Athlete 1995 - 1997
Track and field standout Jason Clinch had a habit of always setting the bar high. From his days at Castle Rock High School and Clark Community College, to his two years of athletic competition at Linfield College, Clinch set his goals high and then went about accomplishing them.
Clinch ranks second all-time at Linfield in the men’s high jump with a mark of 7 feet, ¾ inches, a mark that also ranks as the second-best mark in the history of the Northwest Conference.
A five-time NAIA All-American, Clinch was runner-up at the 1995 and 1996 NAIA Indoor Championships in addition to being runner up at the 1997 NAIA Outdoor Championships. He received All-America acclaim during both the 1995 and 1996 indoor seasons as well.
Clinch’s contributions were significant in propelling the Wildcats to two Northwest Conference team titles along with fifth- and sixth-place finishes at the national championships.
Then-head coach Garry Killgore said, “I loved Jason because he would always get after it. He was always money when it came time to compete.”
Already a member of the Clark Community College Hall of Fame, Clinch was a key member of two NWAACC track and field team championships in 1993 and 1994.
Among Clinch’s most memorable moments as a Wildcat were winning conference titles with his teammates and coaches, placing in the top 10 as a team at nationals, and clearing 7 feet in the high jump. “I feel like I could write a book,” said Clinch of his long list of career highlights. “There were so many of them!”
Graduating from Linfield in 1997, Clinch worked at Oregon Health Sciences University in pathology before taking graduate-level courses at Portland State University. He went on to work as a field biologist for the Bureau of Land Management and for the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon and Washington. Today, he is project manager and biologist with Terra Science, Incorporated, an environmental consulting company.
He and his wife, Michelle, have been married for 12 years and are raising a 10-year-old daughter, Emily. The family enjoys camping, skiing and the great outdoors.
