W. track's high jumper Minor modest, but has passion to win

Penn Stabler: "So, did you ever win any big meets or championships in high school?"

Sophomore high jumper Brooke Minor: "Well, I don't really want to get into that."

P: (laughs) "Oh c'mon, seriously, I ask everyone that question. A lot of people here do really cool and exceptional stuff in high school. It won't sound like you're bragging."

B: "Nah, it's ok, I'm fine.

P: (chuckles nervously) "Uh, please tell me, I really need this sort of stuff to be able to write this profile for tomorrow."

Though she eventually gave in (she was the New Jersey state champion in the high jump her senior year), the above example was only one of several similarly styled exchanges.

All of this, added together with other clues pieced together throughout the duration of the interview, confirmed my earlier suspicion: Brooke Minor is the most modest champion-caliber athlete in the world.

Possibly ever.

A sophomore here at Princeton, Minor's specialty is the high jump, in which she competes during both the indoor and outdoor track seasons.

She did exceptionally well last year as a freshman, scoring an abundance of points for the Tigers and going to ECACs for both seasons. This is fairly unusual, as most freshmen take some time to acclimate to the scholastic and competitive environment at college.

"Freshman year was especially difficult since I wasn't used to running indoors," Minor said. "The competition was tougher, too, but a lot of it was just getting used to the track and to practices and the schoolwork."

Trying to balance her five classes, track practices, and her extracurricular involvements can be tough, but Minor is beginning to think she has it down.

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She's known she wanted to come to Princeton for a while, so all of this is really secondary to what she really likes to do, which is jump. High.

"I think [the high jump] is just fun," Minor said. "Where else do you get to just jump over a bar into a pit? And I also like the competition, when at the end of a meet it comes down to just the two of you at the end trying to beat each other."

In her first meet of the year, the Princeton Invitational, Minor succeeded in jumping an inch under her personal best, good enough for second at the meet.

Her goals for the year, aside from simply doing a good job scoring points for the Tigers, include getting invited back to ECACs. She also intends to perform well enough to be asked to compete in the NCAA regional championship.

Minor credits much of her success to her friends and parents. Interestingly, however, though she decided to go to school in her home state, she dislikes it when her friends or family come to watch her run.

"It just makes me nervous, I don't know why," Minor said. "I'm kinda weird about it. But at the same time, their support still means a lot to me. Once there was a meet nearby, and I begged my friends not to go, because I wanted to do well.

"Then, of course, they all came. I didn't end up doing that well, but it was nice that they really wanted to go."

Though she may be modest, Minor's competitive spirit shines through from time to time.

When talking about her second-place finish at the Princeton Invitational, she began talking about the girl who had bested her, a jumper from New Jersey rival Rutgers.

"We're playing them again this season, and I think I can beat her," said Minor.

"I don't really like to lose..."

At this point she stopped, noticed that I was recording all of this, and grinned.

"I know what you're going to try to make out of that, and don't even try it."