Great Neck North's Adam Namdar goes for the fences -- in high jump

What started as a practice goof – a bit of levity within a long, weird season – changed the course of Adam Namdar’s high school track and field experience.

Namdar, now a senior at Great Neck North, jumped over a fence at practice last spring – the goal was simply stated, to impress his teammates. But when coach Adam McKenzie saw the jump, he strongly suggested Namdar stop jumping over fences and start jumping over bars. Maybe he’d be good at the high jump, McKenzie told Namdar.

After all, if you can jump a fence, you can probably jump a bar.

"I ended up being pretty good," Namdar said.

Pretty good might be an understatement at this point. Namdar, who said he used to run the 100 meters to average results, is now one of the best high jumpers in the state and is looking to compete at a Division I school next season. He cleared six feet, three inches on Tuesday at a Nassau crossover meet – a mark that was tied for best in the state as of Thursday night, according to milesplit.com.

"I worked on my run-up in practice and I was trying to get down the approach and perfect it," Namdar said of the state-best jump. "I kept trying to feel where I felt best running up from. The last jump of the practice, I tried this one spot. That spot felt really good and I cleared the height that I was jumping. We marked it down and I used that approach. I used those numbers during the meet and it felt really good."

Since clearing that fence last spring, Namdar has been all about jumping. He got special high jump spikes toward the end of the outdoor season that helped him clear 6-4 at the Long Island Meet of Champions.

"You definitely feel lighter on your feet," he said of the spikes. "It just feels better jumping off the ground outdoors. I was jumping in running shoes before. It’s a lot lighter."

This fall, Namdar joined the school’s volleyball team to show off his new-found hops.

"A lot of people were telling me ‘oh, you would be really good at volleyball because you jump so high,’" he said. "So, I just went to volleyball intramurals over the summer and the coach decided he wanted me on the team."

Namdar said he won the team’s ‘most improved player’ award.

Now Namdar is back to clearing bars and – although spikes aren’t permitted at a lot of indoor venues – he hasn’t missed a beat. Entering the weekend, Namdar hadn’t lost a high jump competition this season.

Not that he cares about wins all that much at this point - he just wants numbers.

"I’ll even help out the people I’m jumping against," he said. "I don’t really care about where I place, it’s just the height that I’m jumping."

Semo takes page from Niners great

Northport’s Wyeth Semo was nearing the end of his two minute, 35.30 second victory in the 1,000 at the North Shore High School Invitational at the Armory in Manhattan on Dec. 30 when he suddenly remembered some wisdom from football great Jerry Rice, who spent 16 years catching passes for the San Francisco 49ers, Semo’s favorite team.

"Around the last lap, I was thinking of this Jerry Rice interview (on NFL Network)," Semo said. "He was saying how he loves catching the ball and running for a touchdown rather than catching a Hail Mary in the end zone because he loves the feeling of the defenders on his heels. He loves the feeling of getting chased. So around that fifth lap, I was just thinking, ‘I love the feeling of getting chased.’ That thought of someone chasing me and someone right on my heels just kept on propelling me forward."

It led Semo to a personal-best and the fifth fastest time in the state as of Thursday night, according to milesplit.com.