From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Gabriel Moronta will race in the Central American and Caribbean Games this week in Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez at Cento Olimpico Juan Pablo Duarte in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Moronta, a 2021 Pleasantville graduate, will run the 400-meter dash with semifinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and the final scheduled for 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

Moronta is 2nd-fastest this year of the 18 runners entered in the 400 with his PR of 44.67 in Medellin, Columbia, in June. The only faster entrant is Javier Gomez of Venezuela, who ran 44.66 – 1-100th of a second faster at Estadio Monumental de Puerto La Cruz at José Antonio in Anzoátegui, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela.

Moronta, who anchored South Florida’s NCAA-champion 1,600-meter relay team in June 2025 at Hayward Field, has dropped his 400 PR every year since he was in high school – from 48.79 in Toms River in 2020 to 46.24 in 2023 in Clemson, S.C., to 45.81 in 2024 in San Antonio to 45.01 last year in Jacksonville to 44.67 this year. Incredibly, he never ran a 400 in 2021 or 2022 while he was at Mississippi State before transferring to South Florida. Now he’s one of the best in the world, currently ranked 36^th.

Moronta’s 44.67 is 3^rd-fastest all-time by a Dominican quarter-miler, behind Luguelin Santos [44.11 in Beijing in 2015] and Lidio Andres Feliz [44.64 in La Nucia, Spain, in 2022.].

Moronta is the 3rd-fastest quarter-miler New Jersey has produced and fastest in 20 years.

44.28 … Andrew Valmon [Manchester Twp.], June 19, 1993, Eugene
44.30 … Lamont Smith [Willingboro], June 19, 1996, Atlanta
44.67 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], June 28, 2026, Medellin, Columbia
44.79 … Najee Glass [St. Peter’s Prep], April 24, 2015, Gainesville, Fla.
45.01 … Kevin Lyles [Franklin Twp.], April 7, 1995, Knoxville, Tenn.

Hope Edwards, who was the fastest sophomore intermediate hurdler in the U.S. this past year while competing for Pennsauken, will race in the World Under-20 Championships this week in Eugene.

Edwards, who just turned 16 on July 2, will represent Haiti in the 400-meter hurdles. Her mom is from Haiti, giving her eligibility to compete for Haiti.

Edwards is the youngest of the 55 competitors in the 400-meter hurdles.

The World Under-20 Championships are open to athletes who haven’t turned 20 by the end of this year.

Edwards ran her PR of 58.72 when she placed 3rd at West Philly Nationals in June. That is 8th-fastest in state history and 3rd-fastest by a sophomore, behind Sydney McLaughlin and Natalie Dumas, who is also entered. It’s 8th-fastest in state history and 3rd-fastest in South Jersey history, behind Dumas at 55.99 and Winslow’s Krystal Cantey, who ran 56.83 in 2005.

Edwards ran 55.94 in the 400 indoors and then outdoors broke 60 in the 400IH for the first time with a 59.17 when she was 2nd to Dumas at the state Group 4 meet before her breakthrough 58.72 at Franklin Field.

Edwards is also ranked 18^th in the world in the Under-18 division.

Edwards is scheduled to race in the trials at Heyward Field at 1:41 p.m. EST Thursday. The semis are at 9:15 a.m. Saturday, with the finals following at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The USATF finally got around to acknowledging that there is a U.S. team heading to the Under-20 World Championships this week in Eugene, and eight-time national champion Natalie Dumas is listed in the 400-meter hurdles – which we already knew – but also in the 4-by-4 relay pool.

Dumas, who graduated from Eastern in June, won the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Under-20 Championships at Hayward Field in 56.13 last month, automatically qualifying to represent the U.S. in the World Under-20 Championships. She became the first South Jersey woman to win an Under-20 (formerly Junior National) title since Kingsway’s Denise Liles won the 100 at the 1984 meet at L.A. Coliseum in 11.84.

One day later on the same track, Dumas won the 400 at Hayward Field Nationals in 52.21. She has a 400 PR of 51.14 from West Philly Nationals last June.

Dumas is ranked 5^th in the world and 1^st among U.S. women in the Under-20 division in the intermediate hurdlers with her 56.13 in Eugene. Her 55.99 PR, also from West Philly Nationals last June, is 12^th-fastest all-time among U.S. women under 20.

With a spot in the relay pool, Dumas becomes eligible for both the women’s 4-by-400 and the mixed 4-by-400. Both races will have semifinals and finals, and if Dumas runs a leg on any of those four races she would medal if the U.S. medals.

The meet runs from Wednesday through Sunday at Heyward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

The intermediate hurdles first round is scheduled for 1:41 p.m. EST on Thursday, with the semifinals at 9:15 p.m. Saturday and the final at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The women’s 4-by-4 is two rounds – a semifinal at 1:45 p.m. Saturday and the final at 5:42 p.m. Sunday. The mixed 4-by-4 – two men, two women – has semis at 1:22 p.m. Wednesday and the final at 11:50 p.m. later Wednesday.

Dumas is the No. 3 seed in the 400 hurdles with her 56.13 behind Tumi Ramokgopa of South Africa, who ran 56.05 in Johannesburg in March, and Alexandra Stefania UȚĂ of Romania, who ran 5609 in Tampere, Finland, last month.

Ramokgopa, Stefania UȚĂ and Dumas also have the three-fastest PRs in the field, 55.55 in Tampere last August for Stefania UȚĂ, 55.90 for Ramokgopa in Potchefstroom, South Africa, last April and 55.99 for Dumas in West Philly last June.

World Under 20 is open to athletes who aren’t 20 by midnight on Dec. 31. Dumas, 17, will turn 18 on Friday, so she will be eligible for this competition series again next summer.

Did it seem familiar when Curtis Thompson won the U.S. javelin title on his final throw?

It should because it’s happened before.

“I’ve done it before,” he said. “I think it was 2023, probably did that. But it just comes down to just trusting what we prepare for and how we prepare, it’s enough. We don’t have to do anything extra. It’s really just locking in and kind of executing the best of your capabilities. So that’s really kind of just boiled down to it.”

In 2023 in Eugene, Thompson was in 3^rd place through four rounds at 248-9. He moved up to 2^nd with a 256-7, trailing Capers Williamson, who had thrown 258-10 on his 2^nd attempt. So he had one final chance to move into the lead, and he responded with a 265-6 on his final throw to lock up his 3^rd national title.

On Saturday, the circumstances were similar. He had the lead at 254-1 before Georgia’s Jordan Davis threw 270-2 – 4^th-best throw in the world this year – on his final throw. Once again, Thompson responded, this time with the 2^nd-best throw in meet history and 3^rd-best throw of his life, winning his 6^th national title at 287-4.

“Really, it was just locking back in, settling back down, and kind of get back in the groove of things,” he told reporters covering U.S. Nationals at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York. “It just takes one throw.”

Davis’s bomb was the 2^nd-best throw of his life and 3^rd-best by an American this year. That’s what Thompson had to overcome on his final attempt after five straight throws of 254 or worse.

“I kind of looked at my coach and just kind of smiled and laughed because, you know, we’re competitors,” Thompson said. “We live for competition. We live for that type of energy and you either feed off it and use it or you ignore it and do what you can without it.

“But it was definitely exciting to have him have that throw out there and kind of get everything kind of woken up.”

Thompson is the 5^th American thrower to win six U.S. javelin titles and 1^st since Breaux Greer from 2000 through 2008. His 284-4 winner trails only Greer’s 299-6 at the 2007 meet on the all-time U.S. Championships performance list, and it’s No. 2 in the world this year, behind Sri Lanka’s Ramesh Tharanga Pathirage 303-10 – all-time world No. 8 – in Rome last month.

Thompson won the 2018 title in Des Moines as a 22-year-old, won the 2021 Olympic Trials in 2021 and 2024 in Eugene and also won national titles in Eugene in 2022, 2023 and 2025. There was no meet in 2020 so he’s won six of the last eight U.S. Championships.

“It means a lot to be able to do this again for the fourth time in a row,” he said. “Super exciting to be able to do that. I’m blessed and grateful to be able to continue to do what I love. Every single title that I’ve gained, every single championship that I’ve competed in holds a dear spot in my heart, my thoughts.”

Thompson has five more meets coming up, all in Europe. He’ll throw Aug. 21 and Aug. 27 at Diamond League meets in Sweden – Aug. 21 in Lausanne and Aug. 27 in Zurich. He’s scheduled for ISTAF Berlin on Aug. 30, the Diamond League in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept. 4, and then the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 13.

“I’m just going to continue building off this going into the second half of the season, it’s good. We prepared for this meet because we always want to throw far. We have to go far to win. I mean, you can see it. It just takes one throw. So, I mean, I could have not have thrown what I’ve thrown in that last throw, and Jordan would have got his title from having just one throw.

“So it’s really just continuing to gather all the experience that I’ve been gaining and just building off of it and get ready for the second half.

“Right now, I’m at the point where I’m like I don’t want to train, I just want to compete. So it’s exciting to get to that point physically and mentally and kind of just build from there. So, this is like a peak now, build a little bit, and then we’ll peak again towards the end of the year.”

Thompson is already one of the greatest javelin throwers in U.S. history. Only Thompson and Greer have thrown at least 287 feet and won six national titles. Although with Cy Young Jr. in 1952, Tom Petranoff in 1983 and Greer in 2007 he’s one of only four American throwers to medal at World Championships, which he did last year in Tokyo.

Thompson’s 287-4 Saturday was just seven inches off his PR of 287-11, which he threw in Austin last year.

He’ll shoot for U.S. title No. 7 next spring – only Greer has won more than six – and compete at the World Championships in Beijing and then compete for his 3^rd U.S. Olympic berth in 2028.

“It’s never a given that you’ll make the team so continue to try and do our best to make the team and once you make the team go get some hardware from those meets,” he said. “I mean that’s that’s been a a new standard that we’re trying to create. Not just going to these meets, we’re going to get that get some hardware and bring it back.”

Delsea’s Josh Awotunde recorded his 11^th consecutive top-8 finish in the shot put at U.S. Nationals Sunday at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.

Awotunde, the defending champion with a lifetime-best 73-8 ½ last year in Eugene, placed 8^th with a best throw of 66-5 ¾ on his 1^st attempt. He fouled on his next four throws before finishing with a 65-9 ½.

Awotunde has a season-best 69-1, which ranks 21^st in the world this year and 8^th among Americans. His 73-8 ½ from last year is No. 17 in world history and 10^th on the all-time U.S. list.

Josh Awotunde Year-by-Year Nationals Performances
2017 Indoors, did not compete
2017 Outdoors, 14^th, 62-4 ¾
2018 Indoors, did not compete
2018 Outdoors, 7^th, 66-0 ¾
2019 Indoors, 3^rd, 67-8
2019 Outdoors, 5^th, 68-9 ½
2021 Outdoors, 5^th, 71-8
2022 Indoors, 2^nd, 71-3 ¾
2022 Outdoors, 3^rd, 70-6 ¾
2023 Indoors, did not compete
2023 Outdoors, 2^nd, 72-6
2024 Indoors, did not compete
2024 Outdoors, 5^th, 71-5
2025 Indoors, 3^rd, 69-0 ½
2025 Outdoors, 1^st, 73-8 ½
2026 Indoors, did not compete
2026 Outdoors, 8^th, 66-5 ¾

Aliya Garozzo of Sicklerville and Paul VI placed 6^th in the 400-meter hurdles Sunday at the U.S. Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.

Garozzo, racing out of challenging Lane 1, ran 56.11 after a 55.47 in Saturday’s qualifying rounds. She ran her lifetime-best 54.90 in Des Moines, Iowa, in April.

This was Garozzo’s first final in her 4^th U.S. championships. She raced the intermediates at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and last spring and this past indoor season in the flat 400.

Garozzo is the first woman from Paul VI to place in the top eight at U.S. Nationals since high jumper Priscilla Frederick tied for 7th at 6-0 1/4 in 2012.  Her 6th-place finish is best by a PVI woman since another high jumper, Deirdre Mullen, was 4th in the 2008 meet at 6-3.

It’s the best finish by a South Jersey woman in the 400-meter hurdles at Nationals, topping consecutive 7th-place finishes by Rancocas Valley’s Tonya Lee in 1995 and 1996. She ran 57.61 in 1995 and 56.59 in 1996 in the Olympic Trials.

Despite just one legal mark, Winslow’s Tionna Tobias placed 7^th in the long jump Sunday at the U.S. Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.

Tobias jumped 20-5 ¼ on her 1^st attempt before fouling on her five final jumps.

Still, that 20-5 ¼ held up for her 2^nd straight top-8 finish at nationals. She placed 4^th at indoor nationals at Ocean Breeze in February with a wind-legal 21-5 ½.

Tobias is ranked 9^th among Americans this year with her season-best 21-10 ½ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopa, in April. She’s 23^rd in U.S. history with a 22-9 from a meet in Gainesville, Fla., in July 2024.

Tobias becomes the first girl from Winslow to place at U.S. Nationals and the first South Jersey woman to place in the top eight in the long jump since Shameka Marshall of Oakcrest took 7th in the 2011 meet in Eugene, Ore., with a wind-aided  21-8 1/2.

Cherokee graduate Jessica Woodard popped her two-best throws of the season and placed 4^th in the shot put at the U.S. Championships Saturday at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.

This is Woodard’s 13^th consecutive top-8 finish at an indoor or outdoor U.S. Championship meet.

She finished just 7 ¼ inches off the podium.

Woodard threw 60-10 on her 2^nd throw and 60-10 ½ on her 5^th throw. Her previous best this year was a 59-10 ¾ in Charlottesville back in April, and those are her biggest throws since last year’s U.S. Championships in Eugene last Aug. 2, where she placed 5^th with a 62-8. They’re her 50^th and 51^st lifetime 60-foot throws.

Woodard has now placed in the top eight in the last 13 U.S. championship meets she’s entered, including indoors and outdoors, a remarkable record of consistency. She’s placed in the top 10 in all 15 national championships she’s entered.

On Saturday, Woodard opened at 57-7 ¾ before popping the 60-10 on her 2^nd throw and then 59-7 ½ on her 3^rd. In the finals, she threw 58-3 ¾ and 60- ½ before a final-throw foul.

Woodard’s career best is 63-7 ¾, which she threw when she placed 3^rd at 2022 U.S. Nationals in Eugene. That ranks 19^th in U.S. history.

Jessica Woodard U.S. Championships History
2026 Outdoors [New York], 4^th, 60-10 ½
2026 Indoors [Staten Island], 4^th, 59-0 ¼
2025 Outdoors [Eugene], 5^th, 62-8
2025 Indoors, Did not compete
2024 Outdoors [Eugene], 7th, 60-3
2024 Indoors [Albuquerque], 4th, 60-11 ¼
2023 Outdoors [Eugene], 5th 60-3 ¼
2023 Indoors [Albuquerque], 3rd, 57-11 ½
2022 Outdoors [Eugene], 3rd, 63-7 ¾
2022 Indoors [Spokane], 3rd, 61-4 ¼
2021 Outdoors [Eugene], 7th, 57-11 ¾
2021 Indoors [cancelled]
2020 Outdoors [cancelled]
2020 Indoors [Albuquerque], 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Outdoors [Des Moines], 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Indoors [New York], 7th, 57-11 ½
2018 Outdoors [Des Moines], 9th, 58-0 ¾
2018 Indoors: Did not compete
2017 Outdoors [Sacramento], 8th, 57-5 ½

Jessica Woodard All-Time 60-Foot Throws
63-7 ¾ … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 26, 2022
62-8 … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., Aug. 2, 2025
62-7 … World Championships [qualifying], Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., July 15, 2022
62-3 ¾ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 20, 2021
61-10 ¼ … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 22, 2021
61-8 ¾ … NACAC Championships, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Aug. 21, 2022
61-8 ¾ … Memorial van Damme, Boudewijnstadion, Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 7, 2023
61-7 ¾ … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 26, 2022
61-7 ¾ … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 26, 2022
61-7 … USATF Golden Games, Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022
61-6 ½ … Ed Murphey Classic, Memphis, Tenn., July 30, 2022
61-5 ¼ … NACAC Championships, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Aug. 21, 2022
61-5 ¼ … Diamond League Meeting de Paris, Stade Charléty, Paris, June 9, 2023
61-4 ¼ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 19, 2023
61-4¼i … U.S. Indoor Championships, Spokane, Wash., Feb. 26, 2022
61-3 ¾ … Ed Murphey Classic, Wolfe Track Complex, Memphis, Aug. 4, 2023
61-3 ½ … NCAA Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 7, 2018
61-3 … World Championships [final], Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., July 16, 2022
61-2 ¼ … Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat, Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco, May 28, 2023
61-1 ¾ … Diamond League Meeting de Paris, Stade Charléty, Paris, June 9, 2023
61-1 ¼ … World Championships [final], Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., July 16, 2022
61-0 ¼ … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., Aug. 2, 2025
60-11 ¼ … U.S. Championships, Albuquerque Convention Center, Feb. 16, 2024
60-11 ½ … Iron Wood Classic, Iron Wood Throwers Center, Rathdrum, Idaho, June 28, 2025
60-11 ½ … U.S. Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., Aug. 2, 2025
60-10 ¾ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 19, 2023
60-10 ½ … U.S. Championships, Icahn Stadium, New York, July 24, 2026
60-10i … U.S. Indoor Championships, Spokane, Wash., Feb. 26, 2022
60-10 … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 22, 2022
60-10 … U.S. Championships, Icahn Stadium, New York, July 24, 2026
60-9 ½ … USATF Golden Games, Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, Calif., May 9, 2021
60-7 ¼ … USATF Golden Games, Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, Calif., May 9, 2021
60-7 ½i … Don Kirby Elite, Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center, Feb. 12, 2022
60-6 ¾ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 19, 2023
60-6 ½ … USATF Throws Fest, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 20, 2023
60-5 ¾ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 20, 2021
60-4 ¾ … USATF Throws Fest, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 22, 2021
60-4 ½ … USATF Throws Fest, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 20, 2023
60-4 ½ … USATF Golden Games, Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022
60-4 … Goteborg Grand Prix, Goteborg, Sweden, Aug. 16, 2019
60-3 ¼ … U.S. Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 24, 2021
60-3 ¼ … U.S. National Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., July 8, 2023
60-3 ¼ … U.S. Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 29, 2024
60-3 … Big 12 Championships, Lawrence, Kans., May 13, 2017
60-3 … Ed Murphey Classic, Memphis, Tenn., July 30, 2022
60-3 … U.S. Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 29, 2024
60-3 … NACAC Championships, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Aug. 21, 2022
60-2 ½ … U.S. Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 29, 2024
60-1 ¼ … Chula Vista High Performance #3, Elite Training Stadium, Chula Vista, Calif., May 2, 2021
60-0 ½ … Chula Vista High Performance #1, Elite Training Stadium, Chula Vista, Calif., April 3, 2021
60-0 ½ … Tucson Elite Classic, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 19, 2022

Aliya Garozzo from Sicklerville and Paul VI advanced to the 400-meter hurdles final Saturday at the U.S. Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.

Garozzo ran 55.47 in the first of two semifinals, the 8^th-fastest qualifying time. That’s her 3^rd-fastest time ever and about half a second off her PR of 54.90, which she ran in Des Moines, Iowa, in April.

Garozzo will be in Lane 1 for the final at 5:11 p.m. on Sunday.

Pennsville’s Arianna Smith [57.38] and Eastern’s Natalie Dumas [58.58] did not advance.

Highland’s Floyd Whitaker, the NCAA runner-up last year for Oklahoma, placed 4^th in the triple jump Saturday at the U.S. Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York.

Whitaker, ranked 7^th among Americans with his PR 53-11 ¼  from College Station, Texas, in February, jumped 51-7 into a 2.2 meters-per-second headwind on his final jump.

Going into the final round, Whitaker was in 4^th with a 50-11 on his 3^rd attempt, but former Florida State All-America Kyvon Tatham bumped him into 5^th with a 51-5 ½ on his final jump. Whitaker responded with his 51-7 to retake 4th place.

Whitaker, at 23 the youngest competitor in the top four, missed a podium finish by just 17 inches. He placed 13^th last year in Eugene in his first U.S. championship meet.

He’s the first Highland athlete to place in the top eight at U.S. Nationals and the first male triple jumper with a top-eight finish.

Whitaker fouled on his 1^st attempt, then had legal jumps of 49-11 ¼, 50-11 and 49-11 before a foul on his 5^thjump.

Whitaker’s college teammate, former NCAA champion Brandon Green, placed 6^th with a 50-10 ¼. Green had won all 21 previous head-to-head competitions vs. Whitaker.