Quite collegiate debut for Stockton freshman Connor Wright of Hammonton, who popped four lifetime bests on his way to winning the long jump at the College of New Jersey Indoor Open at the Armory over the weekend.
Wright had a huge series, opening with a 22-3 ¼, then hitting 22-9, 22-10 and 22-9 again with a couple fouls mixed in there as well. Wright averaged 22-7 ¾ on his four legal jumps.
He finished just ahead of Princeton’s Illay Furman, who jumped 22-7 ¾ on his final attempt of the competition.
At Hammonton, Wright had a PR of 22-2 ¼ outdoors at the Eagle Relays this past April at Central Regional in Bayville. His indoor PR was 22-0 ½ from the Meet of Champions in March at the Bubble in Toms River, where he placed 5th.
So his average jump on four attempts Saturday was 5 ½ inches beyond his PR coming into the meet.
Wright ranks No. 8 in NCAA Division 3 one weekend into the 2022-23 season, and his jump is best so far by a NJAC athlete.
It’s also the best mark by a Stockton jumper since nine-time All-America and two-time NCAA Division 3 triple jumper Jared Lewis went 23-7 ¼ at a meet in 2018 at Shippensburg.
Stockton’s long jump record of 24-8 ½ was set in 1988 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., as part of a horizontal jumps double by Shawnee graduate Greg Foster, whose son Greg won the 60-meter hurdles at the same meet Saturday in his first race for Princeton.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 