The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Track and Field spotlight: Raymond Harris
01.30.2009 | Track & Field / Cross Country m, Track & Field / Cross Country
Jan. 30, 2009
Senior high jumper Raymond Harris currently has the nation's third-highest mark in the high jump at 2.18 meters (7-1.75). He originally set the mark while finishing third at least year's Big 12 Indoor Championships. Overall, Harris, who is expecting to graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology and physical therapy, has earned five All-Big 12 honors during his career. In addition, he claimed his first All-America honor at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships. Now a senior, Harris is looking to improve on last year's performance and is getting comfortable with his role as a leader on this year's team. TexasSports.com caught up with Harris to talk about high jumping, academics and why his mom has been so helpful to him during his career.
On earning All-America honors and his goals coming into his senior year: Ending last season as an All-American at outdoor nationals was a big accomplishment. Me and Coach (Bubba) Thornton had a sit down the summer before my junior year. He was telling me, `It's on you. It's in your hands on how well you want to do.' I took that as motivation through the summer with training and going to school and even in the fall. In indoor, I really changed everything, my perspective of high jump. I really started to focus, watched a lot of film, lifting, eating right, and it ended up paying off.
Being an All-American and then coming back, I have more responsibilities. I have to lead. I have to show people what they need to do, how to get there, be basically a big brother. You have everybody looking at you, and also being a senior, everybody's watching you. Going into this year, I want to improve on last year and help lead this team.
On the process of becoming a more experienced high jumper: It's a big progression. Mario (Sategna) still tells me to this day, `You still don't get it yet, but you're close.' I'm still learning, I'm still trying to learn as much as I can with the time I have. It's a big progression from freshman to sophomore year, from junior to senior year. It's more serious, it's more focused, it's actually looking at the technique and not just going out there and jumping just to flip over.
On the high jump legacy at Texas: The legacy is deep. You have Andra (Manson), James Lott, Mark Boswell, you have a lot of people that did high jump. The reason I came here was to learn from Andra. I've learned a lot from him since I've been here. I'm trying to live up to the same things they did, and hopefully this year it should go the way it's planned to be. The legacy is the biggest thing here. High jump is Texas. When I think of Texas track, I think of high jump. Just trying to get into that progression of being one of them is more motivation than anything.
On what he has learned in his time on the Texas track and field team: Track and field has been very, very interesting. Learning and watching, you get to watch and experience a lot of things, like travel, and also you get to experience a lot of things with teammates. You have older teammates that you look up to and that you want to be like, but they also help you develop into a prestigious athlete like they are. With the coaching staff and my teammates, they make you a better man. Respecting them, putting trust into a team and making it a team effort, just not all about you, makes you a better person.
On if he feels like he has a leadership role on this year's team: I feel like I do. I've experienced a lot being here, so I have a lot of different insights where some people might not. A lot of them come talk to me and ask me, `I'm doing this and I'm doing that' and I've had the same occurrences. I try to help them out so it will be less stressful for them, like Andra tried to make it for me. I'm trying to tell them to help them out and make it easier on them.
On what it will feel like to graduate from The University of Texas: I'm majoring in Kinesiology and physical therapy. I should be done in May. It's a big accomplishment. Coming from where I'm from, not too many members of my family actually went and graduated from college. It's a select few. It's making my family proud to see me move on in other ways than just sports. I'm doing it academically. Just to make my mom proud, that's the main reason. She's like, `You didn't come here just to be an athlete. That's part of it, but you're a student as well.' Her being a teacher, she's been on me all my life. It's just staying focused and trying to get that diploma.
On his relationship with his mother: She's a very big influence. She's been there for me through thick and thin. When I made decisions of what to do next, where to go, what I want to do with this, she's that person in your ear telling you to do what your heart tells you, put God first and talk to him about it. She's that person that's everybody's mother. You can come around and see her. She's always smiling, she's always hugging everybody. She can pick up things. That's a unique thing about her. She can pick up things watching track. She did it a little bit in high school and she can just pick up and learn. So basically when I was learning, she was learning. Like last week, I look to her in the stands and she can tell me what I did wrong, even on a good jump. She'll be like, `You're not high enough.' We just have that signal. I go talk to Mario (Sategna), but I always look up for her. It's been a difference traveling, but when we're at meets close to home, I can get that connection with her. She's a very big influence.
On Mario Sategna: Mario is a great coach. He does a lot of events; he knows a lot, he has a lot of history with events being a decathlete himself. He knows the right things to do. I wasn't used to changing up things when I first started here. But, I'm glad he stayed with me and stayed on me because the changes that he made made me successful, and that's all he wants to see is success. As long as you allow him to help you, you will be successful. He's just a great coach.
