From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Cinnaminson senior Joel Blamon continued his remarkable progression Friday with the best jump this spring by a South Jersey long jumper.

Blamon leaped 22-8 ½ on his final attempt – his 3rd jump over 22 feet – and placed 2nd in the South Jersey Group 2 sectional at Delsea.

That’s the best jump by a Cinnaminson boy in 35 years, since John Meekins Sr. went 23-5 ½ at the 1988 South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Moorestown.

Blamon placed 2nd to Manchester Township’s Al-Mubaraq Aderogba, who jumped 23-0 ½ on his final attempt and also had an earlier 23-0 ¼.

Blamon moved into the No. 1 spot in South Jersey this year, half an inch ahead of Egg Harbor senior Ahmad Fogg – who went 22-8 at the South Jersey Elite at Delsea – and Mainland senior William Murray – who went 22-8 at the Atlantic County Championships at Stockton.

Fogg and Murray both compete in South Group 4, which was postponed Friday night because of lightning before the long jump began.

Blamon has to be one of the most improved athletes in South Jersey. His PR as a junior and a 1st-time long jumper last year was just 19-6 ½ and he didn’t even hit 18 feet at last year’s sectional meet, where he placed 19th out of 29 entries.

Blamon didn’t surpass 20 feet until the County Open three weeks ago, where he was 7th at 20-2 ½. He added a foot to his PR at the Delsea Crusder Field Meet last week, where he was 2nd at 21-3, then PR’d again – by nearly a foot and a half – at sectionals.

So in the span of 10 days, he improved his PR from 20-2 ½ to 22-8 ½ – some 30 inches.

Blamon opened with a PR 22-3 ¾ Friday and then hit 22-1 ¼ on his second jump. After a couple fouls he added a 21-9 ¾ before finishing with his 22-8 ½.

He averaged 22-2 ¾ on his four legal jumps – so his average jump was about a foot beyond his PR coming into the meet.

Meekins – the indoor Easterns champ at 22-9 ¾ in 1987 – set the South Jersey Group 2 meet record with his 23-5 ½ in 1988. It was broken two years later by Burlington City’s Mike Boone, who jumped 24-1 ¼ in 1990 (and went on to become an NCAA Division 3 javelin national champion).

The only other 23-footers in South Jersey Group 2 since Boone are Kingsway’s Benny Liles [23-10 ¼ in 1992], Kevin Hester of Manchester Township [23-1 ¼ in 1998], Nick Brown of Bridgeton [23-5 in 1999] and Syteek Farrington of Camden [23-11 ½ in 2009].

Meekins’ son John jumped 22-3 to place 5th at the 2019 state Group 2 meet in Bayville and was 2019 Burlington County Open 400 champ.