 12, 2021, he reached a height of 6-10 and won 1st place there as well. When asked about his current showings he said, "Coaches wanted me to become consistent at the 6-10 height."

He feels like his growth spurt and continuing to get stronger since freshman year has definitely aided in his reaching the higher bars and staying consistent with them. We asked him how he got into high jumps and said he noticed the high jump when he was running summer track before high school and thought it looked pretty cool so he tried it. He then started spending less time running and more time jumping.

"right now I'm just focused on reaching the highest height I can achieve, competing in the Olympics, and really just remaining a strong competitor." 

Jalan Rivers - Summer Creeks High School senior

Looking at the history of his jumps below from Freshman year until now as a Senior, he has made quite the progression.

The last few years he's been focusing on school first and also focusing on track as much as he can. He feels that being a student of the sport and improving his craft is definitely aiding him in becoming a better student athlete. When he's not doing school work, he says everyday after school he spends time with his coach studying film to see what he messed up on so he can reach higher heights.

Working to improve is something that is extremely important to him. He feels he needs to continue working on getting stronger, work on his footwork, his over the bar stuff, and his approach is a little off sometimes and not always consistent so those are things he and his coach are working on.

When he spoke to us at his home meet on March 12, he said he was looking for a school that has great academics due to his desire to major in computer engineering. Also a supportive track program that takes care of their athletes was high on his list. He knows his track career won't last forever so he is looking beyond that to find a great quality school that will help him once he leaves the track world. It's safe to say he found that exact fit, when on March 17 Jalan announced that he had committed to furthering his academic and track career at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The future looks very bright for this young man. When asked what he sees for his future, he replied, "right now I'm just focused on reaching the highest height I can achieve, competing in the Olympics, and really just remaining a strong competitor." Those goals are very attainable for this talented young man and we look forward to seeing what he can accomplish in the future.