From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Stockton junior Ahmad Fogg from Egg Harbor and Rowen freshmen Anthony Parker of Salem and Bright John of Sterling locked up in a historic long jump battle Saturday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships.

By the time the event was over, all three were ranked among the top 10 in NCAA Division 3.

Fogg wound up winning with a PR and school-record 24-9, John PR’d three times, including a 23-11 ½ on his final jump, and Parker, despite four jumps over 23 feet, finished 3^rd with a best jump of 23-10 ¾.

Fogg broke the meet record of 24-4 ¼ set at Ocean Breeze in 2019 by Montclair State’s George Alexandris from Fair Lawn High in Bergen County.

It was a wild back-and-forth competition, with Fogg, Parker and John all taking turns with the lead.

Parker, John and Montclair freshman Jalen Balbuena from Fort Lee High in Bergen County all surpassed 23 feet on their first jump, with John taking the early lead with a 23-8 ¾, his first PR of the day, Balbuena 2^nd at 23-5 ¼ and Parker at 23-3 ¼. John extended his PR to 23-9 on his 2^nd jump, Parker hit 23-6 ¾ on his 2^nd jump and Fogg jumped 23-1 ¼ on his third jump.

So going into the final, John led at 23-9, Parker was 2^nd at 23-6 ¾, with Balbuena 3^rd at 23-5 ¼ and Fogg 4^thwith a 23-1 ¼.

Fogg then jumped into the lead with a 23-10 ¼ to open the finals before Parker moved into the lead with a 23-10 ¾. Meanwhile, John passed his teammate with another PR of 23-11 ½ on his final attempt before Fogg jumped the field with his 24-9.

So Fogg won at 24-9, John was 2^nd at 23-11 ½, Parker 3^rd at 23-10 ¾ and Balbuena 4^th with a 23-6 on his final jump.

In all there were 16 jumps of at least 23 feet by four different jumpers, three of them freshmen.

On the updated Division 3 list, Parker remains No. 2 with his 25-0 at Ocean Breeze two weeks ago, Fogg is now No. 3, John is tied for No. 8 and Balbuena is No. 20.
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Parker, John and Balbuena are the top three freshmen in Division 3. Parker and John are No. 1 and 4 in Rowan history.

Parker is No. 16 in Division 3 history and Fogg is now No. 30.

As for Fogg, he broke a school record that was set 38 years ago by Shawnee graduate Greg Foster, who jumped a then-meet-record 24-8 ½ on March 12, 1988, at the 1988 NCAA Division 3 Championships at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. A day earlier, Foster set a meet-record 51-0 ¾ to win the triple jump, and that remains Stockton’s school record.

Foster’s son Greg is now a senior at Princeton and ranked 8^th in the world with a 26-10 ½ last weekend in Fayetteville.

Fogg, John and Parker now rank 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th on the all-time meet performance list.  Fogg, John, Parker and Balbuena all had the best marks for place in meet history.