The past few days have been somewhat a dream for Woodrow Wilson all-state track star Ryan Mukhtar.
Friday evening at the Beckley Last Chance Invitational track meet, Mukhtar broke a school high jump record that had stood for 47 years.
Tuesday afternoon, the Flying Eagle standout signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Marshall University Men’s Track and Field team.
“I have been extremely excited. I have felt like I have been floating throughout the weekend,” Mukhtar said about the historic jump. “People keep talking about it and I really don’t know what to say when people come up and ask about. I just smile and say thank you, but it is really hard to put into words.”
Mukhtar also reference some mixed emotions regarding signing with the Thundering Herd.
“I was extremely excited when Marshall sent me an offer to go there,” Mukhtar said. “Today it is a little bittersweet. I know I am going to miss my team that has been here with me, but I also know am going to bigger things.”
The new high jump record holder started jumping when he was in middle school, but reference his success back to another sport.
“It has just been a lot of practice and I did gymnastics when I was younger which really helped with my flexibility getting over the bar,” Mukhtar said.
As a junior, Mukhtar was third at the state meet with a jump of 6-foot-4. Working with high jump coach Marshall Murray, the Beckley senior had already increased that number by four inches prior to Friday.
“My high jump coach came over a few times my sophomore year, but last year he really started coming over and helping me,” Mukhtar said. “He has been the official at some of my meets and after they are over, it is nice to talk to him and see what I can work on and practice.”
The record high jump at Woodrow Wilson stood at 6-foot-10 and was held by Amaray Campbell.
Friday night in his last meet on his home track, Mukhtar went for the record.
“I wanted to beat the school record that day and my coach was talking to me about it. The record was 6-foot-10, but my (personal record) was 6-foot-8,” Mukhtar said. “The week before I had been practicing at 7-foot just to try and get it. When they put the bar up to 7-foot, I was a little nervous because they just skipped 6-foot-11.”
Nerves gave way to success and jubilation.
“I learned some new steps to get the right run up. When I went over it and saw the bar not fall down I was super excited,” Mukhtar said. “I was a little stunned because 7-foot has been my goal my entire high school career. Seven-foot-one was nice and all, but the hard part was seven.”
Woodrow Wilson boy’s track head coach Steve Kidd had a bird’s eye view of the jump and had to admit he was a little surprised at the effort of his all-stater.
“Truthfully, I thought he could get 6-foot-10, but I didn’t know if he could go much further than that,” Kidd said. “He has earned it and put a lot of time in.
Part of that work came with the Woodrow Wilson boy’s basketball team.
“He jumped all summer long and in the fall season he worked out with the basketball team on the Leaper and Vertimax machine,” Kidd said. “He has been preparing for this year.”
High jump is not the only event where Mukhtar has found success. Along with currently holding the best high jump height in the state, the Beckley senior has the fourth-best time statewide in the 110 meter hurdles and a top-10 leap in the long jump.
Mukhtar is also a member of the Woodrow Wilson shuttle-hurdle team that is top-five in the Mountain State.
“He can do just about anything. We talked about putting him in the 300 (hurdles) a little bit,” Woodrow Wilson boys track head coach Steve Kidd said. “The long jump thing, he just jumped in there one day and jumped 21-feet. He has improved on the high jump, of course, but he has really improved in the hurdles.”
While it may seem somewhat unthinkable at this juncture, just a year back, Mukhtar wasn’t really on the Marshall radar.
“They hadn’t talked to him until we went down there for the indoor high school meet (the Saturday before the high school season),” Kidd said. “I don’t think many had talked to him. He had been to maybe West Liberty or Wheeling, but the big schools had never came up before that.”
Now Mukhtar is hoping to continue competing in all of his events at the next level.
“I like doing other events because I feel like they can all tie in together,” Mukhtar said. “If I can get my long jump good enough, I will do that. I have been slowly getting my hurdles time to go down, so I am hoping I do that in college too.”
