Leslie made big jumps for WW-P North
By: Justin Feil
Two weeks into the spring track and field season West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys’ head coach Brian Gould was reluctant to call Jerome Leslie a guaranteed winner.
By the end of the year, Leslie had proven no expectation was too great as he earned a steady 15 points each and every meet from start to finish while breaking plenty of records along the way.
"I think he matured a lot in the past year," Gould said. "He came in this year a lot more focused and a lot more dedicated to fulfill his potential. He had specific goals. You could see the way he carried himself that meets meant a lot more to him that in the past."
High jump, long jump, triple jump Leslie was a consistent winner. He added points here and there in the 100 and 200 meters. He performed each meet with expectations that swelled along with his accomplishments.
"Last year, from the beginning, I was a big points scorers as well," said Leslie, a Knights senior. "I knew if I came to practice and worked hard, I thought I’d do what I had to do. I never thought it was a burden. I just performed."
Leslie performed in record-setting fashion. He never lost in dual-meet competition in any of his three jumping events. At the Mercer County Championships, he set a new meet record to win the triple jump and narrowly missed a second record while winning the long jump. He won silver in the high jump.
"He was in second going into the last jump in both events," Gould said, "and he came up with huge jumps when they mattered most. He had the face of a champion. He got on the runway and everyone knew he was going to win. I was nervous watching, but you knew watching he was going to come through. He knew he was going to win."
Leslie set a new school record of 6-feet-6 inches to win the long jump at the Central Jersey Group III meet. Earlier in the year, he was a part of the school’s top 4×100 relay. Leslie broke the existing sectionals meet triple jump record with a best of 46-7¼ to finish second. He also finished second in the sectional long jump. The Memphis University-bound Leslie accounted for 203 points in the dual meet season, 80 more than any other Knight as he helped the team win all but its Trenton meet this season.
Jerome Leslie is the Princeton Packet Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"Basically going into the year, I set some goals of being better than the previous year and working hard to reach that goal," Leslie said. "When I looked at track team, I didn’t think we’d be as successful as we came out to be.
"As the year went on, we had some of our bigger meets," he added. "We had county relays, then county championships and then sectionals. It was good I didn’t fall off at all and made progress. At each of the meets, the team needed me to perform the best I could to win."
Added Gould: "It’s almost impossible to compare him. Jerome is the best athlete we’ve had in a while, certainly the most talented athlete we’ve had."
Leslie, who also played football and basketball at WW-P North, went beyond the talent to build on his potential in his final scholastic season. It’s what helped him develop into a collegiate prospect. It’s a step he hadn’t considered until recent years.
"My sophomore year, I was decent," Leslie said. "Junior year, I started to get really good. Someone brought it to my attention that I should look at doing track in college. I got in touch with the coach from Memphis. He told me if I keep improving the way I’ve been, they have a spot for me on the team.
"It’s going to be a big jump. I’m looking forward to seeing competition from across the states. They won their region. They’re building a strong track program there. I hope I can contribute and be a part of that."
Leslie certainly helped to sustain the standards at WW-P North. He showed a competitive nature that Gould hopes is contagious.
"The thing we’ll miss, every meet and every event, he was going out to win," Gould explained. "Second place was disappointing to him, whether he got a record or not. He jumped 46-7, and he was disappointed he didn’t win. Without a gold medal, that was still disappointing. Hopefully that attitude spread throughout the team. That attitude he had is unique. It’s something we’re going to miss about him."
Leslie credits some inspiring performances from teammates with keeping up his competitive spirit. As the team won more and more, it fed his desire to excel.
"Overall, it rubs off on the team in a positive way," Leslie said. "If I see someone do well, it helps me. I think that happened in a lot of meets. You see someone do well and get more pumped. It had an overall effect on the whole team."
Leslie was a consistent force for the Knights as he put together his best season in his career.
"He was working very hard from Day One this year," Gould said. "One thing that was great, when you have a guy with that much talent, they’re the ones that do their own thing. He was so coachable. Anything you ask him do, any technique you ask him to try, he was open to. He trusted everything he was being told. The more he worked on technique and the more he worked, the more he progressed and he had confidence in what he was doing."
Added Leslie of his positive results: "It was confirmation for me for the hard work. Last year, I did well overall, but I didn’t work as hard as I did this year. The more work and more time you put in, the better the results you get. I take track a lot more seriously now."
Leslie continues to work on building strength as well as stay sharp by jumping this summer in hopes of making an impact at Memphis.
"In triple jump," he said, "I should be scoring. In long jump and high jump, I’m not sure if I’m where I should be yet. I can hit marks and contribute, I think."
Contributing as much as he did in his senior season with the Knights will be tough to match. And finding someone to replace Jerome Leslie looks as difficult a task for WW-P North.
"It was nice going into every meet and tallying up his 15 points and knowing they were going to be there," Gould said. "You graduate points every year, but the younger guys, when you have a program they step up and fill in. It’s a great thing about having a team with a winning tradition. Points come and go, but his personality and attitude and leadership, we’re never going to have another kid to motivate the other kids like he did."