You think Willingboro and you think sprinters and hurdlers, and the Boro has had plenty of them. But Willingboro has a little bit of a tradition of pole vaulters as well, and Jackson Murry is the latest addition.
Murry won the South Jersey Group 2 meet with a personal-best 14-0 clearance, becoming the first Willingboro vaulter to clear 14 feet in 34 years.
The only vaulters to go higher in any group on sectional weekend are two Group 4 seniors – Damian Scouloukas of Hunterdon Central in North 2 and Ridgewood’s Liam O’Meara in North 1.
Murry shares the No. 1 seed in the Group 2 state meet at Delsea with Leonard Izzo of Rumson-Fair Haven, who cleared 14-0 to win Central Jersey Group 2 at Jackson Liberty.
Murry is Willingboro’s first 14-footer since Ricky Clemmons cleared 15-0 to win the 1989 state Group 3 title at South Plainfield over Hamilton East’s Darrin Miglione, who had cleared 14-6 on fewer misses.
Danny Lamp cleared 15-3 ½ at the 1977 East Coast Relays in Elizabeth and Marv Forchion 14-6 at the 1986 state Group 3 meet in Piscataway (he was also 3rd in the long jump at 21-8). Forchion went on to win the Meet of Champions, also at 14-6.
Murry, a junior, is Willlingboro’s 2nd sectional pole vault champ in the last three years. Glenn Ferguson won Central Jersey Group 1 two years ago at 12-0. Murray wasn’t pole vaulting yet, but he did place in the 200 in that meet.
Murry first picked up the pole vault last year as a sophomore and quickly cleared 11-0 by his 6th meet. He led a 1-2 Willingboro pole vault finish at sectionals with Byron Gary and got 2nd at indoor states at the Bubble with a 12-0 clearance.
He improved to 13-0 last spring and won the County Open and placed 5th at states and then got up to 13-6 at the Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.
On Friday, he cleared 12-0 on his 2nd attempt, 12-6 and 13-0 on his 1st and 13-6 and 14-0 on his 3rd. He actually would have placed 4th on misses if he didn’t clear 14-0.
Haddonfield senior Alex Hurly [13-6], Cinnaminson soph Ed Frey [13-6], West Deptford junior [Ray Senatore] and Haddon Heights senior Adam Furlong [12-6] also advanced to states.
Murry is tied for No. 2 junior in New Jersey, behind Oakcrest’s Ryan Merlino, a 15-foot vaulter who unfortunately is injured and wasn’t able to compete at sectionals.
The versatile Murry also found time this weekend to place 6th in the 400 in 51.74. He also ran the 3rd leg on Willingboro’s 4th-place 400-meter relay team and anchored the Chimeras’ 4th-place 4-by-4 with a 50.23 split.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 