Harris wins national title for m. track in high jump

Picture Shaquille O'Neal (or Chris Young on his tiptoes). Now add four inches. That's how high Princeton senior Tora Harris soared Friday night to win his first NCAA indoor championship.

Competing in Fayetteville, Ark., seven-time Heptagonal champion Harris entered the meet with a No. 1 seed, along with Adam Shunk of the University of North Carolina, both having cleared 2.25 meters (seven feet, 4.5 inches).

In championship action, Harris improved his Princeton record to 2.26m (7'-5"), while Shunk faltered slightly in clearing 2.23m to place second. Harris, a veteran of international competition — having placed third at the 2001 World University Games in Beijing — epitomized the cool and collected competitor.

"I came here to compete," Harris said. "I knew if I did what I had to, it wouldn't matter who I was up against. I'm happy to be here representing Princeton, as well as the Ivy League, competing against some of the best athletes in the world."

An All-American in the 1998, 1999 and 2001 outdoor championships, Harris took the 1999-2000 academic year off to train for the Olympics trials at a high-performance training center in Texas.

He narrowly missed selection to the U.S. national team, suffered a navicular stress fracture and returned to Princeton as a junior in the fall of 2000 on crutches. Undaunted by the inability to walk, let alone jump, for eight months, Harris rehabbed and strengthened as though on a mission and completed the outdoor season as an All-America selection.

With a full year of injury-free training and competition behind (or perhaps beneath) him, Harris was finally able to capitalize on his talent and claim what some argue was long overdue: an NCAA title.

"Tora is a great NCAA champion, an unbelievable athlete and a wonderful representative of Princeton," head coach Fred Samara said. "He's worked so hard for four years and now he's achieved this."

Although slightly overshadowed by the high jumping heroics of Harris, Princeton's other qualifier for the NCAA championship meet, Josh McCaughey, had an impressive showing in the weight throw. The sophomore from Rhode Island, who earned All-America honors last indoor season with a 14th place finish, improved on his 13th seeding to place ninth and earn his second All-America certificate.

McCaughey tossed the 35lb weight 20.56m (67'5"). Scott Russell of Kansas captured the national title and broke the meet record with a distance of 24.67m. "We're really happy with this one," Samara said. McCaughey finished just one place out of picking up points for Princeton in the team competition.

Harris' high jump title netted the Tigers 10 points, which tied them for 15th place nationally.

Samara has further reason to be happy, as he was honored at the pre-meet coaches' meeting and banquet as the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year.

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The Princeton track and field program begins the outdoor season with training camps followed by a men's meet in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and a women's meet in Miami over spring break and points toward the outdoor NCAA championship hosted by Louisiana State University June 1 and 2.

Harris will look to close out his collegiate career as a 2-time national champion, while McCaughey will look to secure his third set of all-America honors. Both the men and women's teams will look to get a larger contingent to the start line.