On February 25th, 2024, sophomore high-jumper Jay Sims III jumped a personal best 1.92 meters to take the gold medal at the Centennial Conference Indoor Championship. As just a sophomore, Sims has already achieved a feat that many athletes in the Centennial Conference spend years chasing, and his future in the Centennial looks to be even more promising. With the recent success of the Ursinus track program, many would believe Sims to have been a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, however, quite the opposite seems to be true.
“I actually have no experience with track and field” Sims expressed, “I haven’t done it a day in my life till I got to Ursinus, not in elementary, middle, or high school.” The 2024 Centennial Conference high jump champion has left spectators stunned at his story, as the sophomore didn’t get his start in Track and Field until last spring. How did Sims go from a non-athlete at Ursinus, to a Centennial Conference Gold Medalist? Reporters from the Grizzly got a chance to talk with Sims to learn, and his story is nothing short of amazing.
Having graduated from the Edmund Burke School in Washington, D.C, Sims came to Ursinus as a freshman in the fall of 2022 with hopes of walking onto the basketball team. He had trained all summer to prepare for the rigor of the basketball season, and came to school ready and waiting to try-out. However, communications between Sims and the basketball team broke down as he was not given an opportunity to try-out. “Playing college basketball was a dream of mine,” Sims told us, “I was pretty hurt my freshman year.” Sims found himself in a predicament, as he was forced to adapt to a life without competitive sports.
However, one day before an indoor track practice, Sims was playing basketball by himself in the Floy Lewis Bakes field house when a coach from the Track and Field team saw him dunk the ball. The coach was intrigued at his athletic ability, and spoke with Jay about possibly walking onto the team. Then and there, an impromptu race broke out between Jay and a few of his friends on the team. Jay held his own, and after a phone call in the winter of 2022, Jay got his start on the Ursinus College Track and Field team. That spring, Sims got his start to a collegiate sport with zero experience. He relied solely on putting in extra work to catch up to his peers, as they had the experiential advantage on him. “Having no experience of track and field, I had to work hard, that means out of practice on my own watching videos and doing the extra to be the best athlete I can be.”
For those who are unfamiliar with the world of college sports, bringing on a walk-on who had never played the sport before is to be a big risk to a coach, as there are many cases in which it hasn’t worked out. Sims even stated his skepticism about joining the team, as he didn’t even know what event he would succeed at. However, both Sims and the Track coaches took a gamble on his athletic ability, and it has only paid off.
In just his first season high jumping, Sims took 3rd in the 2023 Centennial Outdoor Championship, solidifying himself as a presence in the Centennial high jump standings. He continued putting in those extra minutes, eventually being crowned the 2024 Centennial Indoor High Jump Champion as only a sophomore. Now, with two more years of eligibility, Sims has expressed his desire to compete nationally. With his work-ethic, and his passion for the sport, the sky is the standard for Jay Sims. “All I gotta say is, you can do whatever you want if you just put your mind to it. If you push yourself, who knows what you can do?”