Volleyball has always been Connor Barrett's first love; being a high jumper on the Seneca Valley High School track team was something he did on the side.

Although he is a good middle hitter for the Raiders' volleyball squad, Barrett is a WPIAL gold medal winner in track.

And he has decided to further his track career in college at Penn State.

"Yeah, it's funny how it has all worked out," said Barrett, who is an outstanding student and is considering majoring in engineering. "I'll sort of be like a walk-on my first year at Penn State, then after that there could be some [scholarship] money.

"I never really planned on going to Penn State, it's just the way it worked out. They made me an offer and I accepted."

Penn State is betting that when Barrett starts to concentrate on the high jump, the sky will be the limit, so to speak. The Nittany Lions have good reason to think that way.

At Seneca Valley, Barrett has split his energies between volleyball and track ... and look at what he has done.

Last year, he worked on his high jump technique a couple days a week. Track was his hobby, volleyball his "job." That might change this spring.

He is still going to compete in both sports, but Barrett has said he will devote more time to track.

"I'm going to try and get to track at least three days a week," he said.

While competing in track in his extra time -- he doesn't have any spare time in the spring -- last year Barrett set the school record in the high jump ... twice.

He cleared 6 feet, 5¹/₂ inches in a meet April 10, then went 6-8 at the Baldwin Invitational in early May. He won the WPIAL Class AAA title with a leap of 6-5 and placed fifth at the PIAA championships in Shippensburg by going 6-4.

This past winter, Barrett participated in indoor track. He cleared 6-8 at the Pennsylvania State Track & Field Coaches Indoor Championships at Penn State. That would have been good enough for first place most years, but Sheriff Jabin of Reading went 6-10.

"I tried 6-10 but just couldn't get it," Barrett said. "I felt pretty good on one attempt, but I hit [the bar] with my foot."

Seneca Valley coach Ray Peaco sees Barrett going higher than 6-10 this season if the weather cooperates and Barrett stays healthy.

"I think he's capable of going 7 feet," Peaco said. "Now, a lot has to go into that, but I think he has the ability."

Barrett might also do more than just high jump for the Raiders.

That's the only event he has participated in because of his limited practice time. But he started fooling around with the triple jump this past winter.

"He was just messing around and went 42 feet [in the triple jump]," Peaco said. "That's without any practice or training ... pretty much on athletic ability."

When asked about the triple jump Barrett said he went 42 feet, 3 inches during the indoor season.

"We'd like to get him involved in a couple other events to take advantage of his athletic ability," Peaco said. "In the past, we could let him just concentrate on the high jump because we had other guys who could long and triple jump. But we'd like to see what he can do."

There is also the possibility of Barrett competing in the long jump.

A triple jump of 42-3 would have won a medal at the WPIAL Class AAA championships two years ago. Seneca Valley's school record in the triple jump is 45-10¹/₂.

"Doing a couple other events should help in college, too," Barrett said. "I'm sure I'll be asked to do more than one event at Penn State."

Still, his main focus is the high jump. He likes to set goals for himself.

Last year, he had 6-6 on the back of his jumping shoes because that was the goal he set for himself. This year, he has 6-10 on the back of his shoes.

"I still haven't gone higher than 6-8 in high school, but I feel like I can get there [6-10]," he said. "I went to a couple camps in the summer and felt like I was jumping better indoors."

The high school track season is just starting to get cranked up, so Barrett has plenty of time to reach his goal. This past Thursday was the first official play date, but many schools were on Easter break.

Most teams won't have their first meet until this week. Seneca Valley's first Section 3 contest is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at home against Shaler Area. The Raiders will entertain Pine-Richland at the same time April 1.

The first big meet of the season is April 5 at West Mifflin Area High School. That's the date of the Tri-State Track & Field Coaches Association championships.

For those looking ahead, the Butler Invitational is set for April 18. The WPIAL championships are scheduled for May 15 at Baldwin.