Lumberton’s Greg Foster, a Princeton senior, returned to competition Saturday morning after an 11-month layoff and popped the best long jump in NCAA Division 1 this year.
After fouling on his first two attempts at a Navy-Princeton dual meet at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis, Md., Foster hit exactly 25 feet on his third attempt and after two more fouls he soared 25-8 1/4 on his final attempt.
That’s just 2 1/2 inches off his indoor PR and less than 6 1/2 inches shy of the school record of 26-3 set 35 years ago by Al Dyer at the 1990 Manhattan Invitational.
It was Foster’s first track meet since February of 2024, when he won the long jump at 25-2, took 2nd in the triple jump at 50-2 and placed 6th in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.22 at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at Harvard’s Gordon Track and Tennis Center in Cambridge, Mass.
Foster, a Lawrenceville Prep graduate, has long jump PRs of 26-1 3/4 outdoors – a school record – and 25-10 3/4 indoors. He’s hurdled 7.89 indoors and 14.23 outdoors and tripled 50-7 1/2 outdoors and 50-7 1/2 indoors.
He didn’t triple jump or hurdle Saturday, although he did jump in the 200 and placed 3rd in 21.84 in his first collegiate 200. He ran 22.25 in high school.
According to the TFRRS NCAA Division 1 long jump performance list, Foster’s jump bumped John Baker of Texas A&M [25-5 1/2] for the top spot so far this season.
It was his best jump since he hit that 26-1 3/4 at 2023 outdoor Heps at Franklin Field and the 4th-best of his life.
Here’s a look at Foster’s best jumps [does not include secondary marks within a meet]:
26-1 3/4 … Philadelphia [o], 2023
25-10 3/4 … Annapolis, Md. [i], 2023
25-9 1/2 … Hanover, N.H, [i], 2023
25-8 1/4 … Annapolis, Md. [i], 2025
25-6 1/4* … Philadelphia [o], 2022
\25-4 1/2* … Staten Island, N.Y. [i], 2022
* – high school meet
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 