For Penn track's Pitt, quick learning equaled quicker success

If you managed to take a look at the men’s high jump results from the Ivy Indoor Heptagonal Championships, you may have recognized the first three names ­— three of the top four finishers from last year.

But sitting in fourth place was Penn’s newest high jump star, Thomas Pitt, and he’s ready to take off.

Not that it’s anything new for him.

“One thing I’ve always loved to do in basketball [is] dunk the ball,” Pitt said. “It’s one thing that made me come out for high jumping.”

But the freshman from Malvern Prep is fairly new to the sport. A basketball and lacrosse player his first two years in high school, Pitt joined the track team his junior year at the urging of his physics teacher and track coach, Mike Koenig.

Koenig recalled how Pitt easily cleared the bar on his first day of practice.

“He shows up in lacrosse shoes and basketball shorts and goes and gets six feet,” Koenig said, referring to a threshold few high school high jumpers ever reach.

Pitt’s natural speed, great height and consistent approach made him a perfect fit for the event, although he didn’t have the best form.

“The first meet of the season he comes out and jumps 6’7”,” Koenig said. “His talent was really evident right away … and he really picked up the fundamentals.”

“I trained a lot and got better really quickly,” Pitt said, emphasizing his work this winter on improving his technique over the bar. “I really wanted to play basketball in college, but this turned out to be a better decision.”

It has turned out to be a great decision for Penn too. Pitt’s 2.08-meter jump this weekend was a personal best, with only a hamstring injury preventing him from jumping higher.

Throughout the season, Pitt has been the Quakers number-two jumper, behind only All-American Maalik Reynolds.

But it’s Pitt’s “raw” athleticism, according to Penn assistant coach Joe Klim, that could make him an even more dangerous heptathlete or decathlete.

“After the Christmas break, I sat down with [Pitt and fellow freshman Ben Bowers], and said ‘Hey, are we going to do this or not?’” Klim, a former decathlete himself, said. “And they said, ‘Yeah we really want to do it.’ So okay, let’s go.”

Pitt, who has also reached 7.01-meters in the long jump this season, has the power, speed and ability to “pick stuff up like you can’t believe,” Klim said — a talent he will need if he is to learn new events such as the shot put and pole vault.

Pitt still has a long way to go before he is ready to compete in a decathlon.

But he’s definitely ready for flight.

SEE ALSO

Penn track’s Brenza throwing way into record book

Heptagonals not kind to Penn Track

Penn track and field 4×800m relay team finishes fourth at Millrose Games

Penn track and field preps for the Armory

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