Delsea graduate Nico Morales, a Rutgers sophomore, cleared 16 feet for the first time Saturday, placing second at the Boston University Battle in Beantown.
Morales cleared 16-0 3/4 on his first attempt, surpassing his lifetime best of 15-11 3/4, which he just set at the Jim Green Invitational in Lexington, Ky., last weekend.
Coming into the indoor season, Morales had a PR of 15-7 1/4 from an outdoor meet at Rutgers this past April.
At Delsea, Morales set the South Jersey indoor record of 15-6 at the 2020 Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze – No. 3 in South Jersey indoor history – and jumped 15-7 outdoors at the 2019 Tri-County Championships at his home track in Franklinville, No. 3 in South Jersey history outdoors.
His brother Marco set the South Jersey indoor mark of 16-0 at a SJTCA meet at the Bubble in the winter of 2018. Marco competed for Rutgers last spring but no longer appears on their roster.
Nico Morales’ mark is No. 5 in Rutgers history and best indoors in nine years, since Chris Wyckoff cleared 16-9 1/2 at a meet at Rutgers in 2012.
Morales passed until 4.60, which he cleared on his first attempt. He also cleared 4.75 on his first try as well as his PR 16-0 3/4. He then missed three attempts at 16-6 3/4.
Tyler Hrbeck of U. Conn won the event with a 16-6 3/4 clearance on his third and final attempt.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 