From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Deptford senior Kareem Brown earned All-America honors Friday with a 5^th-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field.

Brown ran 52.37, just off his PR of 52.28 from his runner-up finish at the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken two weeks ago.

Brown ran in the 6^th and final section, taking 4^th in the race that produced five of the 6-fastest overall times.

Brown ranks 9^th in South Jersey with his 52.28 and 3^rd all-time by a Gloucester County runner.

Sianni Wynn won her 4^th national title Friday in the closest fashion imaginable.

Wynn, a Pennsauken senior, won the 100-meter dash at West Philly Nationals in 11.27, edging freshman Mya Arrendell by 6-1,000ths of a second.

Both were timed in 11.27, with Wynn at 11.264 and Arrendell at 11.270. The race was run with a legal 0.8 meters-per-second tailwind.

Wynn came within 1-100^th of a second of the meet record of 11.26 set in 2024 by Lisa Raye of West Warwick, R.I.

Wynn’s time is just off her PR of 11.25 from last year’s Meet of Champions But it’s a wind-legal PR, lowering her best legal time from 11.29 when she won West Philly Nationals last year.,

She’s 3^rd-fastest in state history behind Wendy Vereen of Trenton, who ran 11.17 in Colorado Springs in 1983, and Timber Creek’s Naylah Jones, who ran 11.23 at the state Group 3 Championships at Delsea in 2024.

Wynn won won the 60 and 200 at Boston Nationals this past indoor season as well as the 100 outdoors last year.

Wynn races in the first round of the 200 at 1:02 p.m. Saturday.

Holy Cross senior Julia Flanagan ran the 6^th-fastest 5,000-meter run in South Jersey history Thursday at West Philly Nationals.

Flanagan placed 12^th in 17:21.09, closing in 80.18 for her final 400 and 2:44.88 for her final 800.

It was Flanagan’s 1^st track 5,000 indoors or outdoors.

Flanagan was the state Parochial B champ in cross country and in the 3,200 indoors and outdoors. Her time is 19^th-fastest in state history.

The only faster girls from Burlington County are Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon, who ran 16:38.54 last June at the U.S. Under-20 Championships in Eugene, and Cherokee’s Megan Lacy, who ran 16:50.75 at a meet in Princeton in May of 2011.

All-Time New Jersey 5,000-Meter Run List
15:52.10 … Charlotte Bednar [The Lawrenceville School], 2021
16:34.66 … Alexa Westley [Warren Hills], 2019
16:38.27 … Allison Lee [Plainsboro], 2025
16:38.51 … Ashley Higginson [Colts Neck], 2007
16:38.54 … Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 2025
16:45.86 … Megan Curham [Villa Walsh], 2013
16:50.75 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2011
16:58.19 … Carleen Jeffers [Ridgewood], 2015
17:03.13 … Grace Dwyer [Nottingham], 2013
17:03.36 … Cayleigh Kaiser [Union Catholic], 2026
17:05.30 … Monica Hebner [Northern Highlands], 2018
17:07.92 … Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 2009
17:08.01 … Maeve Smith [Ocean City], 2025
17:08.55 … Holly Bischoff [Bishop Eustace], 2011
17:09.82 … Isabel Hebner [Northern Highlands], 2018
17:13.56 … Camryn Wennersten [Ridgewood], 2020
17:13.86 … Caroline Kellner [West Windsor-Plainsboro South], 2012
17:17.02 … Mackenzie Barry [Mendham], 2013
17:18.68 … Miranda Lorsbach [Kent Place], 2020
17:21.09 … Julia Flanagan [Holy Cross], 2026
17:27.49 … Megan Venables [Highland], 2010

With freshman Dylan Hosty running a 4:50 anchor, the Haddonfield girls ran the 3rd-fastest four-mile relay in South Jersey history Thursday night at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field.

Haddonfield placed 8^th in 20:53.31, which is 3rd only to Cherokee performances in 2022 and 2025.

Molly Mills led off with a 5:12.71, Harper Benjamin ran 5:34.80 and Madison Kelsey split 5:15.51 setting up Hosty, the state freshman mile record holder, who anchored in 4:50.31, moving the Bulldogs up from 11^th to 8^th.

On the combined all-time South Jersey 6,400-meter relay / four-mile relay list, Haddonfield broke the Camden County record of 20:48.7 set over 6,400 meters by the 2000 Haddonfield team. Haddonfield’s 20:53.31 converts to 20:46.11 for 6,400 meters.

The Kingsway girls ran the 9th-fastest four-mile relay in South Jersey history (11th-fastest if you include 6,400-meter relay times) and broke the Gloucester County record in a previous section of the race.

Senior Callie Webb, sophomore Kaitlyn Orazi, senior Liliana MacMinn and junior Aubrey Bishop placed 15^thoverall in 21:37.34. They broke the Gloucester County record set by the 2019 Kingsway team at the same meet when it was held in Greensboro, N.C.

That team, with Ashlynne Burke, Emily Pierontoni, Lauren Krott and Allison Pierontoni, ran 21:44.25 for the full two miles, which converts to 21:37.05 for 6,400 meters. Kingsway’s time Thursday is No. 11 in South Jersey history on the combined 6,400-meter / four-mile relay list and 8^th-fastest on the four-mile relay list.

All-Time South Jersey combined 6,400 / Four-Mile Relay
20:35.59 … Cherokee, 2022
20:43.13y … Cherokee, 2025
20:46.11y … Haddonfield, 2026
20:48.7h … Haddonfield, 2000
20:56.19y … Cherokee, 2023
21:07.81y … Shawnee, 2014
21:08.00y … Shawnee, 2014
21:14.99y … Haddonfield, 2024
21:24.1h … Cherokee, 2000
21:24.30y … Bishop Eustace, 2010
21:26.35y … Bishop Eustace, 2010
21:29.20y… Haddonfield, 2025
21:30.14y … Kingsway, 2026
21:32.24 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
21:35.0h … Lenape, 2012
21:36.25 … Haddonfield, 2007
21:37.05y … Kingsway, 2019
21:43.9h … Woodrow Wilson, 2000
21:44.7h … Cherry Hill East, 2006|
21:45.26y … Bishop Eustace, 2019
21:45.63 … Lenape, 2010
21:46.23 … Haddonfield, 2019
21:48.31 … Cherokee, 2004
21:48.52 … Kingsway, 2017
21:50.31 … Bishop Eustace, 2009
21:50.40y … Lenape, 2006
21:50.9h … Bishop Eustace, 1995
21:51.47 … Washington Twp., 2009
21:52.05 … Washington Twp., 2012
21:52.70 … Shawnee, 2002
21:55.72 … Kingsway, 2017
21:57.91 … Shawnee, 1998

The Audubon girls, led by senior Riley Fayer’s 2:15.72 anchor, ran the fastest sprint medley ever by a New Jersey Group 1 school Thursday at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field.

Junior Kathryn McGuire, senior Kylie Tocco, junior Sophia Rizzo and Fayer ran 4:08.27, breaking the state Group sprint medley relay record of 4:09.46 set by Clayton and the Sharpe sisters at the 2021 Cherokee Relays.

Audubon wound up 14^th overall and 3^rd-fastest among New Jersey schools, behind a Scotch Plains-based all-star program and Ramapo.

All-Time South Jersey Sprint Medley List
3:53.15 … Eastern, 2025
3:59.6h … Willingboro, 2003
4:00.34 … Willingboro, 2006
4:00.71 … Willingboro, 2002
4:01.07 … Lenape, 2015
4:02.60 … Sterling, 2017
4:02.69 … Willingboro, 2004
4:02.89 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
4:03.04 … Camden, 1995
4:03.31 … Eastern, 2024
4:03.42 … Millville, 2008
4:03.47 … Winslow Twp., 2025
4:03.54 … Lenape, 2006
4:04.00 … Eastern, 2023
4:04.44 … Millville, 2013
4:04.69 … Cherokee, 2022
4:04.86 … Woodrow Wilson, 2009
4:05.2h … Winslow Twp., 2003
4:05.36 … Willingboro, 2010
4:05.38 … Paul VI, 2019
4:05.63 … Winslow Twp., 2025
4:05.70 … Ocean City, 2004
4:06.06 … Ocean City, 2005
4:06.36 … Millville, 2011
4:06.56 … Rancocas Valley, 2007
4:06.81 … Winslow Twp., 2024
4:07.16 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2015
4:08.08 … Kingsway, 2017
4:08.16 … Lenape, 2017
4:08.22 … Cherokee, 2023
4:08.23 … Timber Creek, 2011
4:08.27 … Washington Twp., 2007
4:08.27 … Audubon, 2026
4:08.64 … Woodrow Wilson, 2003
4:08.76 … Willingboro, 1998
4:08.81 … Cherokee, 2011
4:09.23 … Pennsauken, 2014
4:09.42 … Ocean City, 2014
4:09.46 … Audubon, 2026
4:09.46 … Clayton, 2021
4:09.47 … Rancocas Valley, 2018

A little over an hour after she qualified for the 400-meter dash final, Natalie Dumas led all qualifiers into the 400-meter hurdles final Thursday at the U.S. Under-20 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Dumas, who ran 52.20 at about 3:30 p.m. EST, didn’t need to hammer the intermediates. The fastest time in the first semifinal was 58.47 and even with her worst race in two years she knew she would easily record one of the three-fastest times outside 1^st or 2^nd.

But even cruising to a time 2 ½ seconds off her PR of 55.99 from last year’s West Philly Nationals, she still goes into the final as the top seed.

Dumas, who graduates Monday from Eastern, races at 6:38 p.m. Friday in the 400 final and at 7:38 p.m. in the 400 hurdles.

Clayton’s Alexander Osayemi advanced to the 400-meter dash final at the U.S. Under-20 Championships Thursday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Osayemi ran 46.19 and placed 2^nd in the first of three semifinals. The top two in each race and the next three-fastest advance to the finals.

Osayemi raced in the same heat as Olympic gold medalist Quincy Wilson of the Bullis School in Potomac, Md. Wilson won the heat in 45.28 and Osayemi ran 46.19 to automatically advance. Wilson is the world Under 20 record holder indoors and outdoors at 400 meters with 45.37 indoors and 44.10 outdoors.

Osayemi’s 46.19 wound up 4^th-fastest of the 25 quarter-milers who qualified.

Osayemi has a PR of 45.59 from the prelims of the SEC Championships last month in Auburn, Ala.

The 400 final is scheduled for 3:43 p.m. Friday. Osayemi qualified for the 400-meter hurdles but scratched to focus on the flat 400. The top two finishers Friday will represent the U.S. at the World Under-20 Championships in Eugene in August.

A strong finish for Osayemi Friday will also put him in the mix for the U.S. 1,600-meter relay pool.

Natalie Dumas began her quest for a spot on the U.S. Under-20 National Team by advancing in the 400-meter dash at Under-20 Nationals Thursday at Heyward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Dumas, skipping West Philly Nationals to race at Under-20 Nationals for the first time, ran 52.20 and placed 3^rd in the first of three semifinal races. The final is scheduled for 3:38 p.m. Friday.

The top two in each of three semis plus the next three-fastest times advanced to the final. Dumas had the fastest non-winning time and 4^th-fastest overall time and advanced as a “small-Q” qualifier.

Dumas’s time was 6-100ths of a second off her season-best 52.14 when she won the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken two weeks ago.

Dumas, who graduates from Eastern next week, ran her lifetime-best 51.14 a year ago this week when she won the 400 at West Philly Nationals as part of a 400-800-400IH triple.

Later Thursday, Dumas will race in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals, with the finals slated for 4:38 p.m. Friday. She has scratched from the 800, with the trials scheduled for in between the 400 and intermediates.

Thursday at Heyward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Dumas, skipping West Philly Nationals to race at Under-20 Nationals for the first time, ran 52.20 and placed 3^rd in the first of three semifinal races. The final is scheduled for 3:38 p.m. Friday.

The top two in each of three semis plus the next three-fastest times advanced to the final. Dumas had the fastest non-winning time and 4^th-fastest overall time and advanced as a “small-Q” qualifier.

Dumas’s time was 6-100ths of a second off her season-best 52.14 when she won the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken two weeks ago.

Dumas, who graduates from Eastern next week, ran her lifetime-best 51.14 a year ago this week when she won the 400 at West Philly Nationals as part of a 400-800-400IH triple.

Later Thursday, Dumas will race in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals, with the finals slated for 4:38 p.m. Friday. She has scratched from the 800, with the trials scheduled for in between the 400 and intermediates.

Sianni Wynn began defense of her two national titles Thursday morning by leading all qualifiers in the first round of the 100-meter dash at West Philly Nationals.

Wynn, who won the 100 and 200 last year, ran a season-best 11.34 with a legal 1.8 meters-per-second tailwind to finish first in the sixth of 13 qualifying heats.

Wynn’s PR is 11.25 from her win at last year’s Meet of Champions on her home track at Pennsauken. She ran 11.29 to win last year’s national meet at Franklin Field. Her fastest time this year before Thursday was 11.37 with a 0.7 headwind at the Camden County Championships at Haddon Township.

The state record with legal wind is 11.23 by Timber Creek’s Naylah Jones at last year’s state Group 3 meet at Delsea.

Next-fastest qualifier was Morgan Goode of Parkland Magnet in Nashville, who ran 11.46 in the 13^th heat.

The girls 100 semifinals are scheduled for 3:12 p.m. Thursday, with the final at 12:12 p.m. Friday.