Maize’s Hanna soars to Kansas high school state track championship in high jump

Being the youngest of six siblings in a track family, Justin “Alan” Hanna has been coming to the Kansas high school track and field state meet since he was a kid.

He watched his oldest sister, Ashea, medal in the 1600-meter relay ... then his older brother, Jason, in the 110-meter hurdles ... then his other sister, Autumn, win five state medals in the hurdles ... then his other brother, Jacob, win a pair of state championships in the hurdles and high jump his senior year.

Surely, he was inspired watching his brothers and sisters from the Cessna Stadium stands.

“Actually,” Hanna said, “When I was a little kid, I was more like, ‘Dang, when is this going to be over? I’m bored.’”

Now a junior at Maize, there’s nothing boring about track meets when Hanna is performing. He is one of just two athletes in Kansas this season to clear 7 feet in the high jump and became a state champion on Friday by winning the Class 6A title with a 6-foot-10 clearance.

It turns out, maybe he was paying a little attention as a spectator during those track meets watching his brother, Jacob, who won the 2021 Class 5A state title in the high jump.

“He has been dragged to a lot of track meets to watch his siblings and I think he absorbed it all,” said Jason Hanna, his father. “Now he’s on that playing field and doing what his brothers and sisters did and doing it even better. I’m really proud of him.”

Jason and his wife, Alanea, are both former hurdlers. While their children have excelled in other sports, they made sure they all gave track and field a try.

It’s not uncommon for the youngest in a large family to end up being the most accomplished, as they spent their entire childhood looking up and competing against older siblings. That was the case with Alan, who Jason said has always been a natural.

“When he first started to learn how to ride a bike, he just took off,” Jason said. “Some things have come easy to him and high jump was one of those things.”

Alan now stands 6-foot-3 and his frame — long and lanky — matched with his explosion is the ideal build for the event. But he also works hard at his craft, watching film to perfect his technique and constantly pelting questions at his father and his brother, Jacob, another high school state champion.

It’s an advantage to have a family with so much knowledge in the track and field world and Alan has capitalized fully.

“They always help me out because they know what I need to do to get better,” Alan said. “I can always go and ask them about something and they always tell me something I can work on and it usually works out.”

Jason was the first brother to start high jumping, then Jacob followed and excelled even more — clearing 6-7 to win his title. Alan, however, might have the most potential in the event of any of the brothers, as he was already clearing 6-9 as a sophomore and joined the 7-foot club earlier this season.

After winning a high jump title of his own on Friday, Alan said he is looking forward to the next time he sees Jacob, who now plays college basketball at Washburn.

“I’m definitely going to be bragging to him now,” Alan said with a laugh. “He’s going to get it.”

After Hanna clinched the title by clearing the bar at 6-10, the only competitor to do so, he took three attempts to repeat his 7-foot leap and captivated the crowd’s attention each time, but just missed each time.

The new goal this summer is to become a consistent 7-foot jumper.

“Alan has become such a hard worker and is so fun to coach,” Maize coach Jerrod Handy said. “He’s so coachable now. It’s not like, ‘I’m a seven-foot high jumper, I don’t have to listen to you.’ He listens to the coaches and he studies on his own and is always looking how to get better. He’s fun to watch.”

The family has attended the state track meet since 2011 and watched as Hanna after Hanna made it up on the medal stand. It was a surreal moment to see their youngest stand on top of the podium and get his own moment on top after all of those years of waiting — bored in the stands.

“This is a dream come true,” Jason Hanna said. “I would have never thought this was possible.”