Back from attempt at Trials, Harris returns for men's track in top form

When high jumper Tora Harris decided to take a year off halfway through his Princeton career he didn't go gallavanting through Europe or out west to "find himself." His idea of a "year off" involved training for the Olympic Trials while continuing as a part-time student at Texas A&M.

Harris' hopes for success at the Trials were kindled by his freshman and sophomore years at Princeton, which were marked by tremendous sucesses. He managed to capture the indoor and outdoor Heptagonal titles in the high jump, set the outdoor school record and the indoor freshman record for both Princeton and the IC4A, and finish in the top ten at NCAAs while receiving All-America honors both years.

"I felt that with some training, I could have a chance to make the U.S. team. Fred Samara, my coach, agreed that it would be a good decision and I always dreamed of what it would be like to train for the Olympics, so I just left."

The decision to train for the Olympic Trials was not solely based on his promising performances, however. After his father passed away during his sophomore year, Harris wanted to take some time away from Princeton.

Harris, now back at school, is sailing through his third collegiate season with the same apparent ease as his seven-plus foot jumps.

Although he fell short of making the cut for the U.S. team, Harris couldn't be happier with his decision to go to the Olympic Trials.

"After coming back, I had such a different perspective on Princeton and life in general. I got to live out my state school fantasy [at Texas A&M]. Now I better appreciate Princeton's people as well as what our school has to offer."

Harris started this season late because of foot surgery in October.

"For the most part, I am back, but I would not say I am 100 percent healed," he said.

Harris is now not so worried about reinjuring his foot, but instead about potential injury due to one leg being significantly weaker than the other.

So far Harris has avoided such injuries and has collected impressive wins through the rest of the indoor season and the start of the outdoor campaign.

April 14, while many of his teammates squared off against Penn and Penn State, Harris headed down to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sea Ray Invitational. There, his mark of seven feet, 3.25 inches placed him ahead of both Olympian Steve Smith and All-American Shaun Guice of Purdue.

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On this performance, Harris modestly noted, "at this level of competition, everyone is capable of winning. I just wanted to use smooth technique and qualify for [the NCAA Championships] without trying to over-power things."

Needless to say, he was pleased with his performance.

As far as his goals for next year, Harris can't help but have his eye on the NCAA championship. And as a junior he has two years to make that dream a reality.

This weekend the track teams will host the Heptagonal Championship. The men's high jump is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m on Sunday. Though Harris captured easy wins during both his freshman and sophomore years in both the indoor and outdoor Heps championships, this year he faced some stiff competition at indoor Heps — Brown's David Arundel.

When the two met earlier this year Arundel set a mark of 7-2.5 a little too close to Harris' 7-3.25 for comfort. Harris hopes to rise above this potential threat to take back the title.

In regard to the 2004 Olympics, Harris plans on going to the trials once again. As a seventh place finisher at the 2000 Trials, Harris certainly has a good shot. He is excited about trying out again with more experience under his belt.

"I realize that there were some things that I was not prepared for during the 2000 trials. I will be more experienced next time and I will have a better shot at the 2004 games," he said.

The track team will look toward strong performances from Harris in the coming weeks, and he looks to post a mark that will be good enough to qualify him for the NCAA Championships.

In the meantime, his competing at the world level last year has helped him to relax and be confident. Now when he goes to meets, he said, "I just go and have fun."