From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

David Brown became Rowan’s 1^st freshman national champion in 44 years Friday when he won the high jump at the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Wisconsin.

Brown clinched the title before he had a miss.

Brown, who graduated from Edison High a year ago, locked up in a terrific competition with junior Lukas Nowlin of the Univerity of Southwestern Texas in Georgetown, Texas.

Both were clean up through 6-11 ½, but Nowlin – who entered the meet with a 6-10 ¾ PR before PR’ing at 6-11 ½ – finally missed at 7-0 ½ and Brown cleared on his 1^st attempt to take the lead.

He’s Rowan’s first freshman to win an outdoor national title since Willie Lawson from Plainfield won the 800 in 1982 in Naperville, Ill.

After he secured the win, Brown missed three tries at  7-3, which would have surpassed his PR of 7-2 ¼ and broken the school record he shares with Jeffrey Tucker of Eastern, who cleared 7-2 ¼ at Moravian College in Bethlehem in April 2018.

Brown, junior Jamile Gantt from Paulsboro and sophomore Noah Wampole from Radnor, Pa., all earned All-America honors with their top-eight finishes.  Rowan finished 1-3-4 for 21 points in the one event.

This is Gantt’s 4^th All-America performance. He was 7^th outdoors in 2024 at 6-9 ¾, 3^rd outdoors last year at 6-11 and 4^th indoors this past winter at 6-10 ¼. Wampole is now a three-time All-America after placing 6^th both outdoors last year and indoors this year. Brown is a double All-America after placing 3^rd this winter.

Wampole cleared 6-6, 6-8 and 6-9 on his 1^st attempt, 6-10 ¼ on his second and 6-11 ½ on his 3rd. Gantt had a miss at 6-8 but cleared 6-9 on his 1^st jump and 6-10 ¼ on his 2^nd.

A 4^th Rowan jumper, sophomore Damarion Potts from South Brunswick, cleared 6-8 and placed 14^th. Rutgers-Camden freshman Jaylen Deleon from Highland cleared 6-6 and was the 3^rd freshman in the competition.