Rowan freshman David Brown moved into a tie for the No. 3 spot in the high jump in NCAA Division 3 history with a 7-2 ½ clearance Saturday evening at the Ott Center.
Brown, from Edison High, was perfect until he missed three attempts at 7-4 ¼, which would have broken the NCAA Division 3 record.
His 7-2 ½ clearance is the best jump ever by an NCAA Division 3 freshman. He’s now No. 51 in the world and No. 15 among U.S. men.
It’s also the best jump by a Division 3 athlete in 33 years, since Ken Hoffman of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., set the D-3 record of 7-3 ½ at the 1993 NCAA Division 3 Championships at Bowdoin University in Brunswick, Maine. (That’s my dad’s alma mater!)
His jump is No. 1 in NCAA Division 3 and was good enough to be No. 12 in Division 1. Brown’s previous PR was 7-0 ½ at Ocean Breeze last weekend. He had a PR of 6-8 ¼ as recently as a month ago.
Brown also broke the overall Rowan record of 7-2 ¼ set by Eastern’s Jeffrey Jon Tucker at the 2-19 Penn Relays.
Rowan ranks 1-2-4-8-8 in the high jump in NCAA Division 3 with Brown, Paulsboro’s Jamile Gantt and Noah Wampole [6-10 ¾] and Pleasantville’s Isaiah Davenport and Arrington Rhynm [6-8 ¾].
Brown is now tied for 12th on the all-time New Jersey alumni performance list. The last New Jersey jumper to clear 7-2 ½ was Westfield graduate Adam Bergo in New York in 2022. The last New Jersey jumper to go higher was Timber Creek’s Montez Blair, who cleared 7-4 ¼ in Boston in 2014.
Brown opened at 6-6 ¾ and then passed 6-8 ¾ before 1st-jump clearances at 6-10 ¾, 7-0 ½ and 7-2 ¼.
All-Time New Jersey Alumni High Jump List
7-5 ¾ … Milt Goode [Monmouth Reg.], June 24, 1984, Los Angeles
7-5 ¾ … Darren Burton [Delran], July 23, 1989, Ylivieska, Finland
7-5 ¼ … Eric Taylor-Perry [Montclair], May 18, 1991, Odessa, Texas
7-5 ¼ … Mike Pascuzzo [Lenape], June 6, 1992, New York
7-4 ½ … Jim Pringle [Moorestown], March 21, 1982, Tallahassee, Fla.
7-4 ½ … Paul Klemic [Mainland Reg.], June 17, 2000, Raleigh, N.C.
7-4 ½ … Justin Frick [Freehold], June 25, 2012, Eugene, Ore.
7-4 ½ … Montez Blair [Timber Creek], June 23, 2013, Des Moines, Iowa
7-4 … Terrance Ferguson [Cherry Hill West], May 5, 1991, Princeton, N.J.
7-4 … Robert Jordan [Millville], June 20, 1999, Denton, Texas
7-3 ¾ … Mike Morrison [Willingboro], May 14, 2005, Nashville, Tenn.
7-2 ½ … Adam Bergo [Westfield], Feb. 22, 2022, New York
7-2 1/2 … David Brown [Edison], Feb. 14, 2026, Philadelphia
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 