Paulsboro’s Jamile Gantt, a two-time NCAA All-America, opened his season with a near-indoor PR at the Fastrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze and led four Rowan high jumpers at 6-6 ¾ or higher.
Gantt, a Rowan junior, cleared 6-10 on his 1st attempt, just one-quarter of an inch off his indoor lifetime best 6-10 ¼ from Ocean Breeze last December. Gantt hit his outdoor PR of 6-11 when he placed 3rd at Division 3 Outdoor Nationals in Geneva, Ohio, this past May.
Gantt is No. 3 in Rowan indoor history, behind only Jeffrey Jon Tucker from Eastern [7-0 ½ in 2015] and Harrison Escoffery from Hackensack [7-0 ¼ in 2018]. His 6-11 is No. 3 outdoors behin Tucker [7-2 ¼] and Mark Kelly of Audubon [7-11 ¾ in 1978].
Gantt cleared 6-0 ¾, 6-2 ¾, 6-4 ¾, 6-6 ¾, 6-8 ¾ and 6-10 on his 1st attempt before taking three tries at 7-0 ¼.
Rutgers-Camden freshman Jayden Deleon from Highland, competing in his first college meet, placed 2nd at 6-8 ¾, which he cleared on his 1st attempt. Deleon’s PR and indoor PR is 6-10 ¼ from last year’s Group 3 sectionals at the Bubble. He went on to win the indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.
That 6-8 ¾ broke the school record of 6-6 ¾ set by Ken Wise from Haddon Township at the 2008 NJAC meet in Toms River. Deleon also surpassed the outdoor school record of 6-5 set by Wise at the 2010 ECAC Championships in Springfield, Mass.
The next-three jumpers were all from Rowan – junior Arrington Rhym from Hamilton West, sophomore Noah Wampole from Radnor and junior Isaiah Davenport from Pleasantville, a transfer from Holy Family in Philadelphia.
Rhym cleared an indoor PR 6-8 ¾ on his 3rd attempt before missing three tries at a lifetime-best 6-9 ¾. Rhym’s PR is 6-9 from an outdoor meet in Baltimore in May. His indoor PR was 6-6 ¼ from a meet at Ocean Breeze in February 2024..
Wampole cleared an indoor PR 6-6 ¾ on his 1st attempt. His lifetime best is an outdoor 6-9 at a home meet this past April. His previous indoor PR was 6-6 ¼ at Oeean Breeze this past February.
Davenport, who jumped a PR 6-8 ¼ at Ocean Breeze this past January for Holy Family, cleared 6-6 ¾ on his 1st attempt Saturday.
Through one weekend of competition, Gantt, Arrington and Deleon are ranked No. 1, 2 and 3 in NCAA Division 3. Wampole and Davenport are tied for 9th.
Rowan’s high jump stable goes deeper than those three. Sophomore Malakai Pressey from Freehold Boro cleared 6-5 ½ last year as a freshman and was 3rd in the NJAC outdoor meet, and sophomore Derrick Robinson from Cinnaminson cleared 6-6 three times in high school.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 