NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Aiden Ortz sprints down the runway during practice at Redbank Valley High School, making sure to get every step correct.
Instead of launching himself into the air to complete his long jump, he simply runs through the sand.
Then he does it all again.
And again.
(Pictured above, Redbank Valley senior Aiden Ortz already has the long jump record at the school. He wants to add more and a state gold to go with them/photo by Madison McFarland)
Ortz takes an unusual tact at practice. He’s a long and triple jumper who rarely jumps — at least not until it’s showtime during a competition.
“I try not to fully jump in practice because I don’t want to get myself hurt or just waste all my energy,” Ortz said. “I want to save that for the meets. I just work on my form and mechanics, usually.”
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Ortz learned that the hard way last season when he injured his heel while jumping in practice.
He isn’t exactly sure when it happened. It could have been on one of his many reps in the high, triple and long jumps. But it changed the way he approached gearing up for meets.
More focus on the technical. Less on the actually soaring through the air and landing.
He said jumping rarely — or not at all — during practice has helped him remain fresh this season.
It has shown.
Ortz broke his own Redbank Valley long jump record with a leap of 22 feet, 3¾ inches at Clarion-Limestone early last week. His previous best was 21-11¼.
“It felt good to finally break my record again,” Ortz said. “I’ve been working all year to try to break it.”
It’s not the only record Ortz is gunning for.
He’s getting close to the triple jump mark at the school.
Ortz jumped 42-8 at the Brookville Invitational on Saturday. The Redbank Valley record in that event is 44-1.
“If I keep practicing, I should be able to get it,” Ortz said. “I just need to practice my form. Form is pretty big in the triple jump. Usually every day in practice I make sure I have my steps down for the long and triple.”
Ortz is currently ranked third in the state in the long jump.
Last year, he placed a disappointing ninth in the event in Class 2A to come home without a medal.
But that has only served to motivate the senior, who is determined to not repeat that profound letdown again.
“Hopefully, I can just get farther and farther,” Ortz said. “I want to be more prepared when I get to state, more prepared than I was last year, and I’ll be able to place better than ninth. Ever since we went to states for football and we got second, I’ve wanted to go and win. I’m tired of not getting a gold. I want to get that gold medal.”
To help him get there, Ortz is competing in as many big events as possible.
He’ll be doing the jumps and the sprints at the Butler Invitational at Butler High School on Friday. The Butler event is one of the biggest meets in western Pennsylvania and features some of the best Class 2A and 3A programs from across District 7.
“It’s always nice to go to Brookville because that’s where they have the districts,” Ortz said of competing Saturday at the Brookville Invitational. “We’re going to Butler Friday and there’s going to be a lot of competition there. I’m going to give it my all there so I can see where I’m at with everyone. It’ll make me so much better.”
Ortz is hoping for yet another record at Butler on Friday.
Ortz also runs the first leg of the Bulldogs’ 4×100 relay along with Owen Harmon, Cam Wagner and Ashton Kahle.
The quartet is just .06 seconds off the school record of 43.94.
Getting that will be a little extra special for Ortz. His father, Chad, was on the Redbank Valley relay that currently holds the mark.
“I feel like since we are going to Butler, I think we’ll break it there because there will be so many teams that will push us,” Ortz said. “Harmon’s uncle was on that relay and my dad was on that relay that has the 4×1 record. They want us to break it. They want us to get our names on the board.”
Ortz is the best out of the blocks in the 100, so he runs the first leg. Kahle runs the anchor leg because he is the fastest overall. Ortz has found out the hard way during meets.
“I usually have him for the first 50 meters, then he gets me at the very end,” Ortz said.
Ortz is looking forward to the big-event atmosphere at Butler, where he’s sure the competition will push him to notch bests in all of his events.
That’s the plan, at least.
“I’ve been looking forward to the Butler Invitational since we started practicing,” Ortz said. “Butler will definitely be the closest thing to state that I’ll go to all year.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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