Aaron Plas, Kyle Odvody will be forever linked. They will also be teamates at Nebraska

When McCook senior Aaron Plas "Fosbury Flopped" over the high jump bar Saturday at a height of 7 feet, 2 inches, he shattered four records.

Aaron broke the McCook High School record, Nebraska All-Class state record, the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference record and the Class B record. He broke the Nebraska record of 7-1 1/2 set by Wahoo's Kyle Odvody two years ago.

It looks as if Aaron and Kyle Odvody will be forever linked in another way -- they will be teammates at the University of Nebraska.

And Aaron will again be chasing him.

Odvody still owns one mark Aaron surely would like to break -- the All-Class state meet record of 7-0 set in 2000.

Odvody, a sophomore, broke the Cornhusker record in the high jump Saturday at NU's first outdoor track meet at Ed Weir Stadium in Lincoln. He cleared 7-2 1/2 -- a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

It looks as if Nebraska is cornering the market on high jumpers.

Not to be overlooked is Husker sophomore Matthew O'Brien, from Lexington High School. O'Brien finished second to Odvody at the 2000 state track meet. He cleared 6-11.

In 1999, O'Brien edged out Odvody for the All-Class state title with a 6-9 effort.

O'Brien finished third at Saturday's NU meet with a mark of 6-6 3/4. Three other Cornhusker high jumpers cleared 6-4 3/4.

Aaron's effort places him in a tie for fourth in the country among high school high jumpers, according to dyestat.com and USA Today track lists.

He is tied at 7-2 with Brandon Woodson, Mansfield, Ohio and Jeff Lindsey, Mansfield, Texas.

The top high jumper in the country is Teak Wilburn, Chico, Calif., with his effort of 7-4 1/2. Andre Manson, Brenham, Texas, is next at 7-3 1/4, followed by Keith Moffatt, Menchville High School, Newport News, Va., at 7-2 1/4.

The mark to shoot for high school high jumpers in the country is 7-6, set by Dothel Edwards, Cedar Shoals HS, Athens, Ga., set on July 9, 1983 in Athens.

Aaron can, in the not so distant future, take aim at the U.S. collegiate records held by Hollis Conway.

Conway, who competed for Southwestern Louisiana, cleared 7-9 3/4 at high altitude in Provo, Utah, on June 3, 1989.

He also owns the low altitude mark of 7-9 1/4 set a meet on March 11, 1989.

The U.S. record of 7-10 1/2 was set by Olympian Charles Austin on Aug. 7, 1991.

The world record of 8 feet, 1/2 inch was set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor on July 27, 1993 in Salenca, Spain.

H Right place at the right time -- Aaron's effort was the second 7 foot-plus high jump I've seen in person.

I almost missed it. My car was parked on the side where the boys high jump event was taking place and I was leaving to get something to eat when it happened.

Is that good timing or what?

Back in 1993 when I was working for the Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, Great Bend's Bobby Williams cleared 7-1 1/4 at the Hays (Kan.) Invitational.

Coincidentally, one of the Hays High School assistant coaches was Jeff Gross, who is now the head football and assistant track at McCook.

So I'm guessing we're the only two people in McCook who witnessed both feats.

I was at the Kansas State track meet a year later when Garden City (Kan.) high jumper Jason Archibald cleared 7 feet, but I didn't see it. I was watching other events at the time.

The Kansas record in the high jump is 7-5 set by Wichita East's Brad Speer in the 1980s.

Speer passed the Olympic qualifying mark, but there was a big controversy because United States Olympic Committee officials didn't want to recognize that a high schooler had actually reached their qualifying standard.

H Nothing lucky here -- I'm not going to take any credit for Aaron's accomplishments -- that belongs to his family, his coaches and his athletic ability and hard work.

But last week when I was covering the news of his signing with the University of Nebraska, I sort of joked to Aaron that he could go 7 feet easily.

I doubt if I had anything to do with it. I usually have the opposite effect.

After all, I picked the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA men's basketball title. And Maryland won it all.

H Good luck charm -- Aaron's grandmother Ann, who is 82 years young, flew all the way from Ohio to watch him jump.

She was sitting by the high jump pit when Aaron made his record-breaking jump.

Also in attendance for the historical moment was Aaron's father Jeff Plas, mother Pat Phinney and step-father Jim Phinney.

Jeff has been contributing factor to Aaron's success and has been at every one of his sporting events, including basketball season.

He also attends all of the events Aaron's brother R.J. participates in.

John J. Mesh is the sports editor of the McCook (Neb.) Daily Gazette. He believes that Aaron Plas is one of the best athletes he has covered during his close to 20 years in the business. Among the athletes he has been fortunate to cover is Claflin (Kan.), Southwest Missouri State and Portland Fire basketball standout Jackie Stiles. He can e-mailed at sports@mccookgazette.com.