Track and field: Hurley tops competition in high jump

SPRINGDALE -- Sam Hurley of Fayetteville is running and jumping higher this summer than most boys his age.

Hurley, 11, set the Arkansas state high jump record in the 12-and-under division at AAU Arkansas in Hot Springs with a jump of 5 feet, 2 inches. He also won the javelin and long jump at the Hot Springs meet.

His biggest accomplishment came in Chicago, where Hurley competed at the Hershey's North American Championships. Hurley took first place in the high jump and set the standard for his age division when he cleared 5-3 on his final attempt.

"I love competing and being outdoors," said Hurley, who'll enter the sixth grade at McNair Middle School in Fayetteville when classes resume. "I like basketball and football, but competing in track and doing the high jump really gets my adrenalin pumping."

Hurley, who is 4-foot-11, has competed in track for only a year. His father signed him up for a meet as a fourth-grader and was encouraged by the results.

"He did the 100-meter dash, the long jump, and ran some relays and won them all pretty decisively," Edward Hurley said. "From there, we went to regional meets in Tulsa and Joplin, Mo., and he won again against some major competition."

Family friends connected Hurley with Brad Culp, a former standout athlete at Fayetteville High School and a decathlete on the Arkansas track and field team. Culp has been working with Hurley and is excited about the boy's potential.

"He's legit," Culp said. "He's very coachable and he learns things really fast. It's unbelievable what he's done in only one year. He's going to be a stud in college the way he's going."

Hurley hopes to eventually run track for Arkansas and perhaps even make the United States Olympic team someday. He's focused for the rest of the summer on competing in other track events, most notably at Jacksonville, Fla., and Norfork, Va.

"I love traveling the country with my dad and competing and meeting new people," Hurley said. "I want to do everything I can to reach my goal of running for the Razorbacks."

Sports on 07/23/2015

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