By Tim Morris
Although the long jump was not her primary focus during the track and field season, Marlboro High School’s Alicia Zhou was not going to let a poor jump be her lasting memory for the season.
After a 13-6 jump at the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV meet, which was well off her personal best (16-3½), Zhou, who only started competing in the long jump this spring, had one last opportunity to redeem herself at the Eastern States Championships in New Rochelle, New York.
Zhou went to New Rochelle with the modest goal of getting back to the 16-foot range and maybe jumping a personal best. What she got was totally unexpected — a new school record with a huge jump of 18-2.
“I didn’t think it was big jump,” she said. “It was not one of my better landings.”
But when the jump was measured, it was a big one. It was far enough to win the competition by more than a foot and break the school record set jut three weeks earlier by her teammate, Gianna Gomez, who had leaped 17-11½ in winning the Shore Conference championship. She is just the fifth jumper in Freehold Regional High School District history to jump more than 18 feet.
“It really does feel great having a school record,” said Zhou, who also holds the Marlboro school record for the pole vault at 10-0.
Zhou pointed out that she was having trouble with her run up at the state sectional, where she had that poor jump and two fouls. She said that Marlboro coach Ray Sypniewski had her move her mark back an inch, and that seemed to make all the difference. She hit the board perfectly — not too far away to lose distance on her jump and not too far to foul.
That and Zhou’s athletic background would seem well-suited for the long jump. She is a quality sprinter and has a gymnastics background. She was a member of the Marlboro gymnastics team that won the A North title the last two years.
“Sprinting helps a lot,” Zhou said. “Gymnastics helps me be comfortable with my body control. I’m used to being in the air.”
Now that she has surpassed 18 feet in the long jump, Zhou said she might have to take it up in college, which for her will be at the Naval Academy.
Zhou said that she first though of the Academy when her former teammate, Hayley Unger, who is there now playing basketball, brought it up to her. A visit to Annapolis, Maryland, convinced her.
“There was a genuineness of everyone there,” she said.
Zhou also likes the idea of serving her country.
“It’s a great thing to do,” she said.
