By: Charity Meier | Novi Note | Published May 7, 2026
NOVI — Novi High School senior Drelen Lillard, 18, has been having some high-flying fun while making a comeback this track season, jumping over obstacles and leaping over records.
Lillard set a new NHS record in the high jump this season, not once but twice, as he recently broke his own record. He first set a new record on April 14 against Howell with a height of 6 feet, 7 and 1/2 inches. Then he broke that record on April 28 at home with a height of 6 feet, 8 inches. The prior record was held by Scott Sawyer, who had set the bar at 6 feet, 7 and 1/4 inches in 2016.
“It’s super exciting for me,” Lillard said. “It’s been a goal of mine since, like, freshman year. So, it was just a good feeling, especially to do it on senior night. It was just a great day overall.”
He said his moment was witnessed by his friends, coaches and mom, who had encouraged him to get involved with track during middle school.
“I started running track in seventh grade at Novi Middle School. My mom kind of signed me up without me knowing,” Lillard said.
“I sure did, and it was the best thing, because he definitely, as you can see, has a lot of energy,” said Lena Lillard, Drelen’s mom.
She said she did track in high school and thought it would be a good sport for him to try. She said she thought the sport would also teach him to work hard, and it did.
He said he started by jumping hurdles and then was encouraged by one of the coaches to try the high jump, as he had “bounce.” He has stuck with it ever since.
“It is just really fun and exciting to win and to be in the air for that long,” Lillard said. “I’m glad I get to run and jump. At first, I was training to just dunk a basketball, and then I just got really naturally good at high jump, so I stuck with it.”
He said he couldn’t dunk a basketball as an eighth grader, but he can now. He said his first dunk was in the summer of ninth grade.
Lena Lillard said she never expected her son to become so engrossed in track.
“He just actually started setting his own records and beating his own goals and setting PRs (personal records) for himself, and it just really took off when he started saying, ‘Mom, I got selected to go to nationals,” she said.
Lillard said his goal this year is to set the bar for the high jump at 6 feet, 10 inches in order to get recognized by scouts for some Division I college programs.
“I want a pretty big scholarship, and I feel like I deserve it,” he said. “I spent a lot of hours dedicated to getting good at (track/high jump), a lot of hours training, and I’m pretty dedicated and I’m pretty good at it.”
He said he puts in 12 to 15 hours a week or two hours a day training for track, and he does weightlifting since he suffered a broken pelvis while high jumping indoors in his junior year.
As a result of his injury, he only participated in three outdoor meets during a pivotal time for college scouts to observe his ability.
“That had to be just a heartbreak for him, but it also motivated him, because he had said, ‘Hey, I definitely want to come back,’” said Lena Lillard. “I just felt so bad, being a mother.”
He said he was off for more than two months, but he was driven to come back to his sport as soon as he could.
“I just like winning,” he said. “I feel pretty motivated, because with a shortened season, I didn’t get to prove myself last year, so I felt like this season I had to prepare to give it my all.”
“For me, Drelen, he’s always been a very disciplined and determined type of child. So, when he set the goal and when he made the goal, for me it was exciting, and for me it was ‘OK, well, he accomplished what he came to do and what he went out for,’” she said.
Lillard said he plans to go into finance and hopes to have a career as a financial analyst or something to do with managing money for athletes.
He said he has inspired some of the freshman athletes.
“I don’t want them to beat my record, but if they do, it’s something I’d be proud of,” he said, knowing that whoever set a new record would have had to work just as hard.