Raising the bar

Charlie Hirning didn’t come into the high school track and field season with lofty goals.

So the fact that the Sandpoint High senior soared to a school-record 6 feet, 8 inches in the high jump at a season-opening meet in mid-March forced him to readjust his season objectives.

Hirning hopes to match, if not exceed, that eye-popping feat before the season expires.

Hirning, who stands 6-4, had no difficulty vaulting well past that height, his personal best, that day in Lewiston. Sandpoint coach Dave DeMers, who was officiating the event, had a front-row view.

“He was definitely in a groove,” DeMers, a high jumper himself back in the day, said. “He made one attempt at 6-9 and was over it, but he clipped the bar with his heel coming down.”

Until this week, Hirning’s jump ranked first among all classifications in the state. Eric Follett of 5A Idaho Falls matched the mark last week, but Hirning still ranks No. 1 in 4A.

Hirning has been doing the high jump since winning a first-place ribbon in the event at a field day in fifth grade. It was love at first jump.

Until moving to Sandpoint the summer before his sophomore year, Hirning hadn’t had much individual instruction. He credits DeMers with making a big impact.

“It’s nice having a coach who is actually a high jump coach,” Hirning said. “He’s always there helping me out.”

Hirning is among a rare breed in the region. Few boys in the area have come close to the heights Hirning is eclipsing.

Just one area athlete has won a state title in the past two decades. That was Marcus Valentine of Priest River. He won back-to-back state titles in 1991 and ‘92, going 6-6 at state his final season.

Hirning has had opportunities to win state titles the past two years. As a sophomore, he finished second and he took third last year.

So last summer Hirning decided to get a little more serious about his event. He went to a camp at Washington State University.

“I learned a lot,” Hirning said.

He seems to be jumping higher by spending less time on the event at practice. Prior to this year, Hirning did nothing but jump. But because he felt he needed to be a team leader this season, he’s added more events to his plate.

“It’s kind of weird,” Hirning said. “I’m not practicing the high jump as much, but I seem to be doing better.”

He’s doing the triple jump and running a leg on the 400-meter relay. He may try the 200.

“He’s got a ton of athletic ability,” DeMers said. “He’s one of our fastest sprinters. It’s been great to have him involved in other things.”

Hirning is looking forward to the Inland Empire League championship meet Friday at Lake City, the District I All-Star meet at Post Falls next week, the 4A Region I meet at Lewiston the week after and ultimately state. He can see himself going higher.

“I want to break my school record by the time state rolls around,” Hirning said. “I’d love to do 6-10. That would be like a dream. And hitting 7 feet would. …”

To finish Hirning’s thought, hitting 7 feet would be unimaginable.

But he didn’t think he’d do 6-8 this year either.

“My goal this year was the school record,” Hirning said of the 6-6 ½ mark set by Andy Fuhriman in 1992.

It’s a record that had an asterisk next to it. DeMers, a 1978 Sandpoint grad, had the previous record at 6-6. Fuhriman reportedly broke the record at a meet in Post Falls over spring break while DeMers was on vacation in Mexico.

Come to find out a few days later, the Post Falls coach overseeing the event said he didn’t measure the jump. In fact, he thought the jump couldn’t have been any higher than 6-4. So DeMers found himself between a rock and a hard place.

Since DeMers was the record holder, he had to avoid any appearance of sour grapes. So he let the jump stand as the record.

DeMers hasn’t ceased to give assistant coach Tom Albertson grief over it since.

Albertson was in charge while DeMers was on vacation.

“So after Charlie got the record at Lewiston, Tom comes up to me and says ‘The monkey is finally off my back,’ ” DeMers said.

DeMers is glad Hirning left no doubt.

“I measured it,” DeMers said of the record-shattering jump. “I told Charlie to go get the damn record because if he didn’t no one would for a long time.”

DeMers thinks Hirning hasn’t come close to reaching his potential.

“Charlie’s got raw ability,” DeMers said. “I don’t think he’s tapped 30 percent of where he could be. He’s just very flexible, and he has great awareness of where he is in the air.

“A lot of kids get in the air and don’t know how to fly or land. Charlie knows what his body is doing.”