From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Junior Connor Brand was the individual winner and Haddonfield placed eight runners in the top 17 to win the Camden County title 30-58 over Camden Catholic Wednesday in Logan Township.

Brand ran 16:39 at DREAM Park, edging Camden Catholic sophomore Jim Rotaeche, who as 2nd in 16:46. Camden Catholic placed 2nd with three juniors and two sophomores in its top five.

For Haddonfield, sophomore Logan Tripician placed 5th in 17:21, senior Andrew Blum was 6th in 17:29, junior Graham Dodson 8th in 17:35 and junior Luke Lindner 14th in 18:15. Haddonfield’s 6th, 7th and 8th runners, senior Luke Patterson, sophomore Lucas Larson and junior Ian Rodriguez, placed 14th through 17th in 18:15 through 18:22.

Sterling senior Brady Kay placed 3rd in 17:00, Audubon junior John Robinson was 4th in 17:04, Camden Catholic junior Kevin Dever 7th in 17:33, Timber Creek senior Michael Zechman 9th in 17:37 and Camden Catholic junior Declan Walsh 10th in 17:47.

Seniors Molly Mills and Madison Kelsey dipped under 20 minutes and finished 1-2 to lead Haddonfield to the girls team title Wednesday at the Camden County Championships, held in Gloucester County.

Haddonfield outscored 2nd-place Winslow, 21-98, with Audubon 3rd ith 111 points. The 2nd-place finish is the best ever for Winslow.

Mills ran 19:50 and Kelsey 19:54 over 5,000 meters at DREAM Park in Logan Township, and Haddonfield went 1-2-5-6-7, with senior Harper Benjamin [5th in 20:42], senior Devon Gervasi [6th in 21:04] and sophomore Tatum Russo [7th in 21:19].

Others in the top 10 were Triton aenior Emily Lutner [3rd in 20:09], Winslow junior Annabella Cassidy [4th in 20:33], Winslow freshman Zion Ebisike [8th in 21:23], Highland sophomore Isabella Prendergast [9th in 21:27] and Audubon senior Lydia Gravante [10th in 21:29].

Are Washington Township’s Yashahya Brown and Glassboro’s Cartrell Moore now competing for Rowan? It looks that way.

Brown isn’t listed anywhere on Rowan’s athletic web site, but in a list of election results for Rowan student government a Yashahya Brown is listed in the results for the student advocacy and community belonging senators. Maybe there are two Yashahya Browns, but it doesn’t look like it.

Brown had a remarkable career at Washington Township, setting a state indoor record of 7.06 at the Bubble, 7th-fastest in U.S. history, and a South Jersey record of 13.43 in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2024 state meet in Somerset. His 7.65 over the 60-meter hurdles is 16th-fastest in U.S. history and 3rd-fastest in state history. He won the U.S. schoolboy title in the 110 highs at West Philly Nationals in 13.52.

Brown began his collegiate career at Rutgers, where he ran 13.82 in Tampa in his 2nd collegiate race, the fastest time by a Rutgers hurdler in 41 years.

He spent last year at Hampton University, where he ran 13.81 and placed 3rd in the Coastal Athletic Association Championships in May in Elon, N.C.

Brown competed in one year of indoor and one year of outdoor at both Rutgers and Hampton so should have two years of indoors and two years of outdoors remaining.

Rowan has a spectacular recent hurdling history, with three different hurdlers winning NCAA Division 3 titles over the last three years. Kwaku Nkrumrah from Teaneck won the 110 highs in 2024 in 13.77, Jason Agyemang from North Plainfield won the 60-meter highs in 2025 in 7.76, and Jamir Brown from Riverside won the 110-meter highs outdoors in 2025 after setting a D-3 record of 13.60 three weeks earlier.

As for Moore, he’s not listed anywhere on Rowan’s athletic web site either, but he did share a link to Rowan track’s NIL Club on social media.

At Rider, Moore competed in one indoor season, triple jumping 47-10 ½ in a meet at Ocean Breeze. At Glassboro, he triple jumped 46-10 for 3rd at the 2024 Meet of Champions, ran 49.15 for 400 at 2024 sectionals and ran 53.56 in the 400-meter hurdles at 2024 sectionals. He should have four full years of outdoor eligibility and three seasons of indoors remaining.

Rowan is one of the top NCAA Division 3 programs in the country. The Profs have won 10 consecutive NJAC indoor titles and 11 outdoor titles in a row. The Profs won the NCAA Division 3 indoor national title this past winter and placed 2nd in outdoor nationals.

Among the All-Americans expected to return for the Profs this year are national champions specialist Dametrius Hester from Mahwah (javelin) and David Brown of Edison (high jump), along with middle distance runner Dallas Hohney of Glassboro, high jumpers Noah Wampole of Radnor and Jamile Gantt of Paulsboro, Kingsway sprinter Evan Corcoran, Eastern sprinter Rajahn Dixon of Eastern, sprinter Eli Hendricks of Penns Grove, sprinter Marquis Taylor of Woodbury and intermediate hurdler Samuel Agbessi of Sterling.

The Profs traditionally open the 2026-27 indoor season in early December.

Riley Tolson won her 2nd straight individual title and Ocean City swept the top seven spots to win its 17th straight Cape May County title Tuesday in Middle Township.

Tolson ran 19:34 over 5,000 meters at Cape May County Park, and the Red Raiders’ packed their five scorers in 55 seconds, scoring a perfect 15 points.

Ocean City has won every county title since 2009, when Wildwood Catholic went 1-2-3 and edged Ocean City, 30-32. The meet was not held in 2020.

Following Tolson across the line were senior Carly Godfrey [2nd in 20:16], freshman Mackenzie Jenkins [3rd in 20:17], sophomore Bella Cera [4th in 20:28], senior Peighton Clemens [5th in 20:29], freshman Cara Jefferson [6th in 20:55] and senior Lillian Flora [7th in 21:10].

Middle Township took the next three spots, with sophomore Teagan Emmer 8th in 22:35, senior Eden Geisel 9th in 23:04 and junior Autumn Cannon 10th in 23:14.

Middle Township senior Jamar Mack won the individual title and Ocean City, running its B team, placed five runners from 2nd through 6th place to win its 11th straight team title Tuesday at the Cape May Championships in Middle Township.

This is the third straight year Mack has broken up an Ocean City sweep. He was 6th in 2024 and 4th last year.

Ocean City has now won 24 Cape May County titles in the last 25 years. Middle Township won by five points in 2014, 29-34, to break up the Red Raiders’ winning streak.

Ocean City won the team title with 20 points.Ocean City has won 44 of 52 team titles and 43 of the last 49 dating back to 1977. The Raiders have placed 1st or 2nd in 49 consecutive county meets since taking 4th in 1976. They’ve also scored fewer than 40 points in 27 consecutive meets. During their current streak of 11 straight wins they’ve averaged 18.3 points.

Mack ran 16:53 over 5,000 meters at Cape May County Park and won by nearly a minute over Ocean City junior Hayden Tarves, who was 2nd in 17:48.

Also in Ocean City’s scoring group were junior Ryan Jefferson [3rd in 17:50], senior Jeffrey Taccarino [4th in 18:00], senior Eric Buck [5th in 18:01] and sophomore Aidan Sokorai [6th in 18:14].

Also in the top 10: Middle Township junior Rey Cruz Bruno [7th in 18:30], Ocean City sophomore Peyton Spaulding [8th in 18:40], Ocean City senior Logan Goodwin [9th in 18:44] and Middle senior Darp Patel [10th in 18:54].

Kingsway senior Ryan Duffy and Egg Harbor Township junior Timothy Rooney finished 5^th and 7^th and the EHT and Kingsway boys placed 2^nd and 4^th out off over 230 runners in the Varsity E race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

Duffy ran 13:12 over the VanCortlandt Park 2 ½-mile course and Rooney was five seconds back.

Salesianum School of Wilmington, Del., won the team title with 117 points, 15 fewer than Egg Harbor Township. Father Judge of Philadelphia was 3^rd with 159 and Kingsway 4^th at 188.

EHT placed its first four runners in the top 30, with Rooney 5^th, senior Daniel Svec 16^th in 13:36, junior Liam Aspenbherg 27^th in 13:49 and senior Ben Gettings 28^th in 13:51. They were backed up by senior Stephen Slusarski and Gabe Hudec in 55^th and 56^th, both in 14:09. Sophomore Christopher Sanchez ran 14:20 for 72^nd.

For Kingsway, junior Michael Beaver and sophomore Logan McKeever took 17^th and 18^th, both in 13:37, senior Payton Veilleux was 59^th in 14:12 and senior Joseph Moczydlowski 92^nd in 14:38.

The Paul VI girls put three in the top 14 but fell three points shy of winning the Varsity D race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Freshman Peyton Barger placed 4^th in 15:32, junior Morgan Kuzma was 13^th in 13:55 and sophomore Isabella Suarez 14^th in 13:59 to lead the PVI pack. Senior Grace Gutowski placed 31^st in 16:33 and sophomore Emilia Grelli placed 47^th in 16:57.

Barber was the fastest freshman in the race, the fastest freshman from New Jersey in any of the six girls races and the 3^rd-fastest freshman overall.

Tatnall School of Wilmington, Del., won the team title 99-101. Nobody else was under 189.

Senior Keenan Neuman finished first in a field over 200 runners and senior Nathan Aschmann and junior Nevin Millstein also placed in the top 10 and Ocean City raced to the Varsity C team title Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational.

Neuman ran 12:43 over the 2 ½-mile Van Cortlandt Park course in the Bronx, winning by three seconds over Isaac Deyoe from Shaker High in Latham, N.Y. Aschmann was 3^rd in 13:05 and Millstein 10^th in 13:17.

Junior Benjamin McCarthy and senior Michael Romano were also in Ocean City’s scoring group, McCarthy 22^nd in 13:35 and Romano 39^th in 13:51.

Ocean City won the team title 74-103 over Tatnall School of Wilmington, Del., with Flagler Palm Coast (Fla.) 3^rd with 123.

Middle Township senior Jamar Mack edged Sterling senior Giovanni Fuchs to win the Division 2 race Saturday at the South Jersey Open at DREAM Park in Logan Township.

Mack ran 16:17 and finished two seconds ahead of Fuchs, who was 2^nd in 16:19. The actual margin was 1.53 seconds based on their times to the hundredth of a second.

Haddon Township won a close four-way team battle with 60 points, nine fewer than Camden Catholic’s 69. Woodstown [81] and Sterling [88] also scored below 90 points.

For Haddon Township, junior James Strimel was 5^th in 16:58, then sophomore Kieran Adams, freshman Ryan Luke and sophomore Simon Pierwola ran 11^th, 12^th and 13^th in 17:13, 17:15 and 17:16. Sophomore Isaiah Williams was Township’s 5^th runner, taking 20^th in 17:48.Township’s 6^th and 7^thrunners weren’t far behind, with sophomore Bryce Davis 22^nd in 17:54 and sophomore Nick Bernardo 26^th in 18:01. That’s no seniors, one junior, five sophomores and one freshman in their top seven.

Camden Catholic sophomore Jim Rotaeche [3^rd in 16:28], West Deptford senior Lane McClintock [4^thin 16:42], Woodstown senior David Farrell [6^th in 17:05], Camden Catholic sophomore Daniel Clewell [7^th in 17:07], Woodstown senior Pacey Hutton [8^th in 17:10], Sterling senior Brady Kay [9^th in 17:12] and Woodstown sophomore Torsten Duva [10^th in 17:12] rounded out the top 10.

Moorestown junior Zander Kane placed 5^th out of more than 200 runners in the Varsity B race Saturday at the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park, leading the Quakers to a 5th-place finish out of 32 schools.

Kane ran 13:11 and finished just 13 seconds behind winner Noah Klahn of West Valley Central in Ashford, Cattaraugus County, N.Y.

He was the first underclassman across the line.

Moorestown senior Ethan Taylor ran 14:11 for 40^th place, sophomore Brandon Castner was 58^th in 14:28 and senior Finley Smith 63^rd in 14:41.