Throughout his athletic career at McAlester High School Chaz Bradley has been used to performing on the big stage. An All-State cornerback and wide receiver for the Buffs football team, he helped lead McAlester to the state finals for the second straight year. He qualified for state in powerlifting, and he ended it this spring by finishing fourth in the long jump at the Class 5A track meet. He grew up in McAlester, moved to the Oklahoma City area in middle school and moved back to McAlester this year.

“Chaz established a high bar in the long jump when he started the season at the Bethany meet where he notched a jump of 21’-10” which was the longest jump in 5A until mid-April,” said his coach, Johnny Skimbo. “He hit 22’ feet at the last regular season meet in Broken Bow and at regionals he had an incredible jump of 23’-11” but he fouled.”

In addition to the long jump, Chaz also ran the 100-meter sprint and the 4X100 relay, neither of which qualified for state. He made it to the podium at state with a jump of 22’-51/2” but the road there was not an easy one for Chaz.

“I broke my leg my sophomore year and missed track altogether my sophomore and junior years so this was my first year back. Before I was injured, I was consistently hitting 19 and 20 feet, so I set a goal of getting to 22 feet this year and did it late in the season and at state.”