Two 1sts and a 2nd, two PRs and one Cape May County record for Ocean City’s Hercules Stewart at Metro Invite!!!!!!

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Two wins, two PRs and three outstanding performances Wednesday evening for Ocean City junior Hercules Stewart at the Metropolitan Invitational at the Armory.

Stewart won the high jump with a lifetime-best 6-4 clearance, won the triple jump with a 44-foot jump and placed 2nd in the long jump with a PR 21-2, finishing 6 ½ inches behind Piscataway senior Skylar McGhee, who jumped 21-8 ½.

Stewart had a high jump PR of 5-10 a month ago. He cleared 6-2 in his season opener, the Marine Corps Classic at the Armory, before clearing the bar at 6-4 Wednesday on his 3rd and final attempt. He was clean at 5-8 and 5-10, made 6-0 on his 2nd try and 6-2 on his 1st.

That 6-4 ties the Cape May County record shared by three other Ocean City jumpers. It was originally set by Ben Marple in 1995 and matched by Jim O’Connor in 2011 and Ryan Givens in 2014.

Stewart shares the No. 2 mark in South Jersey behind Rancocas Valley senior David Godbolt, who cleared 6-6 last month at the Armory. Willingboro’s Tra’san Adam, Highland’s Jayden De Leon and Washington Township’s Carson Thomas have also cleared 6-4.

Stewart is already No. 4 in the state in the triple jump with a 45-0 last week at the South Jersey Track Coaches Association meet at Ocean Breeze. That 45-0 is No. 12 in South Jersey history and also a Cape May County record. The previous mark was 43-8 ½ by Ocean City’s Dan Givens at this meet in 2022.

His triple jump series included five jumps of at least 43 feet, including the winning 44-0 on his 2nd attempt. He averaged 43-3 ½ on his five legal jumps, and that average would have won the meet. Ethan Gutierrez of Monroe-Woodbury, N.Y., was 2nd with a 43-1.

In the long jump, Stewart topped his previous PR of 20-4 ¾ from Ocean Breeze last week. That 21-2 is 11 inches shy of Givens’ county record of 22-1 from 2015 and it’s No. 2 in South Jersey this year, behind only Moorestown’s Rece Englehart, who jumped 22-5 at a meet at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., earlier this month in his first lifetime indoor long jump competition.

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