A year ago, nobody involved in the Colorado high school track and field scene knew who DJ Green was. But that has changed in a hurry.

The Vista Ridge senior high jumper has made incredible strides since the end of last track season and has emerged as one of the leaders of a loaded Wolves squad.

In the seven months between the 2012 state meet and early 2013 indoor competitions, Green not only improved his best jump from 6 feet, 2 inches to 6-8, but received scholarship offers from both CSU and CU, where he signed Feb. 6.

“It doesn’t happen a lot where a guy comes out of nowhere like this; usually when you have a Division I recruit it’s a process,” Vista Ridge coach Jay Peltier said of Green’s emergence. “He’s blown up his senior year after just learning to high jump for one year.”

Peltier says he had hoped Green would be jumping 6-8 by the end of his senior season, but the combination of going to camps and weight training has made Green a dangerous jumper in a hurry.

Last year was Green’s first competing in the sport of track and field. Although he showed potential and improved from 5-10 to 6-2 quickly, he says that it took some outside motivation to flip the switch to being a great jumper.

“I had motivation because I was a varsity basketball player the last two years and the new coach cut me this year and said I wasn’t athletic enough and I only could jump,” Green said. “That lit a fire under me to train really hard all winter. I saw it as a blessing in disguise. I’m mostly glad that I didn’t play basketball because I wouldn’t have been scouted by a Division I school for jumping.”

In addition to the hard work his team has put in during the offseason, Peltier also credits new strength coach Bryce Linn, who is also a physical education teacher at Vista Ridge, for having this team in solid shape already.

“All of our athletes have benefited from our strength program with Bryce; we started lifting in October,” Peltier said. “We also did a good job of recruiting some basketball and football players from the school to come out and join the team, who weren’t on the team last year.”

A year after finishing third in the team standings at the 4A state meet – only 11 points behind champion Longmont – Vista Ridge returns a loaded roster of talent and should be one of the favorites to win it all.

The senior-heavy team includes Pierre Copeland (100 meters, 200, 400), Noah Gabel (long jump, high jump and relays), Aaron Johnson (sprinter, long jump) Darrian Morgan (hurdles and the 1,600 relay) and Brandon Cartagena (100, 200, multiple relays).

“I’m really excited because we have a lot of returning kids and we have new kids who are going to make big contributions,” Green said.

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