DES MOINES, Iowa — Norfolk State junior Raphael Hall (Chesapeake, Va.) saw his amazing outdoor track season come to a somewhat disappointing end on Friday night at the 2008 NCAA Track and Field Championships, when he finished out of the running for All-American honors in the men's high jump.

Hall failed to clear the opening height of 2.10 meters (6 feet, 10.75 inches) and placed 15th overall out of the 28 competitors in the high jump this week. Texas-El Paso's Mickael Hanany cleared a Drake Stadium record 2.32m (7-7.25) to win the championship.

“Certainly we wished 'Ralph' could have finished better, but we are happy he made it this far,” NSU head coach Kenneth Giles said.

Indeed, Hall came a long way in just three months' time. Hall had not seriously competed in organized track since high senior year at Deep Creek High School. Hall was the VHSL indoor and outdoor state champion in the high jump as a prep senior in 2005, but was forced to sit out his freshman season at NSU in 2005-06 as a non-qualifier. Hall, who also played basketball at Deep Creek, joined the Spartans' hoops team on a scholarship and played the last two seasons (2006-07 and 2007-08) on the hardwood.

But after the men's basketball team finished its season in mid-March of this year, the 6-6 Hall decided to resume his track career and his signature event. He qualified for the NCAA East Regional with a jump of 7-00.5 in just his second meet in early April and placed third at the MEAC Championship (6-10.25) in May. Hall then bested teammate and four-time MEAC high jump champion Marlon Woods (Norfolk, Va.) by taking fifth place at the NCAA East Regional with a season-best height of 7-1 to qualify for nationals.

Hall cleared 6-10.75 in Wednesday's NCAA prelims to advance to Friday's finals.

“Now that 'Ralph' has seen what it takes, I really believe he can do even better next year with some more practice time,” Giles said.

“I'm just grateful to coach Giles and the NSU track program for welcoming me with open arms. Not many people would have done that when I was playing another sport,” Hall said. “It would definitely be nice to see how much further I can go with this, but I'm still undecided about what I'm going to do next year.”