We are now into the abridged version of the Snapshots as we get to more recent records. We look here at a record from back in 2016. Enjoy!
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At wins at Penn Relays and the Section 1 State Qualifier in 2016, Beacon's Rayvon Grey had barely missed Bob Beamon's NY state record long jump mark set way way back in 1966. On Friday June 10th in the D1 long jump action at Cicero-North Syracuse, Grey started off with a 25-0 jump that was 3.5 inches off the record. He was still sitting at 25-0 after his final two attempts in flight action and first of his three attempts in finals. He had no big worries about winning in D1 since he was a foot and a half ahead of the next two jumpers, South Shore's Theodore Westcarr and Grey's jumping buddy from Beacon, indoor States champ Terrel Davis. Grey would have six more attempts on Saturday morning in the Championship round, but as he lined up for his next-to-last attempt in the D1 jumps, he knew that conditions would never be better to break the meet record of 25-2.5 and the one inch longer state record. There was no wind to affect any record certifications as he sprinted down the runway, and he launched himself and knew immediately that he had done everything needed when he landed his 25-4.75 jump and began the celebrating. The action the next morning was a bit subdued, and Grey won with a 23-10.5 leap to go with a 2nd place in the triple jump, an event in which he was the indoor States champ. A week later he completed a sweep of 2016's New Balance long jump national titles with a 24-3.5 mark under tough conditions. Indoors he had won the national crown with an astounding 26-0.25 leap. Three years later he won the NCAA D1 championship as an LSU Tiger with a 26-1.5 jump.
1968 Olympic gold medalist Bob Beamon had held the NY state record in the long jump for two days shy of 50 years when Grey made his big leap at States that also broke Greece Olympia's Desmond Mobley's meet record of 25-2 set in 2012. Beamon of Jamaica HS set his record on June 12, 1966 at Randall's Island in the Eastern States championship. Two years later at the Mexico City Olympics, Beamon bettered the world record by 21.5 inches when took the gold with a 29-2.5 leap. A week before the NY state record was broken in 2016, Beamon met with the Beacon guys Grey and Davis to wish them well.