From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Rowan’s Nyla Jones from Timber Creek and Stockton’s Elaina Styer both ran top-15 NCAA Division 3 times in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the Ott Center.

Jones ran 8.76 in the trials of the Widener Indoor Classic, leading all qualifiers to the final, and Styer ran 8.83, the 3rd-fastest qualifying time.

They now rank 8th and 14th in NCAA Division 3.

Jones previous PR was an 8.93 at Ocean Breeze in December. Her time is 2nd-fastest in Rowan history, behind the school-record 8.68 set by South Brunswick’s Aspen McMillan when she placed 4th in the 2019 NCAA Division 3 Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, Mass. Jones, a 400 hurdles All-America in the spring, is defending NJAC high hurdles champion both indoors and outdoors.

Styer broke her own school record of 8.87, which she ran within her NCAA Division 3-leading pentathlon win in Utica, N.Y., last weekend.

Rowan freshman Keira Gibbons of Lenape also dropped her PR from 9.60 to 9.25, 5th-fastest in the NJAC this year and fastest among freshmen.

Seth Clevenger’s 4:00.64 anchor leg led Rowan to the fastest distance medley in NCAA Division 3 this year Saturday in Medford, Mass.

One day after smashing the NCAA Division 3 record for 5,000 meters six miles away at Boston University, the Haddonfield graduate led Rowan to a 9:53.19 win at the Tufts Cupid Challenge at the Gantcher Center.

Junior Blaik Slavinski from Point Pleasant Borough led off for Rowan with a 3:07.65 for 1,200 meters. Freshman Matt Niedbalski from Clearview split 50.52 for 400 meters, junior Teddy Wilson from Toms River North ran 800 meters in 1:54.39 setting up Clevenger, who held off SUNY Geneseo’s anchor by 18-100ths of a second with a 28.41 final 200.

Rowan bumped Hope College of Holland, Mich., from the top spot on the 2026 Division 3 DMR list. Hope ran 9:58.25 in South Bend, Ind., last month. TCNJ is now 3rd on the list with its 9:58.79 last weekend in Boston. TCNJ and Rowan will race each other at the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet Saturday at the Ott Center.

TCNJ held the previous record for fastest DMR by a New Jersey Athletic Conference school with its 9:57.81 at 2007 IC4As at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston with Chris Guerriero of Saddle Brook, Rob McGowan of Monroe Township, Matt Randal from South Brunswick and Brian Kopnicki from Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

Rowan’s previous school record was 9:58.49 at 2018 NCAAs in Birmingham, Ala., with Nick Nocco from Southern Regional, Justin Bishop from Mainland Regional, Nick Neville from South Brunswick and Kevin Veltre from Brick Memorial.

Another monster meet for Lumberton’s Greg Foster, who PR’d in the long jump for the 2^nd time in his last two meets.

Foster soared 26-10 ½ on his 5^th throw in a monster series at the Tyson Invitational at the Lance Harter Track at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville Friday, moving into the No. 3 spot on the all-time New Jersey alumni list.

Foster, who PR’d at 26-5 ¾ at the Ott Center three weeks ago, averaged 26-1 ¾ on his five legal jumps Friday. He opened with a 25-2 ¾  before a 26-5 ½, 25-10 ¾, 26-4 ¼ and finally of 26-4 or better.

Foster’s jump is the best ever indoors or outdoors by an Ivy League long jumper.

The 26-10 ½ also guaranteed Foster entry into the USATF Championships on Feb. 28 and March 1 at Ocean Breeze. The A standard is 26-6 ¾.

His jump is No. 7 in the world this year and No. 3 among Americans. Foster placed 2^nd behind world hurdles champion Cordell Tinch, who PR’d at 27-2 ½. Tinch moves to No. 49 in U.S. history and Foster is No. 78.

The only New Jersey high school graduates to jump farther than Foster did Friday are Carl Lewis, with his 29-1 ¼ in Tokyo in 1991, and Corey Crawford of Indian Hills, who jumped 27-2 ¼ in Chula Vista, Calif., in 2021.

Foster’s 26-10 ½ is No. 2 in NCAA Division 1 this year, behind only Kennedy Stringfellow of Oklahoma, who jumped 27-2  ½ last month in Norman, Okla. Stringfellow, a Mississippi State transfer, placed 12^th Friday with a 25-1 ¼ on his only legal jump.

Foster did not hurdle Friday, but he is No. 2 in the Ivy League with his PR 7.77 from the Ott Center last month. He’s also 4^th in the conference in the 60 with a PR 6.72, also from the Ott Center last month.

All-Time New Jersey Alumni Long Jump List
29-1 ¼  … Carl Lewis [Willingboro], Aug. 30, 1991, Tokyo
27-2 ¼ … Corey Crawford [Indian Hills], May 29, 2021, Chula Vista, Calif.
26-10 3/4 … Greg Foster [Lumberton / Lawrenceville PRep], Feb. 13, 2026, Fayetteville, Ark.
26-10 ¼ … Evans Tobler [Trenton], May 13, 1989, Ponce, Puerto Rico
26-7 ½ … Chris Phipps [Lodi], June 27, 2010, Des Moines, Iowa [+1.8]
26-5 ½ … Darius Pemberton [Hackensack], March 22, 1997, Houston
26-3 ¼  … Matt Rose [Bordentown], Mary 4, 1991, Knoxville, Tenn.
26-3 … Eulace Peacock [Union], July 4, 1935, Lincoln, Neb.
26-3 … Bob Calhoun [Scotch Plains], May 20, 1978, Philadelphia
26-1 ¾  … Norm Tate [East Orange], May 20, 1972, El Paso, Texas
26-1 ¾  … Chris Gillis [Pennsauken], May 12, 2006, Waco, Texas

Winslow and Iowa graduate Tionna Tobias recorded her best long jump in a year and a half Friday in Fayetteville with a 20-11 ½ on her 1^st attempt at the Tyson Invitational.

Click to access 113-1.pdf

That’s No. 14 in the U.S. this year. She jumped 20-10 in her one previous meet this year, last month in Boston. Tobias, competing unattached Friday, jumped again 20-10 on her 2^nd attempt Friday.

The 20-11 ½ is Tobias’s best jump since her breakthrough 22-9 ¼ at the Holloway Pro Classic at Percy Beard Track in Gainesville in July 2024. That’s No. 22 in U.S. history. It’s the 4^th-best jump of her life.

With an all-South Jersey lineup of junior Dallas Hohney of Glassboro, sophomore Luke Halbruner of Ocean City, freshman Marquis Taylor of Woodbury and sophomore Rajahn Dixon of Eastern, Rowan ran the 5^th-fastest 1,600-meter relay in NCAA Division 3 this year Friday evening in Youngstown, Ohio.

The Profs placed 2^nd to NCAA Division 1 Akron at the Youngstown State Last-Chance Meet at the Watson and Tressel Training Site with a time of 3:14.34.

That’s 5^th-fastest in Rowan history and 6^th-fasteste ever by an NJAC school. TCNJ ran 3:13.04 this past March in Boston.

Rowan’s 3:10.09 in Boston in 2023 is the NCAA Division 3 record.

The results site the meet uses is a joke and has no names or splits, so I could be wrong about Rowan’s lineup, and I have no splits. But they definitely ran 3:14.34. A Rowan B team ran 3:19.34. No idea who was on that team. This is like track in the 1970s. We just have no clue about anything. But it’s Youngstown so what should we expect?

Rowan’s fastest indoor 4x4s
3:10.09 … Nana Agyemang, Jah’mere Beasley, Marquise Young, Amara Conte, 2023, Boston
3:12.39 … Jason Agyemang, Marquise Young, Nana Agyemang, Amara Conte, 2024, Boston
3:12.80 … Charlie Serrano, Nana Agyemang, Jah’mere Beasley, Amara Conte, 2022, Boston
3:13.15 … Marquise Young, Nana Agyemang, Samuel Millevoix, Rajahn Dixon, 2025, Boston
3:14.34 … Dallas Hohney, Luke Halbruner, Marquis Taylor, Rajahn Dixon, 2026, Youngstown

Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger destroyed the NCAA Division 3 record for 5,000 meters Friday at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

Racing in a loaded field against an assortment of Division 1 stars and pros, Clevenger, a junior at Rowan, ran 13:32.09 in the invitational section of the 5,000, breaking the Division 3 mark of 14:44.98 set by Alex Phillips of John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, just outside Cleveland, at the same meet in 2023.

Clevenger also ran faster than the NCAA Division 3 outdoor 5,000 record of 13:41.96 set this past April by Chasen Hunt of Lynchburg (Va.) in Azusa, Calif.

Since arriving in Glassboro after starting out at Iowa State, Clevenger has run the 3^rd-fastest 3,000 in D-3 history – 7:54.87 at the Armory last month – and the 4^th-fastest mile – 3:59.41 at Ocean Breeze last week.

His 13:32.09 is also fastest ever by a South Jersey high school graduate, breaking the record of 13:44.57 set by Cherokee’s Jack Shea in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2022. Others under 14 minutes are Eastern’s Karl Savage [14:48.61 in Walnut, Calif., in 2003], and two Cinnaminson runners – Jon Anderson [15:58,23 at 2009 Penn Relays] and Austin Gabay [13:58.84 in Raleigh in 2024].

Clevenger smashed the school record of 14:30.19 set by Oakcrest’s Ron Deckert in 1986. His time is 8^th-fastest on the all-time New Jersey alumni list.

Clevenger’s 800 splits were 2:08.46, 2:08.88, 2:09.75. 2:12.58 and 2:11.00, closing in 2:10.75 for his final 800. He ran all 25 laps between 31.39 and 33.55. He came through 3,000 meters in 8:06.84, below the previous school record in the 3,000.

His time would rank 23^rd this year in NCAA Division 1. His previous PR over 5,000 meters on the track was 14:24.57 in April 2023 in Azusa, Calif.

A week after an indoor PR 52.96, Paul VI graduate Aliya Garozzo ran a lifetime-best 52.43 Friday at the Tiger Paw Invitational Clemson.

Garozzo, a Penn undergraduate grad and Duke grad school graduate now competing unattached, shattered her PR 52.54 from Raleigh, N.C., last March.

Her time is 8^th-fastest ever by a South Jersey quarter-miler. It’s also only 23-100ths off the A standard for USATF Indoor Champions at Ocean Breeze on Feb. 28 and March 1.

Garozzo finished 4-100ths of a second behind former Duke teammate Julia Jackson from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, who ran an indoor 52.40, breaking the Duke record of 52.57 set by Megan McGinnis in Louisville in 2023.

Garozzo ran 55.77 for the 400 hurdles in Durham, N.C., this past April, which ranked 16^th among U.S. women.

South Jersey All-Time 400 Alumni List
50.66 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 2003, Sacramento
51.14 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], June 21, Philadelphia
51.70 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], June 13, 2014, Eugene, Ore.
51.72 … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], June 27, 1987, San Jose, Calif.
51.91 … Arianna Sharpe [Clayton], May 9, 2025, Fayetteville, Ark.
52.20 … Amirah Sharpe [Clayton], April 25, 2025, Fayetteville, Ark.
52.24 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], March 16, 1996, Westwood, Calif.
52.43 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], Feb. 13, 2026, Clemson, S.C.
52.77 … Eusheka Bartley [Highland], March 23, 1996, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.80 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], May 12, 2007, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.80 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], May 3, 2025, Pennsauken
52.86 … Tina Johnson [Burlington Twp.], May 20, 2001, Bloomington, Ind.

MIT’s Jacob Cobb from West Deptford ran the 10^th-fastest mile in NCAA Division 3 Friday in Boston.

Cobb lowered his PR a ridiculous 15 seconds with a 4:07.01 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

His previous PR for a full mile was a 4:21.92 two years ago at a meet in Salem, Va. He did run 4:16.20 for the slightly shorter 1,600 meters in an outdoor meet at Haddonfield in May 2022.

In a different section of the same race, Kingsway graduate Kyle Rakitis, a Rutgers junior, PR’d with a 4:08.66. That’s No. 9 in Rutgers history.

Rakitis’s previous full mile PR was 4:10.09 in June 2021 at Hayward Field Nationals. His previous indoor PR was 4:12.55 at the 2022 Meet of Champions at the Bubble. His previous collge PR was 4:11.00 a year ago this week in Chicago.

MIT doesn’t have an all-time indoor top-10 on its web site.

Sophomore Jaylen Porter and seniors Solomon Wesley and Robert Proctor ran on the winning 4-by-4 team and placed 2^nd through 4^th in the open 400 Thursday, and Burlington Township placed 2^nd in the Central Jersey Group 3 meet in Tom River.

Porter, Wesley and Proctor were joined by senior Jzaydin Macklinz on the Falcons’ 4-by-4, which won with a 3:28.69. In the open 400, Porter ran 51.46 for 2^nd, Wesley 51.56 for 3^rd and Proctor 51.70 for 4^th.

Colts Neck won the meet with 59 points and Township scored 39. Moorestown was 4^th with 31 and Pennsauken 7^th with 24.

Also for Township senior Teddie Connie tied for 2^nd in the pole vault with an 11-0 clearance and senior Matthew Small threw 49-0 for 4^th in the shot put.

For Moorestown, junior Lucas Horner and senior Matthew Tang recorded 2^nd-place finishes, Horner with a 2:00.63 in the 800 and Tang with 11-0 in the pole vault. Also, junior Ethan Taylor ran 2:03.53 for 4^th in the 800,senior Connor Kortman cleared 11-0 for 4^th in the vault, senior Sean Sobin ran 51.72 for 5^th in the 400, and senior Shaymus Derer, Taylor, Horner and Sobin ran 3:33.09 for 3^rdin the 4-by-4.

Pennsauken’s junior Michael Lawrence, senior Jabari Sonnebeyatta and junior Long placed 2^nd, 3^rdand 4^th in the 55 in 6.61, 6.62 and 6.67, and Sonnebeyatta also placed 3^rd in the high jump at 5-6.

For Nothern Burlington, senior Marcus Sene ran 2:05.56 for 5^th in the 800 and junior Gabriel Carpio ran 51.80 for 6^th in the 400.

Senior Sianni Wynn won the 55 and 400 and sophomore Hope Edwards won the 800 and placed in two other events as Pennsauken won the 1^st indoor sectional title in program history Thursday in Toms River.

Pennsauken, scoring 38 points just in the 55 and 400, outdistanced 2^nd-place Colts Neck 72-42 to win the Central Jersey Group 3 championship at the Bubble.

Wynn won the 55 in 7.03, just shy of her meet record of 6.93 from last year, and the 400 in 56.47, breaking her own meet record of 56.68 that she set last year.

Edwards, who was part of the Moorestown team that won Central Jersey Group 3 last year, won the 800 in 2:21.11, placed 3^rd in the 400 in 58.16 and took 4^th in the hurdles in 8.76.

The Indians also got big performances from senior cousins Sanaya and Olivia Dupree. Sanaya placed 2^nd in the 55 in 7.23 and 4^th in the 400 with a 58.30, and Olivia won the hurdles in 8.21.

Pennsauken also won the 1,600-meter relay team without Wynn, with Olivia Dupree, Edwards, sophomore Rai’ana Rucker and Sayana Dupree running 4:02.29.

Pennsauken scored all 72 of its points on the track.

Burlington Township placed 5^th with 27 points, and Moorestown was 7^th with 24 points.

Burlington Township junior Nyla Pichette won the pole vault with a 1^st-attempt clearance 9-0. Moorestown senior Meredith Ortiz and was 2^nd, also at 9-0. Township junior Madison Monaghan and Moorestown senior Ashley Carey both cleared 7-0, Monaghan in 5^th and Carey in 6^th.

Burlingon Township senior Laila Fairweather placed 2^nd in the 400 in 58.13 and 3^rd in the 55 in 7.35.

Moorestown juniors Ella Brittain and Siyana Sheth placed 4^th and 6^th in the 1,600, Brittain in 5:20.88 and Sheth in 5:24.03. Brittain and Northern junior Rebecca Kearns took 5^th and 6^th in the 3,200 in 11:58.26 and 12:00.42.

In the 800, Northern Burlington senior Emma Price placed 2^nd to Edwards with a 2:21.29, and Moorestown junior Sophia DiFiore was 3^rd in 2:22.58.

Moorestown and Burlington Township both scored in the 1,600-meter relay, Moorestown 5^th in 4:15.08 with freshman Armani Robinson, freshman Juliet Stack Maya, senior Noorad Rashid and Fiore, and Township 6^th in 4:17.78 with junior Joy Willor, Fairweather, senior Jessie Haws and sophomore Blessin Sendolo.