Boys Indoor Track: Jones and Ward lead South Plainfield

The pole vaulter was afraid of heights, and the sprinter worried that the workouts would be too difficult. Still, both went out for the South Plainfield High School spring track and field team as underclassmen.

At this time last year, the two juniors were no-names in the track and field universe. Even Josh Ward and Marteese Jones weren’t expecting super success. But the Tigers’ duo turned their raw talent into success through work and practice.

Both went from under the radar to indoor track Meet of Champions winners. Ward took home the pole vault crown and Jones captured the 55-meter dash. It was the school’s first indoor MOC championships, and the first boys champs since 1975 when Roscoe Johnson won the MOC outdoor high jump.

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“It was something else,” South Plainfield coach Chris Fish said. “It was a very big day for our program.”

Fish said that more students are now interested in track because of their success, and “they’re very good ambassadors for our sport.”

With the indoor season beginning this past weekend, both seniors are among the area’s top competitors to watch.

Ward’s Rise In Pole Vault

On Feb. 27, Ward was the first Tiger to win with a 14-6, beating two seniors who also did the height but had more misses. It was quite an improvement from his freshman year when he intended to do throws. A friend, though, urged him to try pole vault, and Ward liked it. At the end of his sophomore year, his personal best was 11-6.

There’s no mystery to how the 5-foot-8, 150-pounder was able to spike his PB by three feet — total dedication. He began training year-round in pole vaulting, improving in, well, everything. Since late summer, Ward has been working with 2000 Olympic silver medal winner Lawrence Johnson five days a week near Doylestown, Pa.

Ward noted getting stronger has particularly helped.

“If you can’t handle a pole, it will reject you,” he said. “It will throw you back out. You’ll come down the runway, hit the box, you’ll jump off but the pole will just shoot you straight back out onto the runway. And it’s actually kind of scary. I’ve done it before.”

Scary, especially for someone not too eager to look out the top floor of a skyscraper.

“That’s like the biggest joke on my team, that I’m afraid of heights,” Ward said. “As much as it sounds kind of weird since I just said I’m afraid of heights, the best feeling is flying through the air. Like you push off the pole and the best feeling is knowing that you cleared the bar. And you just fall off down onto the mat. It’s a really good feeling.”

Jones’ Path to History

After he won the MOC, Ward held the blocks for Jones, who blazed a 6.48 seconds in the 55-meter dash. He edged Neptune’s Marvin Morgan’s 6.49. The officials viewed a tape to confirm that Jones had won, becoming the first Greater Middlesex Conference winner in the event.

After Jones crossed the line, he looked at Fish and said, “Are you serious?”

Fish replied, “I swear.”

The two hugged and the coach said, “That was awesome.”

Initially, Jones wasn’t too eager to try track.

“I didn’t do it my ninth grade year because a lot of people were telling me that it’s so hard and they’re really tired and they’re aching, and all that stuff,” Jones said. “I didn’t do it out of fear.”

“Now,” Fish said, “he’s asking me for harder workouts.”

“It’s true,” Jones responded.

As a sophomore, he tried out for basketball. Jones’ father is Monte Jones, who was a star guard at Elizabeth and is in the city’s Hall of Fame. He went on to have success at Navarro College and Lamar University in the early 1970s.

Jones, however, remembered he came to tryouts wearing running shoes, short yellow shorts and a gray sweater. Basketball coach Matt Connell, who is also the sprint coach in the spring, rejected him for the hardwood, but suggested track. Fish said, “He told us he was sending somebody over who had talent.”

The 5-foot-11, 158-pound Jones didn’t know much about track. For example, he ran an 11.7 and said “I didn’t know what it meant. … And finally one of my coaches told me that it was 11 seconds, and I didn’t know if that was good. If that was bad. I didn’t know where I stood. I was literally just running.”

Last winter, he honed his form and discovered the 55-meters, and said, “I like the shorter race. It feels more exciting. I get more of a rush from it. … My coaches say I think a lot when I’m racing. I think too much. I think too much after my races and during my races. So in that race, I don’t think a lot. I’m usually just running.”

When he’s not running, Jones gets around town with a skateboard and is in the school’s chamber choir as a bass singer and plays trumpet on his own. (For the record, his favorite songs to sing include “Choose Something Like a Star” that’s based on a Robert Frost poem and “Glow” by Eric Whitacre.)

Something like a star seems like a good theme song for both of the athletes. This winter, Ward hopes to run the 55 meters, but don’t expect Jones to try the pole vault.

“I don’t have any wings,” he said with a laugh. “So I’ll stay on the ground.”