Liam Reynolds spent four years turning a desire to dunk a basketball into a 6-foot-6 personal best in the high jump. The Salem High School senior hit that mark at the St. Francis Knight Relays on Friday, May 1, and competed at the MHSAA Division 1 State Finals on Saturday, May 30, at Rockford High School.

Reynolds did not finish in the top eight at the state meet, where Jase Behmlander of Saginaw Heritage won the title at 6-10. But the arc of Reynolds' four-year progression at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (P-CEP) tells its own story.

As a freshman, Reynolds cleared 5-8. By his sophomore year, he had jumped to 6-2 at regionals and qualified for the state finals for the first time.

"That was my breakout year," Reynolds told Plymouth Today in a profile published Monday, July 20. "I had a big PR from 5-8 to 6-2 at regionals and went to states for the first time. That was the year I got really serious with high jump."

As a junior, Reynolds finished tied for ninth at the 2025 Division 1 state finals at East Kentwood High School with a mark of 6-3. He used that result as fuel heading into his senior season.

The payoff came early in 2026. Reynolds cleared 6-4 in Salem's opening meet against Brighton on April 14 then topped out at 6-6 to win the St. Francis Knight Relays three weeks later. He told Plymouth Today before the state finals that he believed he carried one of the state's top three marks heading in.

Reynolds described the technical challenge of the event in his Plymouth Today interview: "When you jump, you're barely in the air for even a second and have to make so many small movements so it's very difficult to fix issues." He said watching video of his jumps was his most effective training tool.

Off the track, Reynolds contributed to Salem's basketball team as the sixth man during the Rocks' 16-8 season in 2025-26, leading the squad in steals and field-goal percentage.

Reynolds carries a 3.6 GPA and will attend Michigan State University in the fall to study mechanical engineering. He does not plan to compete in high jump at the college level but told Plymouth Today he intends to keep jumping recreationally.