Might Thursday at the boys track and field Valparaiso regional be the day Chesterton senior Nolan Johnston clears 7 feet in the high jump? Might be

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Ever since then junior AJ Brandon cleared 6-foot-7 at the 2024 Valparaiso track and field regional, high jump has become a must-watch event at Chesterton boys track and field meets.
The excitement from that built as Brandon reached 6-8 at an indoor meet in Portage, as whispers mounted that once his former JV basketball teammate Nolan Johnston became healthy, he would challenge Brandon.
The whispers proved accurate and Johnston broke Matt Nover’s school record with a leap of 6-10-1/4 at the Garry Nallenweg Chesterton Relays on April 19.
Johnston hasn’t broken his own record since, but he came close at the DAC Championship on May 14 at Lake Central, when he won the event with a 6-9-1/4 jump and then took three attempts at 6-11. On his third jump, he got well over the bar, then nicked it. Brandon finished third with a 6-4 jump and was second to Johnston at the Portage sectional when he shook off the effects of an ankle injury cleared 6-2.
Johnston, bothered by a nagging hip pointer, won it with a 6-7 jump and agreed with coach Phil Long’s suggestion that he call it a night.
Long said that with a maximum of two meets remaining, he won’t make that suggestion again to Johnston and believes he has a legitimate shot at clearing 7 feet, a magic milestone in the event.
If not for Brandon trying it first, and having so much instant success, Johnstson said he doesn’t think he would have thought to give it a try.
“I guess I have him AJ to thank for that,” Johnston said.
And not just because he broke the school record.
“Being on the track team, it’s my first year doing it, and I didn’t know what to expect. I couldn’t have expected anything better,” Johnston said. “The community, everyone hyping me up even though I was new to the sport, and they’re helping me, teaching me. And I’ve made a lot of new friends, a bunch of runners, hurdlers.”
Johnston doesn’t get to watch much of the meet, but the parts he does, he said he enjoys.
“Before I warm up at the lower heights I watch some events, and then when it gets to 6 feet, I start warming up and I don’t get to watch after that until I’m done,” he said.
He even enjoys travelling to and from the meets.
“The bus rides, on the way there it’s usually silent, everyone’s locking in,” Johnston said. “And then on the way back after a good meet, everyone’s having fun, talking about how they did.”
Johnston ranks first on the regional performance list, which is based on sectional marks. The top three at the regional round automatically qualify for the state meet. Brandon’s 6-2 last week had him fourth on the performance, but he has cleared 6-4 this spring.
After nearly clearing 6-11 at the DAC meet, Johnston talked about what he has done to minimize pain during meets.
“My hip flexor has been really sore, but I’ve mostly just been fighting through the pain and jumping through it,” he said. “So, hopefully it stays at this level, and I can still jump through it. I was stretching it after every jump, trying to get it to feel as good as possible because I can still feel the pain. When I’m in my approach it usually doesn’t hurt too bad. It’s just after usually. I don’t think it’s limited me too much. The only thing I worry about it is hurting it on accident, but it doesn’t really hurt when I jump so I don’t really know what the issue is but hopefully I can get it figured out.”
Other Trojans ranked first on the Valpo regional performance list: sophomore Weston Moore and juniors Devin Throw, Cal Wisniewski and Nathan Vaughan of the 4x100 relay team that ran a 42.78 at the Portage sectional; senior Aaron Resto, junior Cal Wisniewski, senior Kieran Barnewall and junior Louis Raffin of the 4x400 relay.