Paulsboro junior Jamile Gantt became the first Gloucester County high jumper to clear 6-8 in seven years Wednesday at the Delsea Crusader Field #1 meet.
That’s No. 6 in Gloucester County history.
Gantt, whose previous PR was 6-6, cleared 5-8, 5-10, 6-0 and 6-2 on his first attempt, 6-4 on his second, then 6-6 on his first.
But when the bar went up to 6-8, Gantt was actually in second place because Delsea senior Enrico Barnett was clean through 6-6, tying his PR of 6-6 on his first attempt, while Gantt had that miss at 6-4.
Gantt and Barnett each missed their first two attempts at 6-8, but Gantt cleared the bar on his final attempt and Barnett missed, giving Gantt the win.
The Paulsboro school record is also tied for the Gloucester County record, and that’s 6-10 by Spencer Irvin at the 1993 Haddonfield Invitational. So Gantt then took three attempts at 6-10 ¼, which would have broken both marks, but after 10 jumps just to get to 6-10 ¼ he missed all three.
Irvin shares the Gloucester County record with Williamstown’s Devin Bradham in 2005, Delsea’s Josh Butler in 2006 and Delsea’s Ameer Banks in 2015.
The ridiculously versatile Gantt ran 1:59.30 for 800 meters at the Haddonfield Invitational last week, which may make him the only athlete in South Jersey history to run sub-2 for the 800 and clear 6-8 in the high jump. I’m sure Mike Morrison could have, but he never did run an open 800.
Gantt’s 6-8 clearance puts him in a tie for the No. 1 mark in the state this year. Jeffery Cianfrocca of Delbarton School in Morris Township cleared 6-8 on Tuesday at the East Coast Relays in Randolph.
Gantt is the first South Jersey junior to clear 6-8 since Markquese Bell of Bridgeton cleared 7-0 as a junior at the 2016 Cape-Atlantic Championships at Bridgeton. Bell is now an undrafted rookie safety with the Coiwboys.
All-Time Gloucester County Top-10 (or 9)
6-10 …….. Spencer Irvin [Paulsboro], 1993
6-10 ….….. Josh Butler [Delsea], 2006
6-10 …….. Devin Bradham [Williamstown], 2005
6-10 …….. Ameer Banks [Delsea], 2015
6-8 ½ …… Rocky Harrison [Woodbury], 1975
6-8 ……… Greg Collins [Deptford], 1980
6-8 ….…… Craig Howard [Washington Twp.], 1998
6-8 ………. Tim Cook [Glassboro], 2005
6-8 ………. Jamile Gantt [Paulsboro], 2022
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 