Matt Hamilton/The Daily CitizenA year ago, Southeast Whitfield High School's Luke Johns leapt his way to a third-place finish in the state in the high jump. So far this year an injury has prevented him from competing in the event. While he's healing, Johns is becoming a top thrower for the Raiders. 

DALTON, Ga. — Southeast Whitfield High School’s Luke Johns has high hopes for this track season, hopes that are about 6 feet, 8 inches in the air.

Johns, a junior, is coming off a third-place finish in the high jump at last year’s Class 4A state meet. Clearing 6-8, a height he narrowly missed at state, would’ve put him in the running for a state title. Johns is back for another attempt this year, but about a month into the track season his road toward a possible title hasn’t begun.

Slowed by tendinitis in his knee coming out of basketball season, Johns hasn’t been able to take aim at the high jump bar, or the long jump or triple jump pits — he won the region title last year in the triple jump and also was a sectional qualifier in the long jump.

Johns said he’s a couple weeks away from being 100 percent, but he hasn’t been on the sidelines while waiting to heal.

“I’ve been doing a little shot (put), discus. I’m starting to run the 100 now,” Johns said during a home meet on Tuesday.

Southeast track coach Mike Durham said he saw an opportunity to try the 6-foot-5 Johns in the throwing events.

“Especially the shot, his leverage, discus is the same thing, with him being 6-5 with long arms, he’s got a lot of leverage there,” Durham said. “With the strength he’s really added since last year, just him being a good athlete, we knew he could probably throw the shot pretty well.”

In his first outing competing in the shot put at a meet last week at Northwest Whitfield, Johns tossed 42 feet.

“I tried out shot one time last year, was throwing in the 30s,” Johns said. “I did football this year, got a lot stronger. I’ve been working out a lot for football season getting ready for that, for college.”

Johns says he’s working toward a future playing football in college. A standout defensive end who made 81 tackles last season for the Raiders, Johns has received interest from colleges such as Georgia, Colorado State and the Naval Academy, but no offers yet.

He said there’s a key aspect of football that translates well into the shot put.

“Explosion,” he said. “A lot of explosion.”

Johns’ newfound ability for throwing the shot has opened the door to more possibilities in postseason meets.

“Maybe I’ll try it at region,” Johns said. “I threw 42-something at the last meet and I’ve never done it before. I always got high jump, long (jump) and triple (jump). I may substitute it for one of those.”

A throw of 42 feet a year ago would have put Johns right on the line of qualifying out of the region meet for sectionals. But beyond helping further his own postseason prospects, he is working to benefit all of his Raider teams.

“Just blessed, I guess, that I can do a lot of stuff with athleticism,” he said. “It really helps a lot. I can go to shot or disc now. I can do any of the jumps, even some sprints. It’s the same even with football, I can move around. Might even do some linebacker, too, this year, switch it around.”

“Luke’s just a really good athlete that can do multiple things,” Durham said. “Last year he sprinted some, of course he can do all three jumps. Now he’s throwing the shot and disc for us this year, too. The biggest thing is just getting him healthy so when we get to the region, hopefully we can get him in the right three events.

“Hopefully he can get healthy, that’s the key. If he’s healthy, hopefully we can pick where he can do the most for the team when we get to region.”

“We’ve got to look and see what’s going on in the region in each event, how we feel he can do in each event,” Durham said. “Really, just how his knee feels. If his knee feels like he can take the pounding of the jumps, then we may lean toward that. If he doesn’t feel he can do a lot of the pounding, especially in triple jump, then we may end up throwing the shot.

“I’m fairly certain he is going to high jump, even if he just takes one or two jumps, he should be able to get to sectionals. Then it just depends on if his steps are on in the long and triple jump, if he can hit close to the board he should be able to qualify in both of those, too. But he’s also throwing the shot very well right now, too. We’ve got some options. Hopefully he gets healthy so we can pick the right options and … get him on the relay team, too.”