We’re closing in on the July 26 opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics – and it’s time a good time to reminisce on Jersey Shore athletes who’ve been part of this prestigious event in the past as well as look at the three from the Shore who’ll be competing on the big stage for the first time at the Paris Games.
Competition will actually get started July 24 and everything wraps up by Aug. 11.
More: New Jersey athletes to watch at the 2024 Paris Olympics; How to watch summer games
More: Ready for the Olympics? Our guide to NJ athletes headed to the 2024 Summer Games
Jersey Shore athletes who’ve participated in Olympics
Robby Andrews (track)
In his memorable senior year at Manalapan High School, Andrews in 2009 set the Meet of Champions record in the boys 800 in 1:48.66, No. 2 all-time in New Jersey, and he set the state record in the mile against high school-only competition (4:03.49). As a collegian at Virginia he won the NCAA 800 in a blazing 1:44.71 and represented the U.S. in the 1500 at the 2016 Olympics
Chester Bowman (track)
Bowman, a West Long Branch native, set the Syracuse record on the 100-yard dash in 1925 (9.6); he was a national sprint champion and made the final of the 1924 Paris Olympics, running fourth. He is depicted briefly in the movie “Chariots of Fire.”
Pam Boyd (team handball)
At Central Regional, where she graduated in 1974, Boyd was a standout in basketball, field hockey and track. But after high school, she excelled as a team handball player. She joined the U.S. National Team as a goalie in 1978, and made it to the 1984 Olympics as a member of the U.S. squad.
Frank Budd (track)
Perhaps the Shore’s greatest athlete regardless of sport, the 1958 Asbury Park High School grad tied the state schoolboy record in the 220-yard dash (21.0) and ran Jersey’s second-fastest 100-yard time ever (9.6) at that point. He placed fifth in the 100 at the 1960 Rome Olympics and, running at Villanova University, broke a 13-year-old world record in 1961 with at time of 9.2. He played two years in the NFL as a wide receiver with the Eagles and Redskins. Budd died in 2014 at age 74.
Cathy Corcione (swimming)
As a 15-year-old swimmer, Corcione, a Long Branch native, qualified for the U.S. squad at the 1968 Olympics in the 4×100 freestyle relay. She went on to become a groundbreaking female athlete at Princeton, winning an NCAA championship, taking gold and silver medals at the World University Games and taking part in an NCAA record-breaking relay team.
Pam Dukes (track)
Between 1980 and 1982, this Freehold Township star was the state’s best thrower, winning three straight shot put titles at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, including a state record of 46-8 as a senior. She also two straight discus titles. She won an NCAA title in the shot put at Stanford, and competed at the 1992 Olympic Games.
Todd Frazier (baseball)
Frazier won a silver medal with Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Toms River native first emerged to the national stage in 1998 when he starred for Toms River East in winning the Little League World Series title. He led Toms River South High School to two consecutive Group 3 titles in 2002 and 2003 before going on to Rutgers and winning Big East Player of the Year in 2007. He enjoyed a successful MLB career and owns 218 home runs and 639 RBI for his career. He retired in 2022.
Barbara Friedrich (track)
Without a girls’ track team at Manasquan in the 1960s, Friedrich began throwing the javelin with the boys teams. She went out and won the 1967 NJ girls state championship, and at the Long Branch Invitational Meet of Champions she set a high school world record of 198 feet, eight inches. She won a gold medal at the 1967 Pam American Games, and competed at the 1968 Olympics.
Erin Gleason (speed skating)
While Gleason played softball at Jackson High School, now Jackson Memorial, she made it to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan as a short track speed skater. She held three U.S. records, won a pair of bronze medals at the 1996 world championships and competed in three events at the Olympics
Milton Goode (track)
As a senior at Monmouth Regional, Goode high jumped 7 feet, 2 inches in taking the NJSIAA and Penn Relays titles. He won the 1982 Millrose Games with a career-best leap of 7-7, and was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team in Los Angeles.
Connor Jaeger (swimming)
A distance swimming specialist from Fair Haven, Jaeger was a three-time All-American at Michigan. He won a silver medal in the 1,500 meter freestyle at the 2016 Olympic Games, and was a member of the U.S. team at the 2012 Olympics, placing sixth in the 1,500 meter freestyle.
Sarah Mergenthaler (sailing)
At Marlboro High School, Mergenthaler earned varsity letters in five different sports, and was the first female in New Jersey to convert a field goal in a varsity football game. At the University of Richmond, she played four years of soccer and set a school record in the javelin. Then she turned her focus to sailing and qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games.
Frank Molinaro (wrestling)
A three-time NJSIAA wrestling champion at Southern, he went 33-0 at Penn State in 2012 to win an NCAA championship, finishing as a four-time All-American. At the 2016 Olympic Games, Molinaro wrestled for a bronze medal, losing the match to finish fifth.
Christie Pearce (soccer)
She led the Shore Conference in scoring in both soccer and basketball as a senior at Point Borough in 1993, scoring 2,203 points in basketball for her career, as well as starring on the softball diamond. She scored 79 goals in 80 games at Monmouth University and went on to captain the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, winning three Olympic gold medals and two World Cup titles.
Morgan Pearson (triathlon)
Pearson, who has ties to Monmouth County, won silver in the mixed team triathlon in Tokyo and is back to compete in Paris.
Bill Reilly (steeplechase)
Reilly, from the Long Branch High School Class of 1961, became an All-American distance runner at Penn State and later won the U.S. title in the steeplechase, representing America in the event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Jessica Springsteen (equestrian)
The daughter of New Jersey rock and roll legends Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in team jumping. She was an alternate rider in 2012 but did not make the cut in 2016 or this year – the Ranney alum and Colts Neck native finished outside the top 30 in the qualifying round of the individual jumping (she was 31st).
Meghan Tierney (snowboarding)
The two-time Olympian grew up in Little Silver and Rumson, but was born in Long Branch. She competed at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea where she finished 17th. She also competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in snowboard cross.
When Tierney went to her first Olympics, she was 13 months removed from breaking her back in a spill that nearly ended her career at an event in Austria. She lives in Colorado where she also trained at a snowboarding academy in her high school year.
Andrew Valmon (track)
A Manchester High School graduate, Valmon burst on to the national scene while running at Seton Hall, where he was a three-time All-American. He went on to earn gold medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games as a member of the U.S. 4×400 relay team, and still holds a world record as part of the 1993 World Championship relay that ran 2:54.29.
Charlie Volker (bobsledding)
The former Rumson-Fair Haven and Princeton University football standout took to bobsledding after his career on the gridiron ended. He competed in the two-man bobsleigh and four-man event in the 2022 Winter Olympics. In the two-man event he finished 27th place with a time of 3:02.31 alongside his partner Hunter Chruch. In the four-man event he was 10th place with a time of 3:57.06.
Quentin Wheeler (track)
Wheeler, a Monmouth Regional 1974 grad, set a state record of 52.8 in the boys 400 hurdles that lasted four years, but his biggest accomplishments came later. At San Diego State he was the 1976 NCAA champion in the intermediates in a time of 48.55 — setting the Franklin Field record — and went on to place fourth in the event at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Tom Wilkens (swimming)
A Middletown native and CBA graduate, Wilkens, who swam at Stanford, earned a gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia in the 200-meter individual medley. He also competed in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Ajee’ Wilson (track)
The 27-year-old Neptune High School legend is a two-time bronze medalist at the World Championships and advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the Olympics in Tokyo, she finished 16th in the 800.
2024 first-time Olympians with Jersey Shore ties:
Allie Wilson (track)
The three-time All-American at Monmouth University punched her ticket to the Paris Olympics by securing a spot on the U.S. squad in the 800 meter final in Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon last month.
More: Legendary Monmouth U coach reflects on Allie Wilson’s incredible rise
After college, the Wallingford, Pennsylvania native worked odd jobs while continuing to pursue her athletic career. She eventually landed a contract with Nike after winning the indoor national title in February.
“She broke her foot twice before her senior year and still made All-American as a senior and then came back as a grad student and made first team All-American indoors and outdoors,” said former Monmouth University track coach Joe Compagni.
Jack Yonezuka (judo)
The 21-year-old from West Long Branch comes from a long line of judo royalty. His late grandfather, Yoshisada Yonezuka, was a legendary instructor and two-time U.S. Olympic coach. His father, Nick Yonezuka Sr., made the 1980 Olympic team and now coaches his sons. His brother Nick Jr. is a world-ranked competitor himself and they have a family business teaching the sport.
More: World-class judo family from the Shore fulfilling legacy at Paris Olympics
Sebastian Rivera (wrestling, competing for Team Puerto Rico)
The Toms River native wrestled for Christian Brothers Academy before going on to Northwestern and then spending two seasons at Rutgers. Rivera over his collegiate career was a five-time All-American (four NCAA, one NWCA) and two-time Big Ten Champion.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Shore great Olympians & 3 more at Olympic Games Paris 2024
