Milford High football coach Keith Jones said former Spartan Dwight Barbiasz didn't realize he could high jump until his junior season.

“I've heard people tell me he broke the high jump school record the first time he tried it,” said Jones.

Barbiasz reached new heights this season, becoming the SEC outdoor champion in the men's high jump for the Florida Gators, earning him a chance to compete in the United States Olympic Trials that were Monday in Eugene, Ore.

The standout junior ended up placing seventh in the U.S. trials with a leap of 7 feet 1/2 inch. Only the top three end up making the Olympic team.

Barbiasz was the NCAA runnerup indoors and the NCAA third-place finisher outdoors in the men's high jump this season. Barbiasz set a University of Florida record of 7 feet 5 3/4 inches in the high jump while finishing third in that event and leading the Gators to their first NCAA track and field championship. The record time he set at Florida would have tied him with four other competitors for first place in the Olympic Trials Monday.

“Finishing seventh in the Olympic trials is still a great accomplishment,” said Jones, who had Barbiasz for two varsity football seasons in 2006 and 2007.

“He was a split end and a safety,” said Jones. “In 2006 we had so much talent on offense that Dwight primarily played safety for the bulk of that season. In 2007 he tore his hip flexor while running down the sideline after a 76-yard catch and touchdown run against John Stark. Had he not been injured, he would have easily caught between 15 and 20 touchdown passes that season. In my opinion, he would have been a prototypical wide receiver in college. He was a kid who had 4.5 (second) speed who grew later in life. He's just that good.”

Jones said current athletes at the school still remember Barbiasz winning the state outdoor high jump championship as a junior and senior and the indoor title as a junior.

He was the New Hampshire Union Leader Boys' Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year in both 2007 and 2008.

In '08, he set a state record with a leap of 7-1 inch in the NHIAA Meet of Champions and went on to win a national championship by clearing the same height at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.

“When I had him in football, he could out-run and out-jump everyone,” said Jones. “He would have been an all-state selection in football his senior season had he not got injured during the second week of the season.”

Jones said Barbiasz comes from a family of athletes. “I know his dad (Chris) played football for Maryland and his brother (Lee) just signed an (undrafted) free agent contract with Jacksonville.”

Lee Barbiasz is listed as a 6-foot-7, 308-pound offensive tackle who attended Worcester Academy before playing for Northern Colorado.

Jones said Jamie Holder, a stepbrother of Barbiasz, was a basketball guard for Notre Dame Prep this season.

In swimming on Monday, 15-year-old Izzy Reis of Hampton Falls finished 141st in a field of 161 in the U.S. Olympic Trials 100-meter butterfly. On Saturday, North Hampton 15-year-old Kyra Sarazen will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200-meter backstroke.