Pennsauken's Martin Booker Jr. is South Jersey boys' track athlete of the year
For the longest time, Martin Booker Jr. didn't want to try to fill the large shoes or trace the rapid steps of his famous father.
For the longest time, Martin Booker Jr. didn't want to try to fill the large shoes or trace the rapid steps of his famous father.
"I wanted to go my own way," Booker said. "I was more into football than track. I thought that would be my main sport."
Booker, a junior at Pennsauken, still plays football.
But he also has embraced his legacy as the son of one of South Jersey's most accomplished track and field athletes and has come to create his own identity in the sport.
Booker is the Inquirer's South Jersey athlete of the year in boys' track and field after a sensational season in which he led Pennsauken to the Group 3 state title and finished with a flourish at the Meet of Champions.
"He's really started to come into his own," Pennsauken coach Clint Tabb said. "You could just see him getting better and better."
Martin Booker Sr. was a legendary hurdler at Camden High School and Villanova. He said he tried hard not to push his son to try to live up to his accomplishments.
"I never pushed him too hard," Booker Sr. said. "I used to coach [youth track teams] in Camden, and we would go up to the Armory [in New York] for meets, and he would be sitting up in the balcony, watching runners go around and around.
"He came to it in his own time. He started to realize just what he could do in this sport."
Booker Jr. closed out his junior season with a strong showing at the Meet of Champions on Wednesday at Central Regional.
As an individual, Booker finished second in the 200 meters in 21.78 seconds and third in the 100 in 10.71.
He also ran a blistering anchor leg in the 4x100 relay (41.85 seconds), rallying Pennsauken from a couple of meters behind to win the race with a surge over the final 20 meters and a lean at the tape.
"That meant a lot," Booker Jr. said. "To win that race as a team, that's something special."
At the Group 3 state meet June 3-4 at Northern Burlington, Booker won the 100 (10.82) and 200 (21.89), anchored the victorious 4x100 relay (42.10) and ran a leg on the 4x400 relay that took third (3:18.66).
In a competitively balanced low-scoring meet, the points the Indians racked up in those events were enough to produce the program's first state title in boys' track and field.
"That was unbelievable," Booker Jr. said. "There's not a lot of people who can say they won a state title. It's something we'll never forget."
Booker said he still likes football. He's a standout running back for the Indians.
But he suspects that track is his future as well as his past.
"I love track now," Booker said. "I realize it's in my family. It's in my genes."
@PhilAnastasia