Frick is tops in East high jump
By: Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
For the second straight year, Justin Frick will cap his outdoor track and field season with a trip to the NCAA Championships.
After placing third in the East Regionals to advance to nationals last year, the Princeton University sophomore won the men’s high jump at the East Regional on Friday when he tied his career best of 7-feet-2¼ while equaling the meet record.
”It’s amazing,” Frick said. “To be able to say I won the entire East Region, it feels awesome.”
The top five regional finishers advance to nationals. Frick will compete in the NCAAs that begin on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa. He goes in a more experienced and confident jumper than he was as a freshman.
”Last year, I didn’t do so great,” Frick said. “I was so awestruck with the guys I was against and unprepared for the pressure. Having gone to indoor as well as outdoor last year, I’m set up to do well at the NCAAs finally.”
The NCAA Championships are set up differently from any other collegiate meet in which Frick has competed. Wednesday is the preliminary round with the top 12 advancing to next Friday’s final. Frick didn’t make it out of the preliminaries last year.
”You never know what the qualifying height will be,” said PU men’s coach Fred Samara. “It could be 7-feet. Could be 7-2. You have to treat that day as a final. The top 12 come back on the following Friday. It’ll be tough. You have to be on both days. I think he stands a good chance of making the final.”
Samara likes the experience and confidence that Frick has picked up through his first two years of competing for the Tigers. Frick battled through missing his first two jumps at lower heights at the regionals before hitting 7-2¼.
”He’s got a lot of experience,” Samara said. “He went to nationals last year. He won IC4As and Heps. He’s a pretty savvy competitor now. High jump is tough. You could be off by a half-inch and miss. It’s a tough event. It’s you against the bar basically.”
Frick has been winning more and more of those confrontations. His regionals clearance equaled his best set during the indoor season.
”I was a lot more confident going into regionals this year,” Frick said. “I had been jumping more consistently the entire year. I knew I was ready to do something big. I was more confident going into the meet.”
Coming out of nearby Freehold High, the Tigers weren’t exactly sure how he would be in college. As a junior, he won the Meet of Champions with a leap of 6-feet-10. As a senior, he jumped just 6-6 to finish third at the MOC.
”His junior year was a lot better than his senior year,” Samara said. “He did not have a good senior year. He was getting 6-6, occasionally a 6-8. He would get distracted at times in meets. We talked about that a lot. He made a big breakthrough about that last year.
”You never know how they’ll be. We always recruit good kids. A lot of programs recruit good kids. It’s hard to determine what they’ll do.”
Explained Frick: “The biggest thing was consistent coaching. In high school, I did a lot of self coaching. I went to a trainer once a week maybe 10 or 12 times. Having a coach to work with is a lot better. He can tailor my lifting schedule, and make sure I’m doing what I need to be doing every day of the week. It’s a huge difference.”
Frick certainly has performed as well as could have been hoped when he came to Princeton. He has met his own high standards for his first two years of college.
”I feel great about it,” Frick said. “I’m either right where I thought I’d be or beyond it. I had hoped to be at national level competition by sophomore year. Now I’m in the mix. I think I have a shot at All-American. I don’t think I would have had that shot if I had gone to other schools.”
Frick is on track for his ultimate goal of a shot at the Olympic Games. He is only one centimeter away from the B standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials. He won’t attend this year, even if he achieves the mark at the NCAA meet, due to an internship he will begin in Japan this summer. But four years from now, he’ll be looking forward to the Olympic Trials.
”It’s something I planned for,” Frick said. “I still want to be competing and I want to make a run at the 2012 Olympics. I’ll give it my all. It’ll mean putting a lot of things on hold right after school. I want to put myself in a good position where I have a chance of going.”
Frick is part of a strong contingent of young athletes on the Princeton team. Given how little experience they have in college competition, Samara was pleased with the regionals that finished off the season for all but Frick.
”Alex Pessala made the (hammer) finals for the first time, which was a big thing,” Samara said. “Almost all the guys are back for next year. It’ll be good. The experience is the most important things at those meets.
”We had way too many injuries. We had nine Heptagonals scorers that didn’t compete and we still had great team performance.”
This summer, Eric Plummer will compete in the shot put and George Abyad will compete in the discus at the Junior Nationals. Plummer is the top seed in shot. The top two from each event will compete at the Junior World Championships in Poland.
For Frick, performing better at the nationals this year is his next big test of how far he has come since last season. He will compete in a new environment and against tougher competition.
”You start seeing a lot of the same guys over and over at the top of the competition,” Frick said. “Once you get to championship season, it starts to expand. You see some other guys in the region that you might not see normally. I feel like getting to see same guys over and over and how they compete is a big help.”
Frick is hoping a new set of competitors will help him reach a new best. His winning jump of 7-2¼, or 2.19 meters, at the regionals had plenty of clearance.
”I think it’s great,” Frick said. “It’s definitely a height I thought I could make and now I have made. I want to go higher. Irregardless of what happens, how I place or getting or not getting All-American, if I can make 2.22, this will be a great, great season. It will far exceed my expectations.”
Said Samara: “He has the potential to make that. I’ll take 2.19 again. The big thing is to be consistent.”
Justin Frick has been consistent in a big thing in his first two seasons at Princeton. He has been winning, and his latest win has him heading back to the NCAA Championships.