A’Nan Bridgett certainly saved his best for last.
The High School South senior cleared a personal-best 6-feet-8 inches to win the boys high jump at the indoor track and field Meet of Champions last month.
“I was just so happy at that moment. All the work that I was doing leading up to Meet of Champs and the training I was doing prior to indoor track, to go out there in my last meet at ‘the Bubble’ and win it, it was just a fantastic feeling,” Bridgett said.
Bridgett is only the second South athlete to win an indoor MOC title. Brian Leung won the 3,200 meters in 2008. The win sets Bridgett up to be a favorite in the outdoor season.
“It’s not out of the question if he gets a good day to repeat what he did indoor,” said Pirates indoor head coach Todd Smith. “With high jumpers, it’s always tricky. With outdoor there are weather conditions. He’s not going to have a chance to practice as much with all the snow.”
Bridgett is more than just a high jumper. He has talent in a lot of areas. He won the 55-meter dash and 200 meters as well as the high jump at the Mercer County Championships. He might have been able to go far in those events, but he tweaked a hamstring in the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash at the Central Jersey Group IV, so he only advanced to groups in the high jump.
“That shifted my attention solely on the high jump,” Bridgett said. “I usually do multiple events. Going to groups and Meet of Champs was the only time I focused on one event, and I think that helped me do well.”
Bridgett had never cleared 6-feet-6 in competition, but he got over that new best as well as 6-8 to win over Jason Thobourne of JFK-Iselin, who cleared 6-8 as well but had more misses in the meet than Bridgett.
“I knew it was going to be a really good field this year,” Bridgett said. “I was just looking to finish better than I did last year.”
He did so by battling past a mental block. He said that in the past, he’d over think the height of the bar as it was moved above 6-4, and that blocked him from believing he could clear it. It was different at the MOC.
“That day, I was really relaxed and focused on jumping high,” he said. “Every time they increased it, I walked away. I tried to ignore it.”
Bridgett had been consistent all season at his old personal record and below. He managed to set a new one on the biggest stage.
“He had a four-inch personal best on that day which is incredible,” Smith said. “He’s been working on it a lot and I know his dad’s a really big part of that. It’s hard for someone to put it together on a meet of that magnitude.”
Bridgett’s father, Andre, is the former head coach at Princeton High School, but A’Nan found out on his own how much he enjoyed track and field. He’d sprint after he got off the bus and loved the feeling of it.
“Every day I would run to my house and I always found it really enjoyable,” Bridgett said. “I didn’t know it was an actual sport to race at that time, but it started to raise my attention about track.”
He used to participate in basketball and football during his freshman year, but decided to concentrated solely on track when he became a sophomore.
Bridgett has improved thanks to working at the technique necessary to maximize his ability. He has become more of a student of the event.
“For the longest, my run-up was something I really needed to work on,” Bridgett said. “It was really inconsistent. It was just me running at the bar and seeing how high I could get up. Now I’ve broken it down into different parts.
“I know when I’m supposed to start to turn and how fast I’m supposed to be going. I think that’s really helped me to increase how high I’ve been able to jump. That and staying focused and realizing where I want to be, and trying to get better either by training or lifting has allowed me to improve.”
Bridgett will broaden his scope for the outdoor season. He will compete in long jump and high jump and the 100 and 200.
“I don’t know what my best event is,” Bridgett said. “Right now, I’m going to see what happens in outdoor season. This year, I had to focus on the high jump so that’s where I did well.”
A’Nan Bridgett,
