PHOTOS BY SHAWN PRICE/TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Clearing the bar during competitions was just one of the obstacles faced by former LHS stand-out Seth Lowery during his track career with Texas A&M. He overcame injuries, event changes and inner struggles before his team won its first national championship this year. Seth Lowery almost did not pursue a track career.

Long before becoming a regional or national champion at Texas A&M University, the former Lampasas High School valedictorian and multi-sport athlete came to a crossroads in his sporting career.

Luckily, Badgers' head basketball coach Scott Harrelson was there to help the three-time letterman in both track and basketball rediscover his passion.

"I was really mixed up in my head about what I wanted to do [athletically]," Lowery said. "Coach Harrelson, at the beginning of my senior year, pulled me aside and gave me a pretty long talk, and from then on we had a really close bond that I've never had with a coach before.

"That's what influenced me the most because I stopped worrying about trying to please people and started trying to have fun and, with that, my talent and my drive took over, and I was able to try and please myself."

Lowery picks up speed as he makes his approach for a jump during the Big 12 Championships earlier this year in Lubbock. Just like that, the fire was rekindled.

By the time Lowery finished his high school career, he won a pair of district championships in the high jump and climbed to as high as No. 2 in the state in the event.

He also earned a spot on the allstate team in basketball.

But that was only the beginning for Lowery, who took his academic and athletic skills to College Station in 2006.

For him, the decision to attend Texas A&M was a no-brainer.

"I always wanted to go to A&M, and I'd always been an Aggie growing up," Lowery said. "For me, I just really wanted to go to a school where I was competing against the best of the best all the time.

"It didn't matter if I was jumping 6-9 or 6-10 and getting first place in a small conference. That, to me, was not nearly as satisfactory [as] it would be to go to a Big 12 school and compete against four or five Olympic high jumpers every single meet and get fifth. It was pretty much a Big 12 school, an SEC school or bust."

Turning down basketball scholarships at smaller schools turned out to be a wise decision for the competition junkie, as he faced off against some of the country's elite high jumpers.

In his freshman season, Lowery was thrown into the fire, jumping in the Big 12 Indoor Championships after competing in just one college meet prior.

With the opening height typically between 6-5 and 6-7 -- several inches higher than opening height in high school -- Lowery quickly learned the pressure associated with high-level competition.

"You kind of open your eyes real wide," Lowery said. "All the coaches and my teammates were counting on me, and I went out there and was able to jump my personal best [6-9] that day."

Lowery earned ninth place with the leap.

He repeated the feat with a 6-6 jump the following season and placed 12th at the Big 12 Championships after clearing a season-high 6-6 3/4.

After his squad claimed the NCAA Midwest Regional Track Meet championship in his junior year, Lowery, plagued by injuries during the season, again reached a crossroads in his athletic career.

While tossing around a football, Lowery's coaches saw potential for the senior as a javelin thrower and bulked him up for the event, adding nearly 35 pounds to his frame.

A back injury cut the experiment short, however, and he returned to the high jump where he struggled unexpectedly.

"I debated about quitting because I was not happy with myself at all. I was just very upset with myself because I knew how many chances my coaches were giving me, and I felt like I didn't deserve those chances," Lowery said.

Pep talks from his father and one of his best friends on the team helped persuade Lowery to give it another chance.

He went on a very strict diet and missed the first five meets of the indoor season to recondition himself. In two months, Lowery lost all 35 pounds.

It paid dividends, as he went from jumping 6-5 indoors to 6-11 outdoors.

"That was by far my biggest success," he said.

Lowery proceeded to qualify for regionals, making the top eight by clearing 6-10 3/4 at the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Track Championships and thus became an alternate for the NCAA Division I National Championships.

The Aggies also captured the school's first-ever NCAA championship in track and field.

Despite graduating, the business management/marketing major's career as a high jumper might not be over just yet.

Lowery is attempting to receive a medical redshirt exemption for his junior year because a high ankle sprain and torn tendon on his jumping leg caused him to miss much of the season.

Although the chances are slim, Lowery is holding on to hope.

In the meantime, the only member of his recruiting class to graduate in four years will begin working toward a master's degree in the fall.

"I really don't know what the future [holds]," the Big 12 allacademic first-team member said. "I know that getting a master's from a prestigious business school, such as Mays Business School here at A&M, was going to open a lot of doors.

"After I graduate, it will be up to me which door I'm going to walk through."