On Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2021, Pennridge senior Joey Gant was recognized for committing to continue his track career at Princeton University
Joey Gant – Princeton University (Track & Field)
Major: Economics
Final list of colleges: Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Brown, Penn
Reasons for choosing Princeton: “From the beginning, I had a gut feeling that Princeton was the place where I wanted to be. It’s close to home, so my grandparents can watch me run. The
coach always seemed the most interested in me and he really cared about me. Academics-wise, you can’t go wrong with Princeton. It’s amazing, and athletic-wise, they’ve been the best team in the Ivy League for 10-plus years and coached many Olympians. It was just the perfect place for me. Every time I’ve been there, I loved, but I did not expect any of this to happen. I’m really grateful.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in track at the collegiate level? “I started thinking about collegiate track in ninth grade, but honestly, I didn’t even know if I’d be able to run in college because of the COVID season. I had some pretty good times, but it was nothing to that level. Over the COVID season, I worked hard – I was lifting a lot more, training a lot with all the time.
“I don’t know what happened, but I had a great junior spring season. One of my friends, a former member of the (Pennridge) track team, Anderson Dimon, was a senior when I was a freshman. He goes to Princeton, and he was like, ‘My coach was asking about you. Is Princeton somewhere you’d want to be?’ Is this even a question? I was like ‘Yes, this is definitely where I want to be. I would definitely love to go there.’ I emailed him, he seemed interested, we had a Zoom call and talked about it. After that, it kind of just exploded with other schools.”
Coach Craig Stephens says: “Basically, I inherited Joey from coach Bob Hosier who just retired. I knew going in that he’s a special kid, a special athlete both in the classroom and out of the classroom. He’s one of the top sprinters in the state if not the country. He can do pretty much any sprint – 100, 200, 400. He’s just an awesome kid. I’m hoping to just keep him healthy and give him a good experience.”
About Joey:
Favorite food: Zucchini Pie
Favorite TV show: The Grand Tour
Favorite artist: Elton John
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