Princeton High's Shorter Qualifies for Group III in Two Track Events

Thanks to the efforts of Eric Shorter, Tim Brennan and Zaid Smart, the Princeton High track season will continue at least through this weekend.

Competing in the Central Jersey Group III meet at Monmouth Regional on May 27-28, those three boys each managed to place in one of the top six spots of an event. As a result, they will compete in the Group III finals on June 3-4 at South Plainfield.

"The goal is always to get the guys through to the Group III finals," Coach John Woodside said. "We definitely had some guys that did very well."

Last year, Princeton advanced in 10 different events. The team placed athletes in four events at The Meet of Champions. Considering Shorter qualified for two events in the Group III finals, Princeton could still match last year's Meet of Champions total. Any athlete who places in the top six of his event will earn a spot in The Meet of Champions.

Competing at the C.J. Group III meet, Shorter placed third in the long jump with a distance of 20' 9." Shorter also tied for sixth in the high jump with a height of 5' 10".

"Eric Shorter really competed well," Woodside noted. "He even had the lead in the long jump coming down to the last couple of jumps."

Zaid Smart placed fourth in the 3200 with a time of 9:42.28.

"Zaid has had an injury," Woodside noted. "We had to shut him down and nurse him back to health. Coming into the race, I didn't know what to expect. He has a lot of competitiveness and talent."

Tim Brennan placed fifth in the discus with a distance of 127' 7."

"Tim didn't throw his best, but he was close to it," Woodside said. "What I liked is he competed hard. He qualified on his last throw."

In addition to the three boys that qualified, Princeton also had some good efforts that fell just short of advancement.

The 4x400 team of Bruce Robertson, Kevin Ivanov, Ian McIsaac and Garrett Keyes was eighth in a time of 3:36.53. Kevin Vahdat was eighth in the 3200 (10:16.79). Paul Sorrento placed ninth in the pole vault with a height off 11' 6". Matt Burns was 10th in the 1600 (4:42.48).