Tora Harris

By now, you've probably heard of Tora Harris.

The senior high jumper is not only Princeton's best leaper, but the best in the Ivy League, the best in college athletics and now the best in the United States.

His most recent leap of seven feet, seven inches at the outdoor Heptagonal Championships vaulted him into second overall in the world. Harris took the 1999-2000 academic year off to train for the Sydney Olympics, but he came up just short at the Olympic Trials.

Since then, he's added 10 centimeters to his leap — which puts him as an early favorite for a medal at Athens in 2004.

Harris, a mechanical engineering major, helped Princeton to a second-place finish at the crowning event of the outdoor track season — Heps. The Tigers finished just two points behind Penn, which won the final relay to put it over the edge.

Harris won the individual title in the high jump at the indoor NCAA championships earlier this year.

He is the odds-on favorite to win the national title at outdoor NCAAs in June.

After that, there are only two years until the next Summer Olympics and a possible shot at winning gold.