Lumberton’s Greg Foster placed 7th in the NCAA long jump competition Wednesday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., earning All-America honors a year after undergoing foot surgery.
Foster, a senior at Princeton who attended Lawrenceville Prep, jumped 25-7 ¾ on his 3rd attempt with a legal 0.8 tailwid, the 6th-best wind-legal jump of his life and 3rd-best outdoors.
He fouled on his 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th attempts and only had two legal marks, a 25-3 ¼ on his 2nd jump and the 25-7 ¾ on his 3rd.
Foster placed 15th in this year’s indoor championships in Virginia Beach in his only other NCAA finals appearance.
He’s Princeton’s first long jump All-America in 35 years, since Al Dyer jumped 25-9 ¾ and placed 4th in the 1990 NCAA meet in Durham, N.C.
Foster jumped within six inches of his legal PR of 26-1 ¾ set at the 2023 Ivy League Championships at Franklin Field.
Foster already has the B standard of 25-7 for the U.S. Championships in Eugene July 31-Aug. 3 with his legal 25-8 ¾ at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton in April. He has until July 20 to chase the A standard of 26-6 ¾ ot improve on his B standard to improve his chances of qualifying.
Also, Rutgers senior Nico Morales from Delsea placed 13th in the pole vault with a 17-5 3/4 clearance on his 1st attempt.
Greg Foster best legal jumps
26-1 ¾, Philadelphia, May 7, 2023
25-10 ¾i, Annapolis, Jan. 21, 2023
25-9 ½i, Hanover, N.H., Feb. 26, 2023
25-8 ¾ Princeton, April 4, 2025
25-8 ¼i, Annapolis, Md., Jan. 11, 2025
25-7 ¼i, Fayetteville, Feb. 15, 2025
25-7 ¼, Eugene, June 11, 2025
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 