By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
One of the best high jumpers in Kansas high school history continues to excel after graduating from Sterling High School. Tyus Wilson, who finished seventh at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September, repeated as USATF high jump national champion Friday at New York City's Icahn Stadium. Wilson is the first repeat USATF outdoor national champion in the event since 2018.
Much of Friday's competition dropped out of the competition with three misses at 7 feet, 1.5 inches. Scottie Vines, from the University of Arkansas, cleared 7-5 on his first attempt to take the lead. Wilson needed three attempts to clear the bar at 7-5. But Wilson followed that jump with a clearance at a new personal best of 7-6 to take the lead. Vines passed at 7-6, and neither Wilson nor Vines could clear the bar at 7-7.25.
Wilson splashed onto the high school scene in 2018, winning a state championship as one of the best young jumpers in the nation. Throughout his career, he became one of just five jumpers in Kansas high school history to clear the bar at 7-3 or higher. He set various meet records in his prep career, including the Sterling Invitational, the Ellinwood Invitational, and the Class 2A state meet record.
Wilson nearly reached the world stage two years ago. The top-three finishers at the USATF National Championships typically go on to represent the U.S. at the Olympics. Wilson finished third in Oregon with a best jump of 2.27m (7-5.25 feet). Because he did not meet the Olympic standard of 2.33m (7-7.75), he missed the 2024 Games in Paris.
Last September, Wilson turned that third-place national finish into a national championship by clearing 2.27m. Even his best height of the year at 2.29m was still four centimeters from the standard to compete in Tokyo. In one final bid to make it to Tokyo, Wilson attended and won the NACAC Championships in The Bahamas in mid-August by clearing 2.24m. It was enough to move him from No. 36 to No. 24 in the world rankings and secure a Team USA spot in Tokyo.
“You’re fighting for centimeters at this point,” Wilson said in an interview from Tokyo. “It’s kind of crazy to think back to high school where, on my best days, I was jumping 7-2. The starting height at this past meet was 7-2.5. It’s crazy to see how much I’ve developed and how consistent I’ve been. I’ve had great coaching. I’ve had great teammates to push me to that level. To get to that 7-7, 7-7.5 mark, it’s in there but I’m going to need to get back to the drawing board over the offseason.”
Though 2026 is a non-Olympic or World Athletics Championship year, Wilson is still competing in the professional Diamond League, with a fifth-place finish in Doha, Qatar in June. World Athletics will host an Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary in September to determine 2026 world champions in individual track and field events.