By RICHIE HALL
One of the more familiar sights on the Noblesville boys track and field team the past four years was seeing Drew Herman sail over a high jump bar.
The recent Noblesville High School graduate often went above and beyond the bar, to the tune of an appearance at the state meet in 2018 and various other achievements. Now he’ll get a chance to compete at the college level, as Herman has committed to Butler University.
“I’m going to receive an opportunity to get an athletic scholarship based on my performance,” said Herman. “If I can have good performances my freshman year, I can become on scholarship very quickly.”
Herman did receive an academic scholarship to Butler, and is being treated like he is on scholarship with the Bulldogs team, as he gets to travel with the team and get all of the necessary gear.
“I’ve been on a visit, on a tour of the campus,” said Herman. “I’ve been on an official visit for track and then I’ve gone a couple times to drive through the campus with some of my friends that are going to Butler and take it in.”
Herman participated in a meet against some college teams a couple years ago, and one of those teams was Butler. While he hadn’t considered Butler before, Herman said he “looked more into it and they really grew on me.”
“I was considering Notre Dame and Butler for track, and it was just between the two,” said Herman. “There was more scholarship money in it for Butler.” He also said that most of his family went to Notre Dame, “and I wanted to try something different.”
Herman will be going into the business school, where he plans on studying exploratory business.
“It’s within the specific college of the Lacy School of business,” said Herman. “I don’t know what my major’s going to be, but it’s going to be in business.”
STATE QUALIFIER
Herman was good at the high jump from the beginning, tying for sixth in the Carmel sectional as a freshman with a jump of 6 feet even. He then had an outstanding sophomore year, finishing second in the sectional, then winning the Lafayette Jefferson regional with a leap of 6 feet, 5 inches. That qualified him for the state meet, where he placed 14th.
Herman placed sixth in the regional his junior year. He said things were looking good for a return to state for his senior year, but unfortunately, as was the case with many athletes, his season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several track and field teams got to compete in a couple of indoor meets before the season stopped. The Millers were one of them, participating in the Indiana Wesleyan University qualifier on March 7. Herman had a solid meet, winning the high jump with an effort of 6 feet, 6 inches. Showing his versatility, he ran on Noblesville’s winning 4×400 relay and placed third in the long jump as well.
It was tough for Herman, who was one of the Millers’ captains. The team had been working out since October.
“It was disappointing seeing all that work go nowhere, especially since we thought we were going to be gone from school for a week of two,” said Herman. “It was disappointing to have it end so quickly.”
Herman’s best career jump was 6 feet, 7 inches, which he achieved during his junior year at the 2019 Kent Graham Relays.
“I was facing some pretty good competition,” said Herman. “I jumped over 6-6 for the second time ever, and I jumped over 6-7 for my last attempt.”
BEING FLEXIBLE
As a veteran high jumper, Herman knows what needs to be done in order to be successful in the event. “It requires a lot of the same mechanics as sprinting,” he said. “You have to be fast, your legs have to be strong. But more than that, it requires lots of explosive movements.”
In order to make those movements, Herman does plyometrics, which are short interval exercises designed to make muscles exert their maximum potential.
“For myself, it’s mostly doing lots of skips, lots of bounds,” said Herman. “Lots of little things to help get off the ground.”
A good example of a plyometric exercise is squatting all the way down, then leaping up to try to grab the rim of a basketball goal.
“It makes your legs unbelievably strong,” said Herman. “And they’re great for jumpers.”
Heavy lifting is another technique, such as squats and leg presses. A high jumper must also have body awareness, and understand how each muscle works to help him get over the bar.
“Your back has to be very flexible. Your hamstrings have to be very flexible and you have to know the way your body moves,” said Herman.
Anyone who has ever tried the high jump, or even just watched it, is familiar with the way athletes clear the bar, known as the Fosbury Flop: The initial leap, curving the back over the bar, kicking up the legs at the last second, and flopping on the mat. In order to do all that, flexibility is a must.
Once Herman told his father and his coaches that he wanted to do high jump, the first thing they did was work on flexibility.
“I would do back bends, toe touches, things like that,” said Herman. “If you jump and you don’t know the correct way to bend, or your back isn’t flexible enough, you can really hurt yourself.”
Since Herman competed in both high jump and long jump, he is aware of the differences of the events. A long jumper is always trying to improve his distance. High jumpers are trying to improve as well, but they have the added pressure of trying to directly outdo their competitors.
“You kind of have to be in a more competitive mindset for high jump, whereas in long jump, you’re competing against yourself,” said Herman.