Averett to return to meet where he made his greatest jumps

Anthony Averett's track success reads like a legend.

Averett this season will go for his third straight Meet of Champions title in the long jump - quite an accomplishment for an athlete who likens track to an offseason hobby to help him maintain his conditioning for football.

This weekend, the chiseled, 6-foot-1 Woodbury senior, who will attend the University of Alabama as a defensive back, will return to the meet in which he made his most heralded jump.

Almost one year ago, Averett joined Carl Lewis in New Jersey track lore by long-jumping 25 feet twice at the Woodbury Relays.

His coach, Dan Jones, has a vivid recollection of the moment.

"It was a perfect day with nice weather," Jones recalled. "We were coming in, I think he previously jumped a 23. The way we were looking at it, if he got close to 24 that'd be unbelievable.

"He popped that first 25 and it was like, holy cow! Then he followed it up with another one. He did back-to-back 25-foot jumps. It wasn't a fluke."

The first jump was 25 feet, 21/2 inches, the second-longest in New Jersey high school history, behind Lewis, who went to Willingboro.

Unlike Jones, Averett does not remember much about his best jump.

He understood the environment, knowing that his school had a new track with an active jumping board that could propel him near his goal of 24 feet.

Averett stepped to the runway with a lot of attention. He remembered the crowd fixated on him, the defending Meet of Champions winner, and having expectations of something special on his home track.

The onlookers faded in Averett's memory in an adrenaline-filled rush as he began sprinting toward his jump.

The next thing Averett recalled, he leaped toward his mother in celebration, knowing he had done something special, but not realizing to what extent.

"I knew I jumped far," Averett said. "I thought I jumped like 24 feet, 2 inches.

"When he said how far I really jumped, I was just shocked. I can't even remember it. It was a blank moment. I was just excited. I was like, 'Wow, that really happened.' "

Averett remembers his next jump better. That one went 25-1. That time, the crowd was silent, stunned at what it had witnessed and looking for validation that it could believe what it had just seen.

"A lot of people thought it was like a fluke," Averett said. "After the next jump, they were just like: 'Hmmm.' I just heard that 'hmmm' after I jumped.

"After I did it a second time, it was like it really happened. It's true. It's a true jump."

A year later and noticeably more muscular because of workouts designed by the Alabama football program, Averett will compete in the Woodbury Relays again Saturday.

And he knows there will be big expectations. He just does not think they are justified.

"I think it was just that perfect day," Averett said. "A lot of people expect me to keep doing that, but it's not going to happen."

Others still look to last year, though, and know anything can happen.

"I don't know if anyone thought last year was possible," Jones said. "I know I didn't. I was surprised.

"The weather Saturday is looking a little colder, a little rainy. It might not be ideal conditions, but who knows? I'll never doubt him."

Saturday, 9 a.m. at Woodbury High School.

Field: Sixty-five teams are expected to vie for championships in Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 in boys' and girls' competition.

Honoring a past champion: This year's meet is dedicated to former Haddonfield star and Olympian Erin Donohue, a three-time winner of the Woodbury Relays' Most Valuable Girl Athlete Award. Donohue, a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, is a 2001 Haddonfield graduate.

Remembering "Voge": Meet officials noted that longtime journalist and track official John Vogeding last year became the first person to serve as an official in all 40 years of the event. Vogeding died last summer, and his contributions to the Woodbury Relays will be acknowledged this year.

Tough act to follow: Last year, 20 meet records were set, highlighted by juniors who are expected to compete again Saturday: Woodbury's Anthony Averett (25 feet, 21/2 inches in the long jump), Bridgeton's Braheme Days Jr. (66-1/4, shot put), and Cherokee's Jess Woodard (149-11, discus).

- Phil Anastasia

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