Princeton High's Eric Shorter has earned a spot at the biggest meet of the New Jersey high school track season.
Shorter placed fifth in the long jump while competing at the Group III track championships, held June 3-4 at South Plainfield High School. That earns Shorter the opportunity to compete in The Meet of Champions, set for June 9 at Old Bridge High School.
"He gets to go to The Meet of Champions and, hopefully, he'll earn a medal," Princeton Coach John Woodside said.
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Shorter jumped 21' 8 1/4", which is close to his best jump of the season. Last year in the Central Jersey Group III meet, Shorter set a personal best of 21' 11".
The top six finishers in each event at the Group III championship earned the right to compete in The Meet of Champions.
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"Hopefully he can jump 22 feet in The Meet of Champions," Woodside said. "In his biggest meet (the Group III championships) thus far this season, he already got close to that."
Shorter also competed in the high jump at the Group III meet, but did not post an official height.
"They started at six feet and that's the best he's done," Woodside said. "It was tough on him."
Tim Brennan also competed in the Group III meet for Princeton. He qualified to compete in the discus and placed 20th with a distance of 121' 8".
"Tim is a sophomore that has made great progress," Woodside said.
"He was going against great, great competitors in this event. I'm happy he made it to this meet and I'm happy he competed well. The experience of being at this meet will help him next year.
Zaid Smart also qualified to compete for Princeton in the meet in the 3200.
Woodside said Smart qualified for the Group III meet despite getting injured a few weeks back.
"We've been trying to nurse him back to health," Woodside said. "We were hoping he would be able to run. He just woke up on Friday and felt pain. We had to scratch him from the race on Saturday.
"It's a tough way to end the season. You want kids to end it on the track."
Fortunately, Shorter will get a chance to end his season competing in the biggest event of the year.
