BOYS TRACK: Kentlake’s Straus ready for another leap into the record books

Alex Straus couldn’t walk. Simply moving caused shooting pain throughout his body.

So he sat — stunned and injured — and methodically contemplated what to do during that late July afternoon that would alter his entire senior year at Kentlake High. A long and lean 6-foot-4, 175-pound three-sport standout for the Falcons, Straus was simply putting in one of his final weightlifting workouts of the summer, when his feet gave out.

“I was doing up-downs with 165 pounds on (a bar across) my back,” explained Straus, a natural athlete who grabbed an eighth-place finish in the high jump at the state track meet last spring, delivering a leap of 6-feet-4 inches. “When I stepped down (off the platform), I rolled my ankle. All of my body weight and the weight on my back went on my ankle, so I ended up falling.”

The workout was supposed to serve as a springboard into the fall football season.

Instead, it completely changed Straus’ senior year before it began.

“It was excruciating (pain). I couldn’t walk at all,” Straus said. “The only time I moved was when they moved me from the floor to the bench, where I sat and waited there for a good hour trying to figure out what to do.”

Without a spotter, Straus heaved the 165-pounds of weights to the side.

The damage, however, already had been done.

Yet, while the ankle hurt, that wasn’t the Kentlake standout’s real problem. The big issue was up a bit higher, in Straus’ lower back. The awkward fall combined with all the weight resulted in what was prematurely diagnosed as a sprained lower back.

It wasn’t until February — after Straus had gutted out sparse playing time on the football field and on the basketball court, where he was a shell of his former self — the truth was revealed.

“I went in and had an X-ray done,” noted Straus, pointing out that the pain had not subsided at all since the incident. “They found a compression fracture … I pretty much had a broken back.”

Broken back, but not broken spirit.

Other than potentially wearing a brace, there was little else other than consistent icing, stretching and rest that would help Straus’ back heal. The Kentlake senior applied all of them to enable him to get back on the track this spring.

As April begins, the Falcon jumper is nearing 100 percent and is looking forward to capping off what has been a strong track career at Kentlake.

“He’s a good kid, a hard worker, tall, long and lanky,” said Kentlake coach Jim Hewson. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he got another school record this year.”

Straus established Kentlake’s all-time mark in the high jump last spring, uncorking a leap of 6-feet-4.25-inches. The performance was as much of a relief as it was a rush for the Kentlake 18 year old. A relief because Straus had enjoyed little gain since moving up to Kentlake from Cedar Heights Middle School.

“I had the Cedar Heights record at 5-8 and went into Kentlake with high hopes that I was going to jump like crazy,” Straus said. “I ended up not improving at all my freshman and sophomore years. I went into my junior year really down about the high jump, then the first meet, I went 6-2.”

Straus was just scratching the surface.

This spring, health pending, that 6-4.25 mark very well could morph into something much bigger. Especially considering Straus has good friend and fellow high jumper Shad Hall right there at his side, pushing him every step of the way. Hall and Straus entered the week atop of the South Puget Sound League with identical 6-2 marks.

“We enjoy bugging each other about how we beat each other. Right now, he’s beating me. It’s his event. I am more of a 300 hurdles guy,” Hall said.

Like Hewson, Hall sees the potential Straus possesses, too.

“I bet if he hadn’t gotten hurt, he’d be jumping 6-6 or 6-8,” Hall said.

Which is exactly where Straus wants to be by season’s end.

“My goal is 6-8,” he said.

And now that he’s nearing full health, Straus just might get there.