Ed. Note: This week in our Feature Athlete series, we look at Tippecanoe sophomore high jumper Trey Sellers who played eighth overall at the state track meet.

It was a year to remember for Tippecanoe sophomore track standout Trey Sellers as the talented high jumper recently returned home from Dayton by placing at the OHSAA state track meet. Sellers finished eighth overall at the meet with a jump of 6’ 4” and with two more years to improve, the multi-sport standout is ready for the challenges ahead.

“To compete in the state track championships, I was able to see all of the best athletes in Ohio performing in their events,” he said. “I thought it was a pretty cool thing to see and even cooler to be a part of it.”

He was the lone Red Devil track athlete to advance to the highest stage of the state tournament with a second-place finish at the regionals. Sellers was pleased with how his season went, and the rookie made the most of his first year with the Red Devils.

“I think this year went extremely well for me being my first year of track,” Sellers said. “I definitely think I have a lot of potential for it and will be working up until next season on getting better. My coach and I are going to work mostly on my form. I’m going to be doing a lot of weightlifting as well to get stronger for next year.”

Sellers entered his high school career with the love of basketball. While he still is looking forward to basketball season in the winter, he has made great strides after not showing any interest in track as a freshman. It was an injury that forced him out of basketball this year that opened this door.

“I’ve been able to dunk a basketball since eighth grade, so I’ve always been pretty interested in high jump,” he said. “My eighth-grade math teacher and long jump coach Mrs. Galloway attempted to get me to do it in eighth grade, but I wanted to focus on basketball, so I never did it. And my freshman year I wanted to focus on basketball as well, so I didn’t want to do track.”

“This year I had an ankle injury that caused me to miss most of basketball season, so I wanted to try something new. That’s when I went out for track with my mind set on doing only high jump.” 

While he has two years left to achieve the ultimate dream of a state championship, Sellers is looking forward to where this sport will take him.

“I would definitely love to do this at the next level after high school. It’s really fun for me and I really enjoy it. I think it would be super cool to be able to high jump at the next level if I were given the opportunity.”