Inaugural Long Jump Showcase Takes Flight Thursday Night

Today, Thursday, at the Toms River Bubble starting at 4:00pm the NJSIAA will kick off the brand new Long Jump Showcase event for the Meet of Champions. This has been a long time coming, especially with the talent that has come through New Jersey in recent years. The event has to compete on a separate day from the rest of the meet because the placement of the sand pit requires the track as part of its runway. 

EVENT UPDATES HERE

There will be 28 boys and 25 girls who will showcase their jumping talents, all listed below. Some of their seeded marks are from this current indoor season while others were improved by carrying over their 2018 outdoor performance. Each athlete will have four attempts and the top eight after the best are tallied will receive medals.  

Expect updates about the meet leaders on twitter @njmilesplit, and a photo album and interviews to follow the meet.  

Boys Long Jump Rankings / Girls Long Jump Rankings

For the boys the top seed coming in is Nils Wildberg of Princeton, the senior was second at the outdoor Meet of Champions in the event last spring with a jump of 23-08.5 and has two career top six finishes there. It hasn't been the smoothest indoor season for the current state leader however. 

He's led the state indoors pretty much this entire season with his 23-04.5 mark from late December but suffered with a partial meniscus tear and missed most of the 2019 indoor campaign. Other than powering through for a mark at Mercer County Championships for third in January, where he hit 21-02.75 on a short run, he made his full speed return this week at Eastern States Championships.

And what a return it was, he matched his state leading mark of 23-04.5 to become the 2019 Eastern States Long Jump Champion. He fouled hit first attempt, made the winning distance on his second, and then passed the rest likely not wanting to push it on his return. 

Five others come into the event with leaps over 22 feet. That's Tyler Costeira of St. Joseph Metuchen, Justin Moran of Mountain Lakes, Richmond Shasha of Hamilton West, Luke Rapley of Marlboro, and Fiyin Amori of Barringer HS.

When looking at February alone Emari Guillette and his 21-10.5, from the Varsity Classic, is the third best mark of the month only behind Wildberg's 23-04.5 and Joshua McDonald's 22-04.  McDonald, who was second at Eastern States for Franklin Twp, isn't entered into the event. 

The girls meet is led by Tionna Tobias of Winslow Twp seed wise thanks to her 19-11.5 from spring season, she currently ranks NJ#5 indoors with a mark of 18-06.5 to win the Ocean Breeze Invitational at the end of January. It works well for her that this is held on a different date from the other events as she qualified for three others out of Groups, winning the Group 3 55m dash, 55m hurdles, and placing fourth in the high jump.

She won the outdoor Meet of Champions last spring with a mark of 19-05.25.

One of the other top contenders is just coming back from injury. Tiffany Bautista of Paramus Catholic, another very talented multi-athlete, injured her ankle back in January after a passerby walked onto her runway. She did compete at Eastern States on Tuesday but didn't achieve a mark finishing with a recorded foul. She is second on this list at 19-02.5 from last spring, ranks NJ#4 with her 18-07 earlier this indoors, and is still working her way back into true form. 

Her teammates Kennedee Cox and Isabelle Dely will also have a great shot ranking NJ#2 and #3 this season with marks of 18-10 and 18-09. Dely was second at Eastern States Championships this week, only behind the new state leader Leah Ellis of Millville. Unfortunately Ellis and her freshman state record of 19-03 aren't competing in the showcase. 

Also coming in with solid performances... Claudine Smith of Atlantic City, Tara Zeni of Red Bank Catholic, Alicia Campbell of Snyder, Emma Cunningham of Ramsey, Sarah Hutchins of Glen Rock. Many of those girls ranked top ten in the state this indoor season. 

Whoever wins is the first name on the list for the meet's history! Good luck to everyone who made the showcase.