Woodland Park’s Sonny Ciccarelli is towering above his high jump competition this spring. So much so that he is the heavy favorite to stand atop the podium at next week’s state meet.

While a first-place win will put a huge smile on Ciccarelli’s face, he insists it will not be the coup de grâce of his athletic achievement or endeavor.

Ciccarelli, you see, is a basketball player who just happens to be a premier high jumper. Until he is convinced otherwise, leaping over a crossbar will remain a “hobby” for him.

“I would like to play basketball in college,” Ciccarelli said. “I’m good at the high jump, but I don’t really get enjoyment from it too much, compared to basketball. I get much more of a high from basketball.”

Ciccarelli, a 6-foot-2 senior-to-be, has flown over the bar at 6 feet, 7 inches twice this season. He cleared 6-7 on June 4 during the Coronado Cougar Classic at Garry Barry Stadium to easily win the event by nine inches over Canon City’s Wyatt Turner.

He also did it May 28 at the Petrelli and Hunt Invitational. Prior to that, his best leap of the season 6-2 on May 15 at the Harrison Panther Invitational.

Ciccarelli is the top jumper in Class 3A by four inches over Bayfield’s Crosby Edwards and second in the state among all classifications behind

Longmont’s Eddie Kurjak (6-11).

Woodland Park coach David Card believes Ciccarelli could improve several more inches before this season is over.

“At Coronado, after his three jumps, Sonny did a fourth jump for fun and cleared 6-8 with plenty to spare,” Card said. “I really think he’ll end up at 6-9, 6-10 this year.

“He’s got impeccable form. Great plant. Great lift. I don’t see him ever off. He’s the most coachable athlete I’ve ever worked with.”

The state meet is scheduled for June 24-26 at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood.

Ciccarelli is born to American and Japanese parents. Like his brothers — Skye and Tyger — before him, Ciccarelli was raised in Japan and moved to America to live with his grandparents after junior high so he could attend high school at Woodland Park.

Sonny dabbled in the high jump in Japan, but was much more interested in pursuing basketball.

Since the 2020 Colorado high school track season was canceled due to COVID, Ciccarelli did not do much training in the high jump, choosing instead to focus on basketball. Last winter, he led the Panthers in scoring (17.2), rebounds (4.4) and assists (1.7) per game.

“While playing basketball, I noticed that my verticals were going up,” Ciccarelli said.

Ciccarelli learned high jump technique by working with this dad (Thomas) in Japan and watching videos on YouTube.

“It wasn’t hard for me,” Ciccarelli said. “I just tried it and I did relatively good, so that’s when I started working more at it.”

Ciccarelli has good jumping genes. Skye won two state high jump championships at Woodland Park — with a top mark of 6-7 — and is now competing in the event for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Skye recently competed in the NCAA Division II National Outdoor Championships. His top mark this year was 6-11.5.

Among Sonny’s goals this year is to break a tie with Skye for the school record.

In addition to Ciccarelli, the Panthers could have as many as three more state qualifiers. As of June 10, Sam Johnson is ranked ninth in the boys’ pole vault (10-1), Caleb Graves is ranked 13th the boys’ pole vault (9-6), Hayden Molina is ranked ninth in the girls’ pole vault (8-3) and Alex Miller is ranked 25th in the triple jump (37-6).

The top 18 in each event advance to the state meet.