Moorestown senior Rece Englehart capped an undefeated season in the triple jump Wednesday with a dramatic win at the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken.
North Brunswick junior Zachary Jefferson jumped 47-6 on his 1st attempt to take the leadbut Englehart jumped 47-7 ¼ on his 3rd attempt – 1 ¼ inches farther – to move back in front.
Jefferson’s best jump the rest of the way was a 45-11 ½ and Englehart became the 3rd Moorestown Quaker to win a Meet of Champions title. His winning jump was recorded with a legal 0.2 meters-per-second wind.
Moorestown’s other winners were Mike Coffey, who won the javelin with a 209-6 at the 1975 meet at Rutgers, and Brandon Outlaw, 1st in the 400 in 2017 at Northern Burlington.
Englehart had a best of 45-3 ¼ last year and placed 7th at the Meet of Champions at 44-9 ¾. But he hit 47 feet or better consistently this year, including a PR of 48-4 ½ when he won the state Group 3 title at Delsea last weekend. That’s No. 5 in South Jersey history and broke the 43-year-old Burlington County record of 47-9 ¼ set by Pemberton’s Marcus Edghill in 1981 when he won the Penn Relays.
Englehart also placed 2nd in the long jump with a personal-best 23-11 ¾, a quarter of an inch beyond his 23-10 ½ at the South Jersey Elite meet at Delsea last month. Englehart’s long jump was also legal with a 1.2. Junior Liam Paneque popped a meet-record 25-2 on his 2nd attempt with a legal 1.0 wind. Previous meet record was 25-0 by Wilson’s William Spearman in 1995.
His 23-11 ¾ is No. 12 in South Jersey history and the best jump by a Burlington County athlete since Mike Morrison’s 24-5 back in 2003.
Englehart is the only horizontal jumper in New Jersey history to hit both 23-11 and 48 feet. He’s entered in West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field in the long jump at 10 a.m. Friday and the triple jump at 3 p.m. Saturday.
South Jersey Meet of Champions Triple Jump Winners
Josh Butler [Delsea], 2006 [48-0]
Evan Chance [Glassboro], 2009 [47-7 ½]
Dominique Irons [Haddon Heights], 2011 [48-4]
Dominique Irons [Haddon Heights], 2013 [48-10]
Khaliel Burnett [Delsea], 2017 [48-9 ½]
Khaliel Burnett [Delsea], 2018 [48-2 ¼]
Floyd Whitaker [Highland], 2021 [49-7]
Rece Englehart [Moorestown], 2024 [47-7 ¼]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 