By Paul Schwartz – Record Sports Staff
Rutherford sophomore Jenna Rogers has accepted an invitation to jump against some of the nation’s top women’s high jumpers at the Millrose Games, the world’s oldest and most prestigious indoor track meet, on Feb. 3 at the Armory Track Center.
“I’m very excited to be invited to jump in this meet,” said Rogers, the surprise outdoor high school national champion in the high jump last spring, who set a Bergen County indoor record of 5 feet 10 inches in winning her first ever indoor meet at the Armory last month. “I think it’s an amazing thing to be jumping against great women jumpers and I love jumping at the Armory.”
The women’s high jump will be held this year for the first time since 2013 when 2016 U.S. Olympian Inika McPherson won with a height of 6-1 1/2. The meet is in its 111th year, moving from Madison Square Garden to the Armory in 2012.
“I didn’t know anything about the meet until I got invited,” said Rogers, who jumped 6 feet 1/2 inch last spring to set a state outdoor record and broke the Ocean Breeze high school record by clearing 5-8 last week. “But then I looked it up and I can’t believe how great this meet has been.”
The event is named for the late John Thomas, one of the greatest high jumpers in American history and the first man to clear the seven foot barrier indoors. A two-time Olympic medalist and the former world record holder, Thomas served as an official at the Millrose Games until he died in 2013.
Rogers has jumped against elite women jumpers before, competing in a pair of meets in the summer before her freshman year against Amina Smith and Priscilla Frederick, both of whom competed in the 2016 Olympic Trials. Frederick was in the Millrose field in both 2010 and 2013, the last two times, the women’s high jump was contested.
The field for this year’s meet has not been announced yet but 2017 world champion steeplechase Emma Coburn and other gold medalists Shauntae Miller-Uibo (of the Bahamas) and Omar McLeod (of Jamaica) have also announced that they will be at the meet.
