Cal Lane: WA's First Professional Athlete

Over the past couple years, we have been able to follow the professional track & field career of former Knight Cal Lane. He was the cover story of Volume 28 of the Knightly Knews that you can download here. Cal graduated from Woodward Academy in October 2007 and returned to his high school where he won 6 individual state titles and was inducted into his high school's athletic hall of fame. Until recently, he trained primarily on his own and competed in long jump events across the country with a little backing from Woodward Academy and the Lifetime Commitment Fund.

In 2013, he competed at Iowa State University and won the long jump contest at their indoor winter event. He also won at an event held at Arkansas University (you can see the video here) and has competed in several other meets, including those held at The University of Kansas and the 2014 USATF Indoor National Championships in New Mexico.

On December 19, Cal jumped at the University of Indiana and hit a huge jump: 26 feet, 4 inches. He won the meet and is currently ranked #1 in the world. It qualified him for the USA Indoor National Meet in Boston that is being held February 28-March 1. It also ensures that he can jump in any meet that he desires for the next year. We also just found out that Cal is now signing with an agent and will field contract offers that will help pay for clothing, travel expenses, and cash. One of those contracts was from Nike. Cal has decided that over the next few months, he will compete in Europe at events that will pay him between $500-$5,000 in prize money per meet. We are very proud to say that Cal is a Knight and is our first professional athlete.