Marble Falls High’s O’Riley qualifies for outdoor national meet
Marble Falls High School graduate Kason O’Riley continues to add to his list of accomplishments even as the venues have gotten grandeur and the stakes are higher.
The 2021 graduate qualified for the NCAA Division I track and field outdoor championship thanks to clearing 7 feet and a half inch at the West Region meet May 27. O’Riley, who won the 2021 Class 5A high jump state championship by clearing 7-0, was one of 11 collegiate high jumpers at the West Region meet to qualify for the national meet by clearing the minimum height and needing the fewest attempts to do so.
“Coming into this meet, I knew that 7 feet and a half inch would take me (to the national meet) if I didn’t have any misses,” he said.
He entered the competition when the bar was set at 6-8.75 and needed only one attempt to clear it. He also needed only one attempt to clear 6-10.25 and 7-.5. He missed all three attempts at 7-1.75.
“That put me in a good place to where I didn’t have to clear the next one,” he said of his three clearing marks. “It feels great. There are only two freshmen going to nationals. It’s definitely special.”
The other freshman is Liberty University’s Kennedy Sauder, whom O’Riley faced at The Outdoor Nationals July 1, 2021. O’Riley won the national championship at that meet thanks to clearing 7-.25. Sauder was second thanks to clearing 6-10.25.
O’Riley can check off another item on his goal list for the 2022 season. One was to finish in the top three of the Big 12 Conference outdoor meet where he was second thanks to clearing 7-2.25. Now that he’s qualified for the national meet, he wants to finish in the top eight to be an All-American.
He credits his success to Sooners vertical jumps coach Jerel Langley and to his training partners at the University of Oklahoma, specifically senior high jumper Vernon Turner, who was tied for first at the West region meet thanks to clearing 7-1.75. Turner is the reigning national indoor high jumping champion after clearing 7-7.25 in March.
“I’ve been working with him in the weight room and on the track,” the former Mustang said. “It’s helped me a lot. We have really good jumpers. We finally put everything together this outdoor season. It’s special to be apart of because we’re doing something our school hasn’t seen in a long time.”
The NCAA Division I national meet is June 8-11 at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon’s campus in Eugene.
“I want to thank everybody in Marble Falls who’s supporting me,” O’Riley said.
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