From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Catching up on Aliya Garozzo’s record-setting 400-meter hurdles race at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. Garozzo PR’d with a 54.90, finishing just behind two-time World Championship silver medalist Shamier Little, who ran 54.72. Little is all-time world No. 7 at 52.39.

Garozzo, from Sicklerville, is now 6th-fastest in the world this year and 3rd-fastest among U.S. women. It’s No. 47 in U.S. history.

The only New Jersey woman to run faster is world record holder and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin of Dunellen, Middlesex County [50.37].

Garozzo’s previous PR was 55.69, which she just ran in March in Raleigh, N.C.

The only other New Jersey women to run sub-56 are Tonya Lee of Rancocas Valley, who ran 55.78 in 1996 in Walnut, Calif., and Natalie Dumas of Eastern, who ran 55.99 last June at West Philly Nationals.

Garozzo ran at Paul VI, got her undergraduate degree at Penn and ran a grad year at Duke.

What a race by Timber Creek junior Timothy Whitaker, who ran a more than six-second 800 PR at the South Jersey Invitational Friday at Delsea.

Whitaker won the 800 in 1:56.16, leading Gloucester senior Marcus Flagg and Gloucester senior Zachary Fayer to big PRs of 1:57.54 and 1:58.85 as well,

Whitaker, Flagg and Fayer are now ranked No. 1, 2 and 6 in South Jersey this year. Whitaker is No. 11 in New Jersey and the No. 3 underclassman.

Whitaker’s previous PR was a 2:02.37 indoors in December at the Ott Center, and his previous outdoor PR was a 2:06.75 at Cherokee last May. His time is No. 2 all-time by a Timber Creek half-miler, only 8-100ths of a second off Joshua Thaler’s 1:56.08 at the 2021 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.

Whittaker’s time makes him 2nd-fastest this year in New Jersey Group 3, behind only Brendan McNamara of Old Tappan, who ran 1:54.66 last week in Englewood Cliffs.

Flagg dropped his PR 1 ½ seconds from 1:58.94 from last year’s outdoor state Group 1 meet in Somerset, and Fayer dropped nearly four seconds from 2:02.74 indoors in January at the Bubble. Flagg’s time is a school record, breaking the mark of 1:59.23 set last spring by Yasir Logan at South Jersey Group 2 Sectionals at Delsea. Flagg is also No. 2 in New Jersey Group 2, behind only David Edokpolar of Shabazz, who ran 1:56.99 last week in Montclair.

Fayer is the fastest Audubon half-miler since another Zachary, Zachary Williams, ran 1:57.85 at the 2021 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township. His time is 2nd-fastest in New Jersey this year by a Group 1 runner, behind Josh Crawford’s 1:58.33 at the Salem County Championships last week at Pennsville.

Stockton’s Bryant Nelson from Millville had a career day in the triple jump Sunday, posting the No. 13 triple jump in NCAA Division 3 this year and 2nd-best by a freshman.

Nelson came into the meet with a PR of 47-3 from a home meet in Galloway Township last month. After a 46-8 ¾ on his first attempt at the New Jersey Athleti Conference Championships in Mahwah, he PR’d at 48-2 ½ on his 2nd jump. He finished with a 47-10 and a 48-0 ¾ separated by two fouls, so he recorded the three-best jumps of his life in his first outdoor conference meet.

Nelson led the event until Rowan All-America Joshua Justin, 2nd at indoor Nationals, hit 48-6 on his final attempt. All jumps were wind legal.

At Millville, Nelson jumped 44 1 ½, PR’ing last April in a meet at Buena, so he’s extended his PR by more than four feet since high school. His indoor PR was 44-6 at the NJAC Championships at the Ott Center, where he placed 6th.

He extended it 45-9 in March at Widener and then had a breakthrough with a 47-3 at the Osprey Open at Stockton the first weekend of April.

Dametrius Hester, competing in his hometown of Mahwah, bombed the 5th-best javelin throw in NCAA Division 3 history Saturday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ramapo.

Hester graduated from Mahwah High School, located about two miles up Rte. 202 from Ramapo University, just south of the New York State border.

Hester won the javelin with a meet-record 240-9, the best throw by a Division 3 athlete in eight years, since Seth Nonnenmacher of George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., threw 241-11 at the 2018 NCAA Championships in LaCrosse, Wisc. The national record of 247-10 was set by Deptford’s Tim VanLiew of Rutgers-Camden at the 2013 D-3 meet, also in LaCrosse.

Hester broke the meet record of 226-8 set by VanLiew at the 2013 meet at Rowan. His 240-9 is No. 11 among all U.S. men this year and better than all but 14 NCAA Division 1 throwers.

Hester broke his own school record of 240-5 that he set in Daytona Beach last month. His throw is No. 1 this year in Division 3 by more than 12 feet.

Rowan sophomores Angel Gonzalez from Triton and Samuel Agbessi from Sterling finished 1-2 in the 400-meter hurdles Saturday at the NJAC Championships with two of the fastest times in the country this year and two of the fastest times in Rowan history.

Racing at Ramapo University in Mahwah, Gonzalez won the race in 51.26, and Agbessi was just behind in 2nd place in 51.70.

Those times are No. 2 and 3 in NCAA Division 3 this year, behind only Blake Postler of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who ran 50.85 in Des Moines, Iowa, last month. They’re also No. 3 and 5 in Rowan history

Gonzalez dropped his PR all the way down from 54.02, which he ran last month in Collegeville, Pa. Agbessi dropped his PR from 52.93 from last month in Daytona Beach to 51.70.

Their times are fastest by a Rowan 400-meter hurdler in eight years, since Anthony Salemo of Ramsey ran 51.06 to win the 2018 NCAA Championships.

Incredibly, neither Gonzalez nor Agbessi broke 55 seconds in high school.

Gonzalez had a PR of 55.31 from the 2024 Tri-County Championships at Delsea, and Agbessi ran 55.06 at the 2023 state Group 2 Championship at Delsea.

Their times are No. 12 and No. 16 on the all-time South Jersey alumni list. Gonzalez is No. 41 on the all-time Division 3 list. Agbessi is 36-100ths outside the all-time D-3 top-50.

Rowan freshman Ashraf Maklache from Eastern, in his 2nd college race, ran a lifetime-best 53.07. His previous PR was 53.38 in a meet at Delsea last May as a Sterling senior. His time is 2nd-fastest in Division 3 this year by a freshman.

Maklache’s time is only 24-100ths of a second off the Rowan freshman 400 hurdles record of 52.83 set by Jamir Brown of Riverside in Atlanta last April. That’s the only 400 hurdles race Brown has ever run.

All-Time Rowan 400 Hurdles Top-5
51.06 …Anthony Salemo [Ramsey], NCAA Division 3 Championships, La Crosse, Wisc., May 26, 2018
51.25 … Demetrius Rooks [Absegami], NCAA Division 3 Championships, Claremont, Calif., May 26, 2012
51.26 … Angel Gonzalez [Triton], New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships, Mahwah, May 3, 2026
51.67 … William Cruz [Penns Grove], NCAA Championships, LaCrosse, Wisc., May 23, 1997
51.70 … Samuel Agbessi [Sterling], New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships, Mahwah, May 3, 2026

Glassboro High’s Dallas Hohney, a Rowan senior, destroyed the meet record and the school record in winning the 800 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships in Mahwah.

Hohney won the race in 1:49.26, breaking the school record of 1:49.54 set by Pemberton’s Tavo Rivera at the 1980 NCAA Championships in Naperville, Ill.

Rowan’s Teddy Wilson, a junior from Toms River North, also ran under the previous record with a 1:49.80, and junior Blaik Slavinski wasn’t far off with a 1:50.25. Those times are No. 1, 2 and 5 in Rowan history.

The previous meet record was 1:50.94 set in 1972 by Greg Weiss of Montclair State and Butler High School at what was then Trenton State.

Rutgers-Camden senior Jacob Dinerman from Haddon Township placed 2nd in 1:49.75, making it three runners under the old meet record from 54 years ago.

Hohney’s previous PR was a 1:50.71 while competing for Rider in a meet at the Ott Center in January 2025. Dinerman’s prior PR was 1:50.96 from a meet at Widener last month. That was also the previous Rutgers-Camden school record. Wilson’s previous PR was 1:51.80 from the NJAC Indoor Championships, also at the Ott. Slavinski’s 1:50.25 is his fastest competing for Rowan. He ran 1:47.65 in February 2025 while compting for Clemson at Clemson.

Their times are 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Hohney and Dinerman are now No. 10 and 12 on the all-time South Jersey alumni list. Hohney is fastest by a Gloucester County alum since Paulsboro’s Fred Sharpe ran 1:48.26 in Santry, Ireland, in August 2023. Dinerman is fastest by a Camden County half-miler, topping Terrance Armstrong of Camden., who ran 1:50.08 at Princeton in May 1999.

Northern Burlington’s Samuel Thomas ran a huge 100 PR Saturday and the No. 2 time in Ramapo history behind an Olympian.

Thomas, a Ramapo sophomore, dropped his 100 PR from 10.63 from two weeks ago in the trials of a meet at Moravian College in Bethlehem, to 10.54 with a legal 0.9 tailwind at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships on his home track in Mahwah. These are his first two wind-legal races under 11 seconds as a collegian.

At Northern, Thomas ran 10.64 without a wind gauge at 2023 Group 3 states at Delsea. His legal PR was 10.73 at 2023 Central Jersey Group 3 Sectionals at Jackson Liberty running into a 1.1 meters-per-second headwind.

The only faster time by a Ramapo sprinter is the NCAA Division 3 all-time No. 4 10.18 by Chieckna Traore in 2023 at 2023 NCAA Division 3 Nationals in Rochester, N.Y. He went on to become a Division 1 national champ and an Ivory Coast Olympian in the 200.

Thomas placed 2nd to TCNJ All-America Maxim Tychkov, whose winning time of 10.43 missed Traore’s meet record by 2-100ths of a second.

Rowan sophomore Eric Foster Jr. placed 4th with a PR 10.64 after placing 3rd in the hurdles in 14.15, also a lifetime best. His previous PRs were 10.65 and 14.29, both last month.

Timber Creek’s Nyla Jones, a Rowan sophomore, demolished the NJAC Championships 100-meter hurdles record Saturday at Ramapo University in Mahah.

Jones won the race in 13.95, breaking the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet record of 14.03 set in the trials of the 2019 meet in Galloway Township by Darielle Cross from Matawan. The fastest previous time in a final was 14.12 by Delilah Cruz of Ramapo at the 2022 meet in Ewing.

There was a legal 1.2 meters-per-second tailwind in the race.

Jones PR’d with a 13.92 in a meet in Greensboro in April.

Jones has competed in the high hurdles at four NJAC meets and won all four races – 8.95 indoors in 2025 at the Ott, 14.35 last spring in Ewing and 8.87 this winter at the Ott. She also won the 400-meter intermediates last spring and will compete in that race later Saturday, looking for her 6th conference title in two years.

Ocean City’s Elaina Styer, a Stockton junior, placed 2nd in 14.29 after setting a school record of 14.22 with a legal 0.4 tailwind in the trials. That broke her own school reord of 14.23 set last month in Ewing during a heptathlon. Her 14.22 is No. 14 in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Freshman Keira Gibbons from Lenape placed 4th in a PR 14.97. She ran 14.91 at Lenape with no wind gauge.

Natalie Dumas ran the fastest 400-meter hurdles time in the country Saturday at the Insert-Shoe-Company-Name-Here Invitational at Morgan State in Baltimore.

Dumas lowered her season best from 59.35 at last week’s Olympic Conference meet at Rancocas Valley to 58.78, her fastest time since her historic 55.99 at West Philly Nationals in June.

One day earlier, Dumas ran a season-best 2:04.00 to place 3rd in Track Night NYC at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. That’s also her fastest since West Philly Nationals, where she set a state-record 2:00.11.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Dumas earned a quad win at the Olympic Conference meet, winning the 200, 400, 800 and intermediates.

Stockton freshman Josephine Buxton from Absegami PR’d again Friday, winning the javelin at the New Jersey Athletic Championships in Mahwah.

Buxton threw 145-2 at Ramapo, winning by 14 feet and moving into the No. 3 on the NCAA Division 3 list and best among freshmen.

Her throw is best by any Division 3 freshman since 2023, when Riley Reitchel of Southern Maine threw 149-3 at a meet in Dedham, Mass. And it’s the top throw by an NJAC freshman in at least 17 years. TFRRS lists only go back to 2010.

Buxton’s 145-2 is the best throw at the NJAC meet since 2018, when Lia Negra of Montclair State and Nutley High School won with a 152-4 in Ewing.

Buxton’s previous best was a 143-2 at Widener two weeks ago. Buxton’s high school PR was a 138-8 when she won the state Group 3 title last May in South Plainfield.

Buxton hit her 145-2 on her 1st throw and she had four other throws over 130 feet, including a 137-3 on her 5th throw. She had the three-best throws of the competition.

Rowan junior Ava Reardon from Delsea was 2nd with a 131-6.