From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Curtis Thompson, already one of the greatest javelin throwers in U.S. history, looks to add to his remarkable legacy this weekend, when he competes in his 12^th U.S. Championships.

Thompson, a. 2014 Florence High School graduate, seeks his 6^th national title at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in Manhattan. He’s already one of only five men to win five U.S. javelin titles and one of only two to do it this century. Breaux Greer won a record eight between 2000 and 2007, and George Bronder [1914 through 1919], Bud Held [1949 through 1958] and Tom Pukstys [1992 through 1999] each won six.

Thompson, No. 3 all-time among Americans at 287-11 from Austin last May, won his first U.S. title in 2018 in Des Moines, when he threw 249-3. He placed 4^th in Des Moines in 2019 [251-2] and there was no meet in 2020. He won the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene [271-7], then placed 2^nd in 2022 in Eugene [264-0] before winning the last three years in Eugene with 265-5, 272-5 and 275-2.

Thompson owns five of the top 16 throws in meet history, and his 275-2 last year is 5^th-best in meet history. Thompson has six career throws over 280 feet, and he’s surpassed 275 feet in four straight meets – in Rome; College Station, Texas; Doha, Quatar; and East Stroudsburg, Pa. – heading into nationals.

Thompson ranks 5^th in the world this year with his 282-1 in Doha last month. He owns the five-best throws by Americans this year and seven of the top eight. Mark Minichello, a former NCAA champ at Penn, is Thompson’s top competition. He threw a PR 275-11 in April in Des Moines. That makes him 12^th in the world this year and 7^th all-time among Americans, but he’s been below 270 feet in his last four meets and hasn’t thrown 270 feet since PR’ing at the Drake Relays in April.

Only three men from New Jersey have own more U.S. titles than Thompson: Carl Lewis won 13 from 1981 through 1991 – five in the 100, two in the 200 and six in the long jump – Barringer High’s Platt Adams won 11 in the long jump, triple jump and pole vault for distancebetween 1907 and 1915, and Eulace Peacock from Union won eight in the 100, long jump and pentathlon from 1933 through 1945. Others who won five are Marty Liquori of Essex Catholic in the mile and 5,000 from 1969 through 1978 and Almonesson’s Mel Sheppard in the 800 from 1906 through 1912.

The men’s javelin final is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. next Saturday, July 25.

Here’s a look at Thompson’s year-by-year finish at U.S. Nationals:

2015: 6^th, 237-8
2016*: 2^nd, 271-11
2017: 6^th, 237-9
2018: 1^st, 249-3
2019: 4^th, 251-2
2020: Not held
2021*: 1^st, 271-7
2022: 2^nd, 264-0
2023: 1^st, 265.5
2024*: 1^st, 272-5
2025: 1^st, 275-2
* – U.S. Olympic Trials

A handful of South Jersey athletes who didn’t have the automatic A qualifying standard have been accepted into USATF Nationals, which will be held next week in New York, according to the USATF web site’s updated entry list.

Highland’s Floyd Whitaker, Eastern’s Natalie Dumas, Winslow’s Tionna Tobias, Delsea’s Elisia Lancaster, Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard and Pennsville’s Arianna Smith have all been accepted into the national championship meet, scheduled for next Thursday through Sunday at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in Manhattan.

First, a rundown of the South Jersey athletes who qualified with the automatic standard: Josh Awotunde from Delsea [69-1 shot put], Greg Foster of Lumberton [27-0 ¼ long jump], Florence’s Curtis Thompson [282-1 javelin], Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo [54.90 400 hurdles] and Ajani Dwyer of Washington Township [legal 9.98 in 100].

They will be joined by the second group who qualified with a B standard that was strong enough to qualify.

Whitaker qualified with his 53-11 ¼ PR in the triple jump, Dumas qualified in the 400 hurdles with her 56.13 and will be joined by Smith with a 56.29, Tobias had a strong long jump B qualifier at 21-10 ½, Lancaster PR’d recently with a 227-0 in the hammer and Woodard’s 62-8 got her in the shot.

Additionally, two Rowan Division 3 national champions qualified, Jason Agyemang from North Plainfield, the national indoor champ last year over the 60-meter highs, qualified in the 110 highs at 13.72, and Damitrius Hester of Mawah, the national javelin champ this spring at 245-10, will also compete.

Notably, Riverside’s Jamir Brown, ranked 15th among American men in the 110-meter hurdles at 13.25, did not enter.

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta ran another big sub-45-second 400 Saturday at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational at Foote Field in Edmonton, Alberta.

Moronta, the Dominican Republic national champion, placed 4^th in an international field in 44.73, just off his PR of 44.67, which he ran to win the Pan American Championships in Medellin, Columbia, last month.

Moronta, 23, is 3^rd-fastest ever from New Jersey behind Manchester Township’s Andrew Valmon [44.30 in Eugene in 1993] and Willingboro’s Lamont Smith [44.30 in Atlanta in 1996].

He’s ranked No. 1 among Dominican quarter-milers this year and 3^rd all-time. He’s 33^rd-fastest in the world this year and presumably headed for the World Championships in Eugene next month, although the Dominican Republic team selection is a closely guarded secret so really I have no idea what the process is. Good luck trying to find it!

Moronta only had a 49.68 PR at Pleasantville from the 2019 state Group 2 meet in Bayville. He ran 56.33 for the 400 hurdles and 1:54.74 in the 800.

After starting his college career at Mississippi State, where he ran 51.38 in the intermediates and 1:49.33 in the 800, he finished at Central Florida, where he focused on the 400.

He placed 2^nd in the 400 at 2025 NCAAs in Eugene in 45.47 but was DQ’d for running outside his lane. He bounced back by running a 44.23 anchor leg on the Knights’ championship 4-by-400 team, passing Texas A&M on the final straight.

Curtis Thompson surpassed 275 feet for a 4^th consecutive meet Saturday and won the American Javfest in East Stroudsburg.

Thompson, a 2014 Florence graduate and two-time Olympian, hit 276-0 on his 2^nd throw, his 12^th-best throw ever. That’s his 26^th lifetime throw of 270 or better, including seven this year.

He began his run of consecutive meets with a 275-foot throw in Rome last month, when he threw 275-2 at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala, then he threw 278-5 at the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix in College Station, Texas, two days later. Later in June, he popped a season-best 282-1 [85.99] at the Diamond Discipline meet in Doha, Qatar.

He also threw over 275 in Ramona, Okla., in April and Des Moines later in April.

Thompson goes into the USATF Championships later this month on Randall’s Island in Manhattan with seven of the eight-best throws by American men this year.

Thompson has won five U.S. titles: 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The 2021 and 2024 national championships were the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Thompson, the 2025 World Championships bronze medalist, ranks 3rd in U.S. history with his PR 287-11 at last year’s Texas Relays in Austin. That’s the best throw by an American since Breaux Greer’s 299-6 in Indianapolis in 2007.

Dametrius Hester, who won the NCAA Division 3 title for Rowan as a junior this past spring with a 245-10 throw – 2nd-best in D-3 history – placed 5th with his 2nd-best throw ever, a 242-7 on his 5th throw. He also had a 240-4, his 3rd-best throw ever. Hester, from Mahwah, is entered in USATF Nationals later this month.

Curtis Thompson All-Time 270-Foot Throws
287-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [2^nd throw]
287-9 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [2^ndthrow]
286-2 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Freeport, Bahamas, Aug. 17, 2025 [2^nd throw]
284-4 … World Championships, Tokyo, Sept. 18, 2025 [1^st throw]
282-8 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2025 [3^rd throw]
282-1 … Doha Diamond Discipline, Doha, Qatar. June 19, 2026 [1^st throw]
279-11 … Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational, Ramona, Okla., April 10, 2026 [1^stthrow]
279-10 … World Championships, Tokyo, Sept. 18, 2025 [3^rd throw]
278-5 … USATF Lone Star Grand Prix, College Station, Texas, June 6, 2026 [1^st throw]
277-11 … World Championships qualifying, Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 17, 2025 [2^nd throw]
277-8 … Drake Relays, Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Idaho, April 23, 2026 [5^th throw]
276-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [3^rd throw]
276-4 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2022 [3^rd throw]
276-0 …  American Javfest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 11, 2026 [2^nd throw]
275-2 … USATF Championships, Eugene, Ore., July 31, 2025 [4^th throw]
275-2 … Diamond Discipline Golden Gala, Rome, June 4, 2026
274-11 … Athletissima, La Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland, Aug. 26, 2022 [1^st throw]
273-4 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [1^stthrow]
272-5 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 23, 2024 [1^st throw]
272-1 … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 23, 2026 [1^st throw]
271-11… Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 4, 2016 [1^st throw]
271-10 … Spitzen Leichtathletik, Luzern, Switzerland, Aug. 30, 2022 [3^rd throw]
271-9 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [4^th throw]
271-7 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 21, 2021 [6th throw]
271-0 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 13, 2024 [1st throw]
270-6 … USATF Championships, Eugene, Ore., July 31, 2025 [6th throw]
270-3 … Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Invitational, Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland, Aug. 6, 2022 [2nd throw]

Ajani Dwyer ran the fastest 100 meters in any conditions by a New Jersey sprinter in 38 years Friday in Memphis.

Dwyer, who recently completed his sophomore year at Penn State, won the 100 at the Ed Murphey Classic at the University of Memphis’s Billy J. Murphy Athletic Complex in a wind-aided 9.85, matching the fastest by a New Jersey sprinter since Carl Lewis ran a wind-aided 9.78 to win the final at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials at Indiana Universitu’s Michael Carroll Track and Soccer Complex in Indianapolis.

Lewis’s 9.78 was aided by a 5.2 meters-per-second assisting wind, and Dwyer’s 9.85 was aided by a 4.0 wind. Anything over 2.0 is considered wind aided and not eligible for records and all-time performance lists.

Dwyer’s previous all-conditions PR was a 9.93 in Lincoln, Neb., in May, with a 5.6 wind. He ran a legal 9.98 in Lexington, Ky., in May, with a 0.2 headwind.

Dennis Mitchell also ran a wind-aided 9.85 in Eugene in June 1993 with a wind reading of 4.8.

Dwyer’s 9.85 is 28^th-fastest ever by an American under any conditions and 21^st-fastest in college track history under any conditions.

Dwyer has qualified for the U.S. Championships later this month on Randall’s Island in Manhattan and has registered for the national meet. He’s ranked 10^th among American men with legal wind and 6^th among U.S. men under any conditions. His 9.85 ranks 15^th in the world with any wind conditions.

According to the wind adjustment calculator, a 9.85 with a 4.0 wind equals a 9.98 with the maximum legal 2.0 wind.

This was Dwyer’s first race since the end of the college track season.

A host of South Jersey alums will be at Randall’s Island in Manhattan later this month to compete in the USATF Championships.

The meet is scheduled for July 23-26 at Icahn Stadium. This will be the first time the meet has been outside Eugene since 2019, when it was in Des Moines, Iowa, and the first time it will be in New York since 1991, when it was the TAC Championships and held at Downing Stadium. When Downing Stadium was demolished in 2002, it was replaced by Icahn Stadium.

So far, six South Jersey athletes have registered with several others eligible after having met either the A standard – the auto qualifying standard – or the B standard, which is used when there aren’t enough A qualifiers to fill the field.

Already registered are Lumberton’s Greg Foster in both the 110-meter hurdles, Florence’s Curtis Thompson in the javelin, Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo in the 400-meter hurdles, Delsea’s Josh Awotunde and Highland’s Floyd Whitaker in the triple jump. Also registered is Rowan javelin specialist Damitrius Hester.

Here’s a look at that group. Am I forgetting anyone? It’s possible becauseUSATF’s web site is so clunky. Let me know who’s missing!

Josh Awotunde: Awotunde, the 2022 World Championships bronze medalist, ranks 7^th among American men at 69-1, just short of the A standard of 69-2 ½, which only six U.S. throwers have hit this year.

Greg Foster: Ranked 4^th among American men and 19^th in the world at 27-0 ¼ at the Armory in February, Foster is well above the A standard of 26-6 ¾. Foster is also entered in the 110-meter hurdles, where he has a 13.78 on his home track in Princeton, a B standard.

Aliya Garozzo: Sicklerville’s Garozzo is 8^th among U.S. women in the 400-meter intermediates with her PR 54.90 Des Moines in April. That’s well under the A standard of 55.80. She also has the B in the 400 with 52.43 but isn’t registered.

Curtis Thompson: Thompson, the 2025 World Championships bronze medalist, is ranked 1^st among U.S. men and 4^th in the world at 282-1 from last month in Doha, Qatar. Thompson shoots for his 6^th national javelin title and 5^th in a row.

Floyd Whitaker: Former NCAA All-America at Oklahoma is 7^th among Americans with his PR 53-11 ¼ from indoors in College Station, Texas. That’s not quite an A Standard, but only four American men have the A standard and 16 will qualify, so he’s in good shape.

Damitrius Hester: Mahwah’s Hester won the NCAA D-3 title with a 245-10 in La Crosse, Wisc., No. 2 in D-3 history behind Deptford’s Tim Van Liew, who threw 247-10 to win the 2013 national title for Rutgers-Camden.

The qualifying window closes on Sunday. Here’s a look at other South Jersey athletes who have met either the A or B standard but as of Tuesday morning had not registered. Remember, the closer a competitor’s B standard performance is to the A standard the better their chances of qualifying.

Men
Ajani Dwyer, Washington Township: Dwyer snagged the A standard with his wind-legal 9.98, which is 10^th-fastest among U.S. men and No. 33 in the world. Dwyer has the B standard in the 200 at 20.51.

Alexander Osayemi, Clayton: Osayemi has the B standard in the 400 with his PR 45.46 last month in Eugene.

Jayden Poteat, Winslow Twp.: Poteat is also under the B standard with his 45.97 in Elon, N.C.

Jamir Brown, Riverside: Brown is No. 15 in the U.S. with his 13.25 PR in Louisville in May. That’s well under the A standard of 13.40.

Kwaku Nkrumah and Jason Agyemang, Rowan: Nkrumah and Agyemang, Brown’s former teammate at Rowan, both ran 13.72 this year in a home meet in Glassboro in April. They’re both under the B standard. Nkrumah is from Teaneck and Agyemang from  North Plainfield.

Bryce Tucker, Pennsauken: Tucker’s 50.54 from Lincoln, Neb., is under the B standard of 50.75.

David Brown, Rowan: Another Rowan star, Brown’s 7-2 ¼ in Charlottesville in April nailed the B tandard of 7-2 ¼.

Women
Sianni Wynn, Pennsauken: Wynn ran 11.27 at Franklin Field last month, a B standard of 11.30.

Amirah and Arianna Sharpe, Clayton: The Sharpe twins are both under the 400 B stnadard of 52.50, Amirah with a 51.95 and Arianna with 52.07, both in Fayetteville in April.

Natalie Dumas, Eastern: U.S. Under-20 champ in the intermediates has the B standard in the intermediates with her 56.13, not far off the A standard of 55.80. She has also the B in the 400 with 52.20.

Arianna Smith, Pennsville: Smith ran 56.29 in Durham, N.C.,

Jasmine Jackson, Winslow: Jackson’s historic 13.04 – 7^th-fastest in U.S. history – to win West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field last month puts her well under the B standard of 13.25.

Jailya Ash, Eastern: Ash PR’d at 13.08 in Fayetteville in June, also well under the hurdles B standard of 13.25.

Tionna Tobias, Winslow Twp.: Tobias, one of the leading U.S. long jumpers, has the B standard of 21-10 ½ from a meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April, but she is 9^th-best American and only seven U.S. women have the A standard of 22-1 ¾.

Jessica Woodard, Cherokee: Woodard has the B standard with her 59-10 ¾ in Charlottesville in April. She’s ranked 11^th among Americans and only five U.S. women have the A standard. Woodard has placed among the top eight at U.S. nationals 12 meets in a row, including three podium finishes.

Elisia Lancaster, Delsea: Lancaster’s PR of 227-0 puts her 16^th among U.S. women and well over the B standard of 206-8.

Missed this one when it happened because it happened at a tiny obscure meet at a small college in North Jersey, but Delsea’s Elisia Lancaster recently bombed a hammer PR of 227-0.

That PR came at the New York Hammer Spring Series 1 at Ramapo College in Mahwah. Why is the New York Hammer Spring Series in New Jersey? I don’t know, but Ramapo College is about two miles from the New York State border. And there is a Ramapo, N.Y., so maybe the meet was actually there.

Anyway, her throw makes her No. 16 among U.S. women this year and gives her a shot at the USATF Championships later this month at Randall’s Island in New York. She has a strong B standard, and only 10 throwers currently have the A standard of 232-11.

Lancaster surpassed her previous PR of 225-1 from a meet in Glassboro in May. Her PR coming into the season was 222-1, which she threw in May of last year at the Princeton Elite Invitational at Weaver Stadium.

Her 227-0 is No. 53 in U.S. history and No. 73 in the world this year.

Lancaster is the No. 2 hammer thrower ever from New Jersey. Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic in Toms River threw 245-4 in June of 2022 in Eugene, Ore.

Turns out South Jersey has a pretty good 400-meter dash runner we didn’t know about.

Meet Michaela Poland of Sicklerville, who ran 54.77 last summer in a meet in Humble, Texas. Poland graduated this spring from Penn Charter after running 55.54 and placing 2^nd in the Inter-Ac Championships in Newtown Square and winning the 200 in 24.90.

Penn Charter, located in the East Falls neighborhood in Philly, apparently doesn’t compete in the Pennsylvania state meet and Poland did not race at West Philly Nationals, so she finished her senior season at the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association Championships in Malvern, where she won the 200 in 25.04 and the 400 in 57.08. She has also high jumped 5-4. She’s also competed in the intermediate hurdles – they inexplicably run the obsolete 300-meter intermediates in Pennsylvania – although she didn’t run the 300IH this year.

Poland plans to run for Penn.

Prince Owusu-Twum, a recent Winslow graduate, won the 400 at the Garden State Last Chance Invitational at Highland Park over the weekend.

Owusu-Twum ran 47.70, winning by more than a second over Myles Small, who ran 48.76. Small, a 2022 graduate of Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, N.Y., ran for a couple years at Coppin State, where he had a PR of 48.56.

Owusu-Twum PR’d this year at 47.46 when he placed 5^th in the Meet of Champions. That’s 7^th-fastest in Camden County history and No. 18 on the all-time South Jersey list. He won the state Group 3 title in Mansfield in 48.02.