Raising the Bar: McHugh’s Obsession to Excel Continues Past Hillsdale
Written by Doug Goodnough
Jim McHugh, ’94, said the key to becoming a successful high jumper is “90 percent in the approach.” The two-time former NAIA indoor national champion and All-American said that formula applies to life as well.
McHugh and his wife, Sonya (Dusseau), ’99, have been busy raising their seven children in Whitehall, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Jim has been working in sales, first in the pharmaceutical industry and currently with Wolters Kluwer in healthcare software. But his connection to jumping and athletics remains strong.
“I loved coaching the sprints, jumps, and multi events,” said McHugh, who coached college track and field at Azusa Pacific, Hillsdale, Central Michigan, and Rutgers after he graduated. “Now I just coach a few local kids who call me to get some help in the jumps, sprints, and throws.”
Some of those kids include his own children, four of whom were standout track athletes at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer High School and went on to compete at the college level.
In 2017, McHugh came out of “retirement” to compete at the USA Track and Field Masters Championships. He won the age 40-and-over division in the high jump. He also is an avid CrossFit participant and has an entire gym in his backyard.
“Each year I do the CrossFit Open, and last year finished about 500th in the world in my age group out of 10,000 men (ages 50-55),” he said.
At Hillsdale, McHugh was one of the most decorated student-athletes in the College’s history. He captured NAIA indoor national championships in the indoor high jump in both 1993 and 1994 and won indoor and outdoor conference championships in the event in seven of the eight meets in which he competed. McHugh was among the first Chargers to compete at the NCAA Division II track championships, finishing second and third, respectively, in the high jump in consecutive years.
He still shares the school indoor high jump record with an effort of 7 feet, 1 inch, and was inducted into the Hillsdale College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017. However, he said Hillsdale’s three-peat of indoor and outdoor conference track and field team championships from 1992-94 stands out as a career highlight.
“Track may be an individual sport, but coming together to win in every segment of the sport with teammates that you love is really an incredible thing to accomplish,” McHugh said.
Inspired to become a track and field athlete by watching the 1984 Olympics, he said he entered Hillsdale as a decathlete but learned quickly that one event was better than the others. Ryan Pschigoda, ’90, a former NAIA decathlon national champion, stayed around Hillsdale after graduation to coach and train. He advised McHugh that high jump was his future.
First learning to high jump on the beaches of Lake Michigan, McHugh said the waves served as a perfect training tool.
“Once I had a few good wavy days on the beach jumping backwards over the wave, I had the Fosbury Flop technique down,” he said of the now-standard high jump technique invented by Dick Fosbury, who won the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics. “It was an easier event to teach myself than the pole vault.”
Although he was a high school state champion jumper as a sophomore, he said it was at Hillsdale where he learned to become a championship-caliber athlete. He said his drive to improve was “obsessive,” and he tirelessly looked for ways to “raise the bar.” One was using video to analyze his jumping technique, which was uncommon at the time.
“I remember going into Coach (Dave) Dye’s office to use the fancy VCR super slo-mo machine before every practice,” McHugh said of borrowing the football program’s video equipment. “I spent two to three hours a week just on video analysis—mostly by myself. I learned how to lift weights, do plyometrics, and high jump like the Olympians and world record holders, all from videos.”
At Hillsdale, he trained with the sprinters, lifted weights with the throwers, and relied on coaches Bill Lundberg and Bill Tefft for the motivational and technical side.
“Coach Lundberg supported my development and had an absolute gift of managing the stress of meets and competition,” he said of the former longtime Chargers head coach. “Coach Tefft was my technical coach. We analyzed everything about my jumping endlessly. The combination of the team as a big family and the guidance of my great coaches provided the support I needed to perform well when it really counted.”
Back to the approach part. He said he uses that same drive to improve in his everyday life.
“Learn, learn, learn,” McHugh said. “It doesn’t matter how long you have been doing something, if you find a better way to do it, change!”
McHugh said Hillsdale is still a big part of his life. He is thankful to have met his wife there, and still tries to funnel some area high school students—and hopefully some of his own—to his alma mater.
“It really is such a special place that allowed me to develop critical skills that I have used in family life and business,” he said. “The academic rigor taught me how to learn new technical skills for work and be a continuous learner, helping me to excel not only in athletics, but in business and family as well.
“My college experience could not have been more fulfilling. I loved my college teammates and coaches. One thing that is so unique about the Hillsdale College experience is the family atmosphere that we had on the team. I have been a part of a lot of great teams, but never the tightness and family atmosphere like we had on those Hillsdale teams of the ’90s.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in December 2024