By George Calver, Standard Correspondent
Bill Wood broke the oldest track and field record in Vermont Saturday at the Essex Invitational, a record that goes back to 1968. Wood’s final long jump of 22-09.50 surpassed a 48- year mark of 22-06.25. The Wasps’ multi-sport athlete plans to focus on the long jump at the New England Championships on June 10 in Norwell, Massachusetts. “Bill is always exciting to watch when the level of competition is high. When he knows that there are other athletes who could possibly win, he gets on another level. We’ve seen on the football field and on the track that he has a unique ability to speed up and be very explosive and very, very, quick,” his coach Greg Somerville said. The coach continued, “He has steadily improved in the long jump over the last four years, and is really putting all the pieces together right now. Three weeks ago in South Burlington he made a jump of 22-04.5, so we knew he had some big jumps in him.”
Fans of Wood are keeping their fingers crossed that more “big jumps” are in him at the upcoming New Englands. Stay tuned.