The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Although his ultimate goal is becoming one of the premier volleyball players in the world, Ras Jesse Delancy said he didn’t mind mixing up a little bit of fun by competing in the high jump.

Fresh off his Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Men’s Volleyball Player of the year honours for the second straight year last week, Delancy took one day again to prepare for the SIAC Track and Field Championships where he won the high jump.

This time, on Saturday at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, Delancy improved from a third place finish to the top of the medal dais with the gold after he cleared a personal best of 6-feet, 10 3/4-inches or 2.10 metres.

And the 23-year-old 6-foot, 6.5-inch sophomore at Benedict College said his performance in no way convinced him to change his mind from playing volleyball.

“Just like last year, I only had one day of practice,” Delancy said.

But it was an exciting feeling going through the process.

“I just wanted to know how high I could jump,” Delancy pointed out. “But before we started to jump, someone asked me what my best performance was and I told him I didn’t know.

“As the bar was raised, I kept going higher and higher.”

After clearing 6-10 3/4 (2.10m) on his third attempt, Delancy said the bar moved to 6-11 1/2 (2.12m), but he couldn’t get over that height.

“I think if I did it, I might have tried to go higher,” he said. “I really just wanted to see how high I could go. I didn’t know that I would clear 6-10 3/4 (2.10m). But I’m glad that I did and I won.”

Dismissing any notion of him competing as a track athlete, Delancy said he will leave it up to the seasoned competitors like his rival, who won the title last year. “He asked me if I was training for the event,” Delancy said. “When I told him I only had one day of practice like I did last year, he couldn’t believe it.

“He said he’s been training just abort every day because he’s a track and field athlete. He was really surprised that I didn’t have any formal training and I still won it.”

Delancy, who has entered the transfer portal to switch schools for his junior year in August, said he’s now preparing to return home after he finishes sitting his final exams to begin training with the men’s national volleyball team for the Caribbean Volleyball Championships (CVC) in July.

“I’m a volleyball player. That is all I want to do,” said Delancy, who has no intentions of competing in the high jump at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Nationals or the Bahamas Games this summer.

“I just wanted to go out there and prove to myself that I could do the high jump. I wanted to prove that if I had to take this route, competing in the high jump, I know I could do it. So it was all about having fun.”

While he’s done with the high jump, and although he has qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships, Delancy said he’s back in the gym working out in preparation for volleyball.