Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.
Today: Marcus Hood, Deptford
As a sophomore, Marcus Hood’s best pole vault was an 11-6. He added almost four feet to that PR as a junior.
Hood was the No. 1 underclassman in South Jersey this spring with his 15-3 to win South Jersey Group 3 sectionals, and that made him the No. 3 underclassman ever in South Jersey, behind Delsea’s Morales twins, Nico, who cleared 15-7 in 2018, and Nico, who cleared 15-6 a few days earlier.
After a promising sophomore season, Hood extended his PR indoors to 13-0, which he cleared three times, but his big breakthrough came in April at Woodbury, where he cleared 14-6 and placed 2nd to eventual Meet of Champions winner Ryan Merlino of Oakcrest. He improved to 15-0 at the Delsea Field Meet before clearing that 15-3 at Delsea and then placed 2nd to Merlino at Meet of Champs.
With his 15-3 clearance, Hood is already No. 11 in South Jersey history with a full year to go. He’s No. 4 all-time in Gloucester County behind the Morales twins and Kingsway’s Dylan Altland, who cleared 15-6 in 2014.
Along the way, Hood broke the Deptford school record of 15-0 set by James Lynch when he won the state Group 3 title in Bayville.
Hood is one of three returning 15-footers in New Jersey next year. There are two other returning 14-footers in South Jersey – Cinnaminson junior Ed Frey cleared 14-6 at Group 2 states and Audubon junior Leo Davis cleared 14-0 at the Camden County Championships.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 