UTEP long jumper Donivan Ortega is a Coronado alumnus. Bret Bloomquist/El Paso Times
For two years since leaving Coronado High School, UTEP's Donivan Ortega's jumping career has been marked by a steady ascendancy.
That's sometimes the way of it when an athlete excels at the transition from high school to college, but at some point there is an inevitable evening off, when the rate of improvement hits a law of averages and starts to level.
Ortega hasn't hit that point yet, and suddenly the Miners are realizing they have something in a sophomore catching lightning.