Marble Falls grad O’Riley qualifies for U.S. Olympic Trials

CAPTION: University of Arkansas high jumper Kason O’Riley, a 2021 Marble Falls High School graduate, is competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month. Photo by Adriana Kitchens/University of Arkansas athletics

Former Marble Falls High School high jumper Kason O’Riley is preparing to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

The preliminaries for the high jump is June 27 with 25 athletes. The top 12 advance to the final, which is scheduled for June 30. The top three make the team.

“On my brother’s birthday,” he said. “That’d be a nice birthday gift. Jumping in front of all those fans out there. I’ve been wanting to make the trials since before I was in high school. I thought, ‘One day I’m going to get there and compete at the highest level.'”

O’Riley met the B standard, which declares jumpers must clear 7 feet and 1.5 inches to compete at the trials. His flop is 7-2.5.

Plenty of familiar athletes are part of the field of the 25. JuVaughn Harrison, who won the silver medal in the event at the World Athletics meet last summer, and Vernon Turner, who also made the U.S. team a year ago, are among the favorites. Turner and O’Riley were teammates at the University of Oklahoma two years ago before O’Riley transferred to the University of Arkansas.

“It’s always about getting to jump against the best in the world,” the 2021 Marble Falls graduate said. “Opening height will be 7 feet. I think I’ll have to jump 7-2 to make it to the finals.”

O’Riley competed in that venue last summer when he was trying to make the U.S. team for the World Athletics Championships. Though he didn’t make that team, O’Riley did qualify for the U.S. National team’s 23-and-under squad that competed at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association Games for athletes ages 23 and younger in San Jose, Costa Rica. He earned the silver medal.

“It definitely helps me a lot,” he said of the experience at competing at Hayward Field. “It’s a big stadium. That’s a huge moment to be in. I jumped in front of thousands. I cleared 7-1, which was the opening height. That experience gets you a better understanding of what to do in upcoming meets.”

The top high jumpers in the world include Italian GianMarco Tamberi, Qatar’s Mutaz Barsham, South Korean Woo Sang-hyeok and Turner. Tamberi and Barsham each won the gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while Sang-hyeok finished fourth.

“Those four are the best in the world,” O’Riley said. “I’m probably going to have to jump a personal best of 7-6, 7-7 to make the team, which is doable. Jump the bar at the right height.”

O’Riley is motivated. While he said he had a “very good” season with the Razorbacks, he also was “very disappointed.” He set a new personal best of 7-2.5 at the John McDonnell Invitational April 18-19 at Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“I PRed by a quarter of an inch,” he said. “I’ll take a PR no matter how small.”

His disappointment is because this is the first year he didn’t win a gold medal. Those went to jumpers who needed fewer attempts to clear a height.

“That one miss — I’m telling you,” he said. “I just have to stop hitting the bar. I have to be clean. Lesson learned. Gotta clear the bar. I’m healthy. I’m as healthy as I can get.”

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