Plymouth high jump star Nate Patterson sets sights on state repeat

PLYMOUTH, Ind. - Some of Indiana's best athletes will make their way to Bloomington this weekend for the state track and field championships.

One of them will be Plymouth's Nate Patterson, who returns in hopes of repeating as the champion in boys high jump.

Patterson has proven to be not only one of the top athletes in the state, but in the entire country. His performance last week resulted in a new school and state record jump of seven feet and three and a half inches. That mark is also the top in the nation this year.

“I've really been working hard this season, just to put the icing on the cake," he said. "I’m leaving after this season and going off to California, and I want everything that I set here to be here for a while. But I also want someone to hopefully try to break it, and give someone motivation.“

Patterson is committed to the University of Southern California, but first has his sights set on the state title. He said the record jump gave him plenty of confidence heading into the state meet.

"That helped a lot because last year going into the state meet, I only jumped 6'10" and this year going into the state meet, I've jumped 7'3.5"," he said. "The change there is completely different. Maybe this year I can jump 7'2" [at State] because that would be a State Meet record."

After the state meet, Patterson says he'll take part in a few meets throughout the summer before heading West to USC in the fall.