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Justin Ballock leaps a hurdle at the Class 4A state track meet last year in Wichita. Ballock placed sixth in the 110-hurdles and seventh in the 300-hurdles. Ballock also set the school record in both events.

The final bell has rung and class is done for the day. Eudora senior Justin Ballock leaves his Monday seventh-hour digital imaging class and begins the trek down the hallway to the locker room to get ready for basketball practice, which begins in 20 minutes. It’s an important practice. The Cardinals will play top-ranked Sumner Academy the next day.

In the commons, his brown eyes glance up at the giant composite collage of posters dedicated to each sport at EHS. Justin focuses on the picture on the far right of him in his home white No. 13 jersey flying in for a layup. As students crowd the hallway, some of them dart outside to catch the bus while Justin and teammates scramble inside the locker room.

As his senior season winds down, he wants to finish it in grand style. As the leader of the boys basketball team, he has willed the Cardinals to victory many times with his late-game heroics and high-flying dunks. He has dreams of leading Eudora to a league title and a trip to the state tournament, but there are hurdles that stand in the way.

But Justin, who comes from an athletic family, has a talent for leaping tall hurdles. Fresh off breaking three school track records as a junior, Justin aims to rewrite the record book again this spring. And like many high school seniors, he is struggling to make a decision on what to do after graduation in May. He knows his future involves playing college athletics, but is undecided on where that next journey will begin.

Leader of the Cards

A few minutes before the game against Sumner, Justin and teammates shoot around at their goal. Justin seems at home here on this court, where he’s wowed the home crowd for four years and earned the reputation as one of the best players in the Frontier League.

As a junior, Justin averaged 15 points and 5 rebounds a contest and was a first-team All-League selection. This season, he has upped those numbers to 18 points and 6 rebounds a game. He will surely be a first-team All-League selection again this year, and will go down as one of the best basketball players in EHS history.

But even with all the accolades, Justin is always humble. And yet, he is driven to be better on the court and as a leader for his teammates.

“I’ve played varsity since I was a freshman,” Justin said. “So they know I’ve been there for a while. And I know how it feels.”

It’s big games like this that seem to bring out Justin’s best. He scores four of Eudora’s first five points with two free throws and a layup. In the second quarter, his layup with 20 seconds to play gives the Cardinals a 20-18 lead at the break. Two minutes into the third quarter, his three-pointer from the right wing gives the Cardinals the lead again at 23-22. And in the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals clinging to a one-point lead late, his layup with 20 seconds to go puts Eudora up three, and the Cardinals hold on for a 47-44 victory. He scored seven of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter.

“We want him to have the ball in his hands when it comes down to the wire,” said senior point guard Evan Cleveland. “Everybody on our team knows that, and everybody’s comfortable with that. We get him the ball.”

Many times during his career, the team has trusted him to make the big play when the Cardinals need it most. This is a role Justin readily accepts.

“Honestly, at the end of the game, I want the ball,” Justin said. “I feel like I have a good shot to get in. I want the ball and a chance to win it. Win or lose, I want to have that chance.”

Eudora coach Kyle Deterding said Justin leads the team by example, and not just through scoring.

“He scores points, obviously, but he’s figuring out how much he can help us when he rebounds and plays defense,” Deterding said. “He’s starting to turn into one of those all-around players, which really makes him so much more valuable. And he’s such a good kid. He’s fun to be around.”

Above the rim

On the court, Justin’s tongue is always hanging out. It’s so common, one might think Michael Jordan is his favorite player.

“Everyone’s is Jordan, but mine is Tracy McGrady,” Justin said. “Even when he was in Orlando, I loved him.”

At 6-foot-3, Justin is tall enough to play on the perimeter and also battle inside with post players. But as a three-time state qualifier in the both the 300- and 110-meter hurdles, Justin’s 31-inch vertical jump gives him an advantage on the boards, and especially on a breakaway slam.

Justin’s first dunk in a game came when he was in eighth-grade. He didn’t get another dunk until his junior year, when he dunked six times. Justin, though, will surely break that personal record this season. He already has five dunks, the first one coming in the opening game of the season at Anderson County. Justin also scored 41 points that night in Eudora’s 81-41 victory.

Justin also has been known to put on dunking exhibitions just for fun at practice. On some days, his dunk of the day is a windmill or a two-hand tomahawk. On others, it’s an alley-oop from Cleveland.

Athletic family tradition

After the Sumner game, Justin is one of the last ones to leave the locker room. At home, he gives pointers about that night’s game to his brother, Jordan, a sophomore on the team. He also gives basketball tips to his brothers Andrew, an eighth-grader, and Mitchell, a fifth-grader.

“It helps me get better,” Jordan said. “I just try to keep up with him and try to do what he can do. That’s how our younger brothers do it also.”

After a quick call to his sister, Megan, a junior on the Pittsburg State cross country and track teams, he calls his sister, Emily, a sophomore on the Wichita State cross country and track teams. They both congratulate “Jud,” the nickname Emily gave Justin when he was five-years-old.

“I don’t mind it,” Justin says with a smile. “Some teachers call me Jud sometimes.”

Justin then chats about the game with his parents, Don, who played baseball at Dodge City Community College, and LaDonna, who ran track at Emporia State. Soon it’s off to bed to rest up for another long day of homework, school and practice.

With only a few weeks left in the season, the Cardinals are working toward winning the league title and going to the state tournament.

Last run

Justin has the date March 30 marked on his calendar. That is the day of the Snowball Relays in Wellsville, and Eudora’s first track meet of the season.

Last year at that meet, Justin broke the school record in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.2. A week later, he broke the school record in the 110-hurdles with a time of 15.38. He later broke that record with a time of 14.8 in front of the home crowd at the Cardinal Relays. And at the state meet in Wichita, he placed sixth in the 110-hurdles with a time of 15.54 and seventh in the 300-hurdles at 41.22.

After three years, Justin had finally achieved his goal of medaling in both events at state. Justin also medaled as a freshman, when he finished runner up in the 300-hurdles.

As great as those accomplishments are, Justin won’t top Emily’s performances at state. She won the gold medal in the girls 300-meter hurdles four years in a row. But Justin plans on leaving his mark permanently on the EHS record book this spring.

“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t,” track coach Phil Katzenmeier said. “If he avoids injury, and continues to work like he’s been, he’ll break those records. He’s going to reset the standard again.”

Katzenmeier said their goal this season was to lower Justin’s times enough so that Justin’s new records might never be broken. But while Justin’s last few months of high school are mapped out, his future thereafter is not as clear.

Future prospects

Justin will tell you he is a basketball player first and track athlete second. While that combination has suited him well in high school, in college that poses a bit of a problem.

While he is being recruited by several schools including Fort Hays State, Washburn, Emporia State and others to play basketball, he also is being recruited by other schools to run track. And some schools are open to the possibility of him competing in both sports.

While the NCAA doesn’t prohibit athletes from playing multiple sports, athletes who do are becoming a rarity because of conflicting time commitments. And in college, basketball and track seasons overlap.

Justin hasn’t received any Div. I offers yet, but has thought about trying to walk-on and play basketball at Kansas University. But that is unlikely, he said.

“I’d like to go somewhere and earn a starting spot and play a lot of minutes,” Justin said. “I’m a little more toward that than going to KU. Although it’d be fun to do that.”

Justin will decide during track season where he will play next year. He admitted that if he has to choose one or the other, he will pick basketball and play close to home.

“That next level is really a different step than the high school games,” Deterding said. “It’ll be a lot of work for him, but I think he likes it enough. I think he’ll go to work and be successful.”

Justin is considering majoring in business or psychology when he enters college in the fall. And while he doesn’t yet know where that will be, he is looking forward to clearing the next hurdle.

“I’m definitely excited,” Justin said. “I’m a little bit nervous, but I think I’ll be all right. I’ll be ready for it.”

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