NORTH HUNTINGDON — Phillip Washington's face lit up when he talked about clearing 6 feet, 1 inch in the high jump.

It was the same look Butler high jump coach Rick Zitalone saw the week before when it happened at the Pine-Richland Invitational.

“He jumps off the back of the mat and nearly knocked kids down he was so excited,” Zitalone said. “He wasn't sure what to do.”

Washington followed hitting his personal best by clearing 5-11 at the WPIAL North Qualifier last Tuesday night to grab the last spot for WPIALs.

Nine months ago, Washington had never jumped before. Now, the Butler senior wishes he had more time.

“If I had known that I could do this good and improve this good, I would have tried out the first day I came to Butler,” Washington said.

It validates everything Butler distance coach Mike Seybert saw in him. For the past three years, Seybert has been trying to convince Washington, who is 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds, to come out for the team.

“I heard from some of the physical education teachers that he had some nice athletic skills,” Seybert said. “I contacted his dad and he was all for it. I think Phillip was a little bit uncomfortable with the process of organized sports.”

Washington went one day and did conditioning with the boys basketball team, but decided it wasn't for him.

This fall, Washington finally gave in. One day, Seybert met Washington at the high school to have him try out various events. They walked through steps in the gym and headed down to the field to try the long jump, triple jump, high jump and hurdles.

High jump was what he connected with. Washington cleared 5-2 and 5-4 on the practice bar and was sold.

“It was my senior year and I had to do something at Butler to let people know I came from Butler,” Washington said.

Competitive sports were never a big part of Washington's life.

He preferred playing street basketball with his friends and competed in a church league this winter.

Washington moved into the district during his sophomore year from the city of Pittsburgh.

“I'm very competitive myself, so I'm used to it. When you know people can do better than you, it eats at you,” Washington said. “You start to get real nervous and I do my best to get over that feeling.”

During the first meet of the season, Washington cleared 5-6, the second 5-8 and third 5-10. During practice, he's cleared 6-3 and has come close to 6-5.

“He's just touching the iceberg of what he can do,” Seybert said.

Zitalone said before the WPIAL qualifying meet Washington said to him he couldn't believe how nervous he was.

“When he hit 5-7, 5-9, he saw he could do it. At the beginning, when we weren't up against the real competition, he had no fear,” Zitalone said. “Once he started seeing kids that were as good as him as better, he was nervous. What's good about it is he fought through it and was able to accomplish what he needed to accomplish.”

Washington hopes to continue to prove Seybert right and show improvement by grabbing a Class AAA state berth at the WPIAL meet Thursday at Baldwin High School.

“For me, I go by PRs. I like beating my PRs to show I can be better,” Washington said. “I want to hit my PR to show I can get to states. I get motivated when I hit it.”