From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Kingsway’s Kyle Rakitis PR’d in the 1,500 Friday at the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C., with the 7^th-fastest time in Rutgers history.

Rakitis ran 3:47.25, lowering his PR from 3:47.35. That converts to a 4:05.43 full mile, which is well below his mile PR of 4:08.66 from Boston University indoors in February.

Rakitis ran his previous PR of 3:47.35 in Charlottesville in April of 2024.

On Friday, Rakitis came through 700 meters in 1:46.49 and then closed in 60.94 and 59.82 for a final 800 of 2:00.76.

Rakitis won the 2022 Meet of Champions 1,600 in 4:14.50 in Somerset. He ran 4:10.09 full mile in July 2021 at Hayward Field Nationals.

Savana Dodd, a junior at Eastern from Eastern, won the shot Friday at the Paul Donahue Invitational at Widener with the No. 18 throw in NCAA Division 3 this year and a school record.

Dodd, the only athlete we’ve ever written about whose high school and college have the same name, threw 43-10 ½ on her final attempt and had two other throws over 43 feet – a 43-1 ½ on her 3^rd throw and a 43-5 on her 4^th.

Quite a series for Dodd, who was just two inches shy of her lifetime-best 44-0 ½ from her runner-up finish at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships in Reading in February. That’s the Eastern indoor school record.

Her previous outdoor best was a 42-3 ½ at last year’s MAC Championships in York and that was the previous school record.

And good job by Eastern’s sports information department for providing all-time top-10s for both indoors and outdoors, something very few Division 3 programs offer.

Dodd, a 2023 graduate of Eastern Regional High School, now attends Eastern University in Radnor Township.

Her high school PR was 39-8 ¼ at Delsea in May of 2022.

Josephine Buxton, a Stockton freshman from Absegami, threw a huge PR and the No. 7 throw in NCAA Division 3 this year Friday at the Paul Donahue Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa.

Buxton threw 143-1 on her 1^st attempt and 143-2 on her 2^nd, to win the event by more than 20 feet.

Buxton’s 143-2 is the top throw in Division 3 this year by a freshman. She threw her previous collegiate PR of 132-7 in a home meet in Galloway Township last month.

It’s the best throw by any NJAC woman since 2018, when Lia Negra of Montclair State and Nutley High in Essex County threw 152-5 at the 2018 NJAC Championships in Ewing.

It’s also the best throw by an NCAA Division 3 freshman since Riley Reitchel of Southern Maine threw 149-3 in a meet in Dedham, Mass., in May 2023., and the best throw by an NJAC freshman as far back as available records go, which is 2013.

Buxton’s previous lifetime-best was a 138-8 when she won the state Group 3 Championships in South Plainfield.

Rowan junior Ava Reardon from Delsea recorded the No. 12 javelin throw in NCAA Division 3 Thursday evening, and Profs teammate Diamond Eaddy of Salem wasn’t far behind.

Reardon threw 138-11 at the Virginia Challenge at Lannigan Field in Charlottesville, Ca.

That’s her best throw as a Rowan athlete. She threw 139-2 last April as a Georgian Court sophomore in a meet in Ewing and she went on to win the Coastal Athletic Conference title with a 131-11 in Lakewood.

On Thursday, Reardon opened with a 134-8 before hitting 138-11 and then 129-10.

Eaddy, a senior from Salem, threw 135-5 on her 1^st attempt. Eaddy, a transfer from Lincoln, had a previous PR of 130-7 from a meet last April at Widener University in Chester. Her throw is No. 16 in NCAA Division 3.

Reardon and Eaddy are now No. 1 and 2 in the NJAC this spring, bumping a PR 132-7 by Stockton’s Josephine Buxton from Absegami from a home meet last month.

Big day high jumping Thursday for Woodstown senior Kami Casiano, who smashed the Salem County record by clearing 5-6 at Lenape Field Day.

Casiano, who began the day with a PR 5-2, won the event on a tiebreaker with Addison Johnson of Southern Regional.

She broke the county record of 5-2 shared by Woodstown’s Melissa Powell in 1995, Schalick’s Katie Farrell in 2012, Schalick’s Camryn Castellini in 2018 and Casiano, who set her previous PR of 5-2 when she won South Jersey Group 1 Sectionals at Pennsauken in May. She also cleared 5-2 indoors in January at the Bubble.

Casiano’s 5-6 is tied for No. 2 in New Jersey this year, behind only Lindenwold’s Egypt Bolan, who cleared 5-8 over the weekend, also at Lenape. North Brunswick’s Kaya Waldron cleared 5-6 this past weekend in Lakewood. Johnson’s previous PR was also 5-2.

Casiano cleared 4-8, 4-10, 5-0 an a PR-equalling 5-2, all on her 1^st attempt. She got over the bar at 5-4 on her 2^nd try and 5-6 on her 1^st before taking three jumps at 5-8. Johnson had two misses at 5-2 and one at 5-6, which gave Casiano the win.

5-2 … Melissa Powell [Woodstown], 1995
5-2 … Katie Farrell [Schalick], 2012 [Woodbury Relays]
5-2 … Camryn Castellini [Schalick], 2018 [Meet of Champions]
5-2 … Camryn Castellini [Schalick], 2018 [SJTCA]

Mya Walker didn’t run indoor track this year so her first two meets of the outdoor season were her first track meets in nearly a year. And she’s made the most of them.

Walker, a Penns Grove graduate and Rowan junior, ran two sprint PRs at the Oscar Moore Invitational Saturday on her home track in Glassboro.

Walker lowered her 100 PR from 12.48 from the 2024 NJAC Championships in Galloway Township to 12.37 in placing 2^nd to post-graduate Divonne Franklin, the 2023 NCAA Division 2 national champion for California of Pennsylvania.

At Penns Grove, Walker had a PRs 12.97 and 27.01, both from the 2023 Salem County Championships at Pennsville.

She also PR’d in the 200 Saturday with a 25.78. Her previous best was a 25.98 at last year’s NJAC meet in Ewing.

She’s now 7^th in the NJAC in the 100 and tied for 11^th in the 200.

Junior Sophia Bostwick from Washington Township smashed the Susquehanna school record in the 10,000-meter run at Bucknell Saturday.

Bostwick ran a 3 ½-minute PR of 37:12.41 at the Bison Outdoor Classic at Christy Matthewson Stadium in Lewisburg, Pa., breaking the school record of 38:28.14 set in 2018 by Erin Reese at the same meet.

Bostwick’s previous PR was 40:51.60 at the Landmark Championships in May on her home track in Selinsgrove.

Bostwick ran 5:00.64 for 1,500 meters last month in Selinsgrove and 18:12.15 earlier this month in York, Pa. She’s No. 3 in school history in the 5,000. Bostwick is also No. 7 in school history in the pole vault at 9-6 ¼. She’s currently 5^th in the conference in the pole vault with a 9-2 ¼ clearance in a home meet last month.

How many women can say they’re a school record holder in the 10,000 and ranked in the top five in the conference in the pol vault?

Bostwick’s improvement in college has been enormous. She had PRs of 5:47.47 for 1,600 meters, 12:04.55 for 3,200 meters and 9-0 in the pole vault with the Minutemaids.

Seven South Jersey relay teams made the cut for the invitational relays for the 130^th running of the Penn Relays next week at Franklin Field.

Let’s take a look!

Boys 3,200-Meter Relay
Deptford, Haddonfield and Glassboro will run in the 3,200-meter relay, with Deptford in the large-school division and Haddonfield and Glassboro in the small-school qualifying races.

The 12-fastest schools from four races on Friday – two large school, two small school – advance to the Championship of America on Saturday.

Haddonfield and Deptford qualified at the indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze, Haddonfield with a 7:58.22 and Deptford 7:58.40. Glassboro qualified with its 8:03.24 at the Spartan Relays at Deptford earlier this month.

Senior Anthony Schilling, senior Zach Harrison, sophomore John Collier and senior Algen Ramirez are listed as Deptford’s lineup, Haddonfield lists seniors Andrus, Stoner, Simpson and John Leibrandt and Glassboro plans to use sophomore Zacchaeus Harrigan, senior Jaeden Wesley, sophomore Joseph Saicic and sophomore Aaron Johnson.

Deptford will race in Even 302, the second large-school race at 9:10 a.m. next Friday. Haddonfield is in the first small-school race, Event 303 at 9:20 a.m., and Glassboro runs in Event 304 at 9:30 a.m.

The Championship of America race is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. on Saturday.

Woodstown, the fastest Group 1 school in the state and 3^rd-fastest in any group indoors at 7:55.26 at Boston Nationals, did not enter.

Boys Distance Medley
None

Girls 3,200-Meter Relay
Haddonfield, Egg Harbor and Cherokee made the cut in the girls 4-by-8. Haddonfield ran 9:13.14 at Armory Nationals, Egg Harbor qualified with its 9:47.43 at Easterns at the Armory and Cherokee ran 9:30.11 at the Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.

The qualifying races in the girls 4-by-8 are scheduled for Thursday morning. Haddonfield is entered in Event 101 at 9 a.m. with freshman Dylan Hosty, sophomore Natalie Lacroce and juniors Madison Kelsey and Molly Mills. Egg Harbor races at 9:23 a.m. in Event 103 with senior Devyn Per, sophomore Carlee Steet, sophomore Marissa Mazur and junior Meghan Johnson. And Cherokee runs at 9:34 a.m. in Event 104 with senior Maddie Meder, sophomore Erin Healy, senior Sofia Recinto and senior Alyssa Suriano.

Girls Distance Medley
Ocean City will represent South Jersey in the distance medley, thanks to its 12:21.67 in January at the State Group 3 Relays at the Bubble. The DMR is a one-race Championship of America with just 15 schools accepted.

Ocean City shows a lineup of sophomore Riley Tolson and juniors Alana Clevenger, Lillian Flora and Carly Godfrey.

Smoking hot 5,000 at Bucknell Saturday with Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon, Atlantic City’s Maddie Dischert and Cherokee’s Kerry O’Day all running PRs and Dischert breaking the Rider school record.

All three run sub-16:40 at the Bison Outdoor Classic at Christy Matthewson Stadium in Lewisburg, Pa.

The trio of South Jersey alums ran together through 3,000 meters before separating a bit over the last 2K.

Gordon, a red-shirt freshman at Penn State, ran 16:31.18 and placed 9th out of 92 runners. Her previous PR was 16:38.54 this past June at the USATF Under-20 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

That’s the fastest time by a Northern Burlington graduate since Laura Mason ran 16:03.71 at the 1994 Penn Relays. Although Gordon is listed as racing unattached, she is listed on the Big Ten Conference performance list on TFRRS and is the 5th-fastest freshman in the conference.

Dischert, a junior, finished just behind Gordon, placing 11th in 16:34.70. She broke the Rider record of 16:38.31 set at the same meet in Lewisburg last year by Grace Medei from Notre Dame Green Pond High in Bethlehem.

Dischert’s previous PR over 5,000 meters was 16:59.86 indoors at Boston University in January. Her time Saturday ranks No. 2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, behind only Alex Schultz of Iona, who ran 16:15.27 in Raleigh last month.

Although Dischert is a junior for cross country and indoors, this is her first season of college outdoor track, and this was her first outdoor 5,000, and she never ran a track 5,000 in high school. So her first-ever outdoor 5K on the track and she snags the school record.

O’Day, a Bucknell sophomore, made it three South Jersey alums across the line in 12 seconds with a 16:43.08 for 15th place.

Her previous PR was a 16:55.53 at this meet last year. Teammate Kailey Granger ran 16:40.86 in the same race, and those are the fastest times by Bucknell women in five years, since Ashlyn Ramos ran 16:22.42 at the 2022 Patriot League Championships in Annapolis, Md.

O’Day is now No. 6 on the all-time Bucknell list and No. 7 this year in the Patriot League.

La Salle’s Helene Usher from Haddonfield ran 16:42.30 indoors in Boston so that’s four South Jersey college runners under 16:45 so far this spring. Hopefully, we see them all together at Penn.

Clearview’s Abby Waddington, a junior at Boston College, is knocking on the door of 17 minutes with a 17:01.90 in Raleigh two weeks ago. She ran 16:54.41 in Boston last February.

I’m going to try to put together an all-time South Jersey sub-17 list later today. That should be fun!