By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Two years after a record-setting high-jumping career at Poinciana High, Mike Edwards is making another leap.

This time, it’s from the University of Alabama to the University of Louisville.

Edwards, the 2006 Class 4A state champion, said that because of coaching changes at Alabama, where he earned a track scholarship in 2008, he will transfer to Louisville and compete under Coach Jake Jacoby, a two-time National Men’s Jumps Coach of the Year, and twice an Olympics alternate.

“He has coached two national champions in the last three years,” Edwards said. “Coach Jacoby and I have a good rapport, and I think he is going to help me achieve my goals.”

Edwards will find plenty of competition at Louisville, which recently signed the  nation’s top prep high jumper, James White, from Grandview, Mo. White cleared 7-5.75 in high school.

Edwards, 6-6, who will be a red-shirt sophomore, missed much of the past spring season at Alabama due to a pulled hamstring, he said.

“The smart thing to do is to just let it heal,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but you just have to be patient and not make it worse.”

Edwards cleared 7-1 at Alabama, his career best. His best high school jump came as a senior at Poinciana High, when he leaped 7-0.25 at the district meet. He won the state championship as a sophomore at PHS with a jump of 6-8 just a couple of  months after taking up the sport.

Edwards, a British citizen, competes for Great Britain’s Junior National team and placed ninth at the European championships in Serbia in 2009 after a leap of 6-11.

“My next international competition will be this October at the Commonwealth Games at Dhi in India,” he said.

Edwards is a candidate to compete for England at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

He is eligible to compete next season for Louisville since it is in a different conference (Big East) from Alabama (Southeastern).

Edwards is studying mass communications and academically is a junior.

He stays in touch with his PHS coaches, Rusty Gould and Bryan McLoughlin.

“They are the people who guided me and taught me to be successful,” Edwards said.