RATHDRUM - It wasn't until her final year of high school that Lakeland High senior Jordan Ward discovered a love for art, whether that includes oil painting or glass etching.

On the track, she's made the high jump her masterpiece over the last four years - including winning a second consecutive state 4A championship last year.

"I recently just took an art class at school and discovered I love doing it," Ward said. "It's weird because I've never thought of myself as an artsy kind of person. But I'm becoming that way. I've been doing a lot of different stuff, including glass etchings - which is our last project of the year - and it's really cool. I just like all the different mediums and I've really liked them all."

Ward is dual enrolled between Lakeland and North Idaho College this year.

"I'm not here that often," Ward said. "I have a first period class here (at Lakeland) every day and a third period class three days a week, so I'm not here very often."

She has one class on the NIC campus, and takes the rest of her NIC classes online. Her art class is at Lakeland.

"It can be hard sometimes," Ward said of her unusual schedule. "I definitely have to keep up on my schedules very hard to make sure to get everything done."

In addition to track, Ward has also competed on the Hawks' girls soccer and basketball teams.

"The last four years have been great," Ward said. "I really fit in from the get-go being thrown into varsity sports as a freshman. Coach (Steve) Seymour has been my coach all four years in basketball and in the jumps and has really been encouraging me and always keeping me grounded when my head gets too big and compliment me when I need it."

She'll continue her track career at Boise State, having signed with the Broncos in February, and will major in radiological sciences.

"The coaching staff is really nice," Ward said. "And they've got all the academic programs I really wanted. Most schools, you're kind of stuck in their medical program and have to go one way, but they're unique in that you can spread it out and not decide the first year. Even if I go into it, I can still change in the future."

Boise State track coach J.W. Hardy resigned before the school's first home meet this year, and assistant coach Jeff Petersmeyer took over as interim coach. Petersmeyer is the jumps and recruiting coordinator. Boise State recruited her as a high jumper.

"It's not going to affect me at all," Ward said. "The coach that has taken his spot is the one that wanted me there. From what I've understood, they wanted to go in a different direction and he (Hardy) didn't want to hold them back by staying on for another year."

She became interested in the science program after doing some ride-alongs with her dad, John, who is a lieutenant for the Kootenai County Fire Department.

"I'm going to be taking some radiological sciences so I can do CT (computed tomography) scans," Ward said. "My dad used to do medical calls. It just seemed like fun."

On April 12, Ward competed with her Lakeland teammates in the Interstate Rivals Invitational at Freeman High in Rockford, Wash. Once that track meet concluded, she traveled with her parents to Pasco to compete in that Invitational the following day.

Only allowed to compete in two events in each meet, she chose the 100-meter hurdles and high jump.

"I wanted to high jump as well as I could and do well in the hurdles for Lakeland at Freeman," Ward said. "At Pasco, I just tried not to really do anything once I got to Pasco and took an ice bath - and that was fun."

Ward won the high jump in Pasco in the sixth round of a jump-off, matching her best jump with a height of 5 feet, 6 inches - the same height she won last year's state title. Ward won the high jump title as a sophomore with a jump of 5-3.

"I think she's gotten mentally tougher since her freshman year," Lakeland track coach Lee Libera said. "That showed at Pasco against some tougher competition."

"I just tried to clear my head and not think about anything and just do what I know how to do," Ward said. "And just rely on muscle memory."

Ward won both events in Freeman, but failed to qualify for the finals in the 100 hurdles in Pasco. Her other two events are the 100 and 200 meters.

When it comes to comparing championships, her second straight state high jump title and the win in Pasco are close.

"The state title meant a lot because it was my back-to-back title," Ward said. "And it proved that I deserved to win it the year before. Winning at Pasco proved that I'm among the best athletes in the Northwest."

Competing on consecutive days, Ward added, helped prepare her for the regional and state meets in a couple of weeks.

"It was similar to the state meet," Ward said. "Just because that's (state) a two-day meet and you don't just compete on one day. I usually end up doing my prelims for the 100, 200 and 100 hurdles on the day before the high jump, so it's good practice."

Ward finished fifth in the 100 hurdles in last year's 4A meet.

The state 4A meet will be May 17-18 at Eagle High.

Ward was scratched from Saturday's Rasmussen Invitational at Coeur d'Alene High with a hamstring injury. Libera hopes she'll return for Friday's Inland Empire League Championships at Lake City High.

"We might have her do the 400 to keep her out of some of the short sprints to see how her legs hold up," Libera said.

Ward had dreamed of playing either soccer or basketball at college before eventually settling on track.

"It kind of shifted all four years," Ward said. "As a freshman, I definitely wanted to go to college to play soccer. Then I wanted to do basketball as a sophomore and really came into my own as a junior as a track athlete. That's when I really started to enjoy it and didn't want the season to end."

"She's in a long line of three-sport athletes to come out of Lakeland that have been successful," Libera said. "And it's good because there's so many specialists that just play one sport and think that's the way to go. The more diversified they can be and keep their grades up, the better success they usually have."

Washington State and the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., also recruited Ward.

"WSU was looking for a little bit," Ward said. "University of Mary was really interested, but they were too far away from home and I wanted to stay a little closer to home."

"Hopefully she can finish her senior year strong," Libera said. "She's got some opportunities ahead of her, but it's nice to see some kids moving on in track. She's been a four-year, three-sport athlete and it's neat because it's rare these days. But I think that's helped her grow a lot by not doing the same thing all the time."