Proviso West’s Machi Nelson finished off his high school career with a huge win, landing himself a state championship in the high jump in this year’s ISHA 3A Boys State Track and Field Championship.
The 17-year-old competed in the event at the end of May and cleared 2.05m, which converts to 6 feet 8.75 inches, soaring into first place over other schools including West Chicago and Oak Park and River Forest High School.
Even more impressive? This was Machi’s first year participating in Track and Field.
While an athlete his whole life, Machi’s first love is basketball — a sport he picked up as a young child.
“It is something I have always had aspirations to do and my dad makes sure that I stay consistent,” Nelson told Forest Park Review.
However, for his senior year, he wanted to branch out and he had already been asked to join the track team in previous years but had turned down the opportunity.
“I was definitely nervous and stepping into a new world of a new sport is just different,” he said, adding that despite being an athlete there were differences in the sports he had to adjust to. “Most of it was different but I also think my natural ability to jump helped me a lot.”
Nelson competed in the long jump, high jump and triple jump event this season.
“The whole season experience was wonderful,” he said. “My teammates embraced me like no one else, it was just amazing. Memories made, everything.”
Nelson ended up qualifying for states for high jump as well as long jump, saying he barely missed the mark for triple jump.
After experiencing a few disappointments in the long jump, he said he was starting to get in his head but his coaches kept him motivated and gave him the confidence to focus on high jump.
It paid off.
“It was a surreal moment, I didn’t really know what was going on and I didn’t know how to feel in the moment,” Nelson said. “It hit later in the day.”
The recent graduate is now keeping his eyes to the future, hoping to pursue not only a college athletic career but also go into sports management as a profession — with hopes of helping other athletes fulfill their dreams.
And for the students at West? Nelson hopes he can be an inspiration and example as to why people should step outside their comfort zone and try something different.
“It might work, it is not always a bad thing,” he said. “Stepping out of your comfort zone can make you find things that you didn’t know you could do. It can lead to great things.”
