The 6-foot-2, 155-pound senior won the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.03 seconds and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in a meet-record 50.72 at state Meet of Champions this past season. The state's returning Gatorade Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Poole also swept both hurdle events at the Group 4 championship meet and took silver in the 400 hurdles at this month's New Balance Nationals Outdoor. He broke the tape in the 300 hurdles at the Arcadia Invitational, and his state-record time of 50.71 in the 400 hurdles at the Penn Relays Carnival this spring ranked as the nation's No. 2 performance among prep competitors in 2017 at the time of his selection.
Poole has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at the University of Florida this fall.
Poole has volunteered locally on behalf of community cleanup efforts, the East Orange Recreation Center and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. "Cory is a leader on all levels, on and off the track," said East Orange coach Lance Wigfall. "He's a very humble, yet competitive, athlete who believes he can achieve anything that he puts his mind to."
