Burlington City senior Daveigh Brooks fashioned a sweet double-PR middle-distance double this weekend, sweeping the 400 and 800 with personal-bests in both events at the Central Jersey Group 1 meet at Hillsborough.
Brooks ran 49.29 to win the 400 and 1:56.43 to win the 800. His previous PRs were 49.77 at the BCSL Freedom Division meet two weeks ago and 1:56.96 at sectionals last year.
He’ll be the No. 1 seed in the state Group 1 meet next weekend in both races.
He’s also the only South Jersey runner ranked in the top-10 in both the 400 and 800 this spring.
Get this: Brooks is the first Burlington City boy to win two individual events at sectional in 15 years. The last to do it was Bryan Smith, who won the South Jersey Group 1 400 (50.9) and intermediates (54.3) in 2001.
The only other Burlington boys to ever double at sectionals — not counting relay legs — are Mike Boone in the long jump and javelin in 1990 (24-1, 183-10) and Brondon Jenkins in the 100 and 200 in 1995 (11.2, 22.4).
Brooks is the only Group 1 runner in New Jersey this year to run as fast as 49.29 and 1:56.43 in both the 400 and 800.
He’s the first boy to sweep the 400 and 800 at the Central Jersey Group 1 meet in seven years, since another BCSL Freedom Division athlete — Florence’s Keith Griffith. In 2009, Griffith won the 400 in 48.32 and the 800 in 1:59.41.
Good luck trying to figure out Jasmine Staten’s best event.
She’s a sectional champ in the 200, a state runner-up in the 400 and a 19-foot long jumper. She can also triple jump, high jump, run the 100. You name it.
Then there’s the high hurdles.
Staten elevated herself into rarified territory Saturday at the South Jersey Group 4 sectional meet at Egg Harbor with a monster 14.04 in the 100-meter hurdles trials. She followed that up with a 14.10 for the win in the final.
Staten won by five meters over second-place Lynnea Forlenza of Toms River North, who ran 14.73.
Her time is No. 8 in South Jersey and fastest by a Burlington County hurdler in 36 years. More on that later.
Staten went into sectionals with a high hurdles PR of 14.47 from the Lenape Invitational back in April. She also won the District Cup in 14.77 and County Open in 14.60.
But this weekend, she took the race to another level.
Staten ran the fastest fully automatic hurdles time in South Jersey Group 4 sectional history, breaking the FAT meet record of 14.33 set in 2005 by Winslow’s Krystal Cantey. Her time is also the fastest FAT time ever recorded in any South Jersey sectional. The previous record was 14.07 by Nia Ali of Pleasantville in Group 2 in 2006.
What’s the fastest FAT time ever recorded at any sectional meet state-wide? It’s an impossible question to answer, since meet officials putting the various programs together generally don’t list both a hand time and a FAT time in the records section. Even when the FAT time is intrinsically faster. Which makes zero sense. But welcome to New Jersey track.
For record purposes, Staten’s performance should be listed alongside Olympian Carol Lewis’s hand-timed 13.9 from 1981 as the South Jersey Group 4 sectional records. You can’t convert a FAT time for the purposes of tying or breaking a record, so both will (or should) stand as co-records.
The only way FAT time could erase a hand-timed 13.9 from the record books is if it were 13.89 or faster.
OK, time for the all-time South Jersey list. Here’s everybody that’s run 14.20 or faster in South Jersey history:
English Gardner, already one of the fastest women in the history of Earth, ran the second fastest 100 of her life Saturday, winning the Prefontaine Classic in 10.81 at Hayward Field in Eugene.
Gardner, a native of Voorhees and graduate of Eastern High School, ranks No. 14 in world history with her 10.79 on the same track last summer. Her time Saturday is only 0.02 seconds off that personal-best and all-time No. 14 time.
The race was really no race. Tianna Bartoletta was the only other woman under 11 seconds, second in 10.94.
The only woman to run faster in the world this year is American Tori Bowie, who ran 10.80 at Doha in Qatar earlier this month.
Gardner’s previous season best was an 11.04 in Baie-Mahault, France, earlier this month.
Gardner is No. 7 in U.S. history. The only Americans to ever run under 10.76 are Florence Griffith-Joyner, who set the world record of 10.49 while under intense international suspicion; Carmelita Jeter, who ran 10.64 in Shanghai in 2009; and disgraced drug cheat Marion Jones, who ran 10.65 in 1998.
For the media information sheet with endless details of every race and every key participant at Pre, click here.
He won the 400 in 48.47. He won the 800 in 1:54.78. He ran a leg on the winning 4-by-4. And he took second in the intermediates in 55.22.
That’s 28 points by himself and a hand in 38 points for the Willingboro senior at the Central Jersey Group 2 sectional meet at Central Regional High School in Bayville. Davidson’s heroics helped Willingboro place second to Haddonfield, 102-68. Oakcrest also scored 68 points and tied for second with Boro.
Davidson PR’d in the 800, breaking his previous career best of 1:55.52 set at states last year. He won the event for a second straight year.
All that came between Davidson and the first Willingboro sectional quad win in 27 years was a win by Oakcrest’s Oliver Paul in the 400 intermediates.
With three wins this weekend, Davidson elevated himself into some elite territory in Willingboro’s remarkable track history.
He’s only the sixth Willingboro boy ever to triple at sectionals, a group that includes two Olympic gold medalists, one of the greatest athletes in Florida Gator history, an All-America hurdler at Houston and the athlete considered the greatest in Willingboro track history.
Here’s a look at all the Willingboro boys who have tripled at sectionals:
2016 – Tyler Davidson
400-Meter Run – 48.47
800-Meter Run – 1:54.78
4×4 – 3:23.06 2012 – Isaac Williams
100-Meter Dash – 11.21
110-Meter Hurdles – 14.16
200-Meter Dash – 22.38 2003 – Mike Morrison
400-Meter Hurdles – 53.5
High Jump – 7-1
Long Jump – 22-5 1991 – Lamont Smith
200-Meter Dash – 21.4
400-Meter Dash – 50.4
4×4 3:21.6 1990 – Lamont Smith
200-Meter Dash – 22.4
400-Meter Dash – 49.5
4×4 3:22.0 1989 – Gerard Reynolds
Long Jump – 24-8 1/2
110 Hurdles – 13.9
400 Hurdles – 54.5
4×4 – 3:25.8 1979 – Carl Lewis
100-Yard Dash – 9.5
Long Jump 21-5
Mile Relay 3:26.0
Kelly Yanucil, a Bordentown graduate now competing for Mount St. Mary’s, advanced to the field of 12 in the NCAA Championships with a throw of 159-6 at the NCAA East Preliminary meet in Jacksonville this weekend.
The top 12 throwers at the two regional sites advanced to the field of 24 at the NCAA Championships, scheduled for June 8-11 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The javelin final is June 9.
Yanucil’s throw was ninth-best of the 48 throwers entered. She opened with 152-6 and closed with a 150-5.
Yanucil has a season-best of 165-7 from the Spring Invitational last month at George Mason University in Fairfax. Her PR of 165-9 comes from the Northeast Conference Championships last year at St. Mary’s own track in Emmitsburg, Md.
At Bordentown, Yanucil had a best of 141-5 from the state Group 1 championships at Egg Harbor.
Yanucil, who returned home to win the Penn Relays championship last month, is already the Mount St. Mary’s record holder. The previous record in the javelin was 163-5 by Kelly Juhring, who is a graduate of Kingsway High School. So the top two spots on Mount St. Mary’s all-time women’s javelin list are South Jersey natives.
Yanucil’s recent exploits haven’t stopped her from being a Bordentown track supporter. She was at Rancocas Valley last weekend for the County Open, cheering on the Bordentown athletes.
Williamstown junior Bria Mack added her name to the list of all-time great New Jersey sprinters Friday when she ran 11.68 to win the 100-meter dash at the South Jersey Group 4 track championships at Egg Harbor.
Mack’s time is No. 4 in South Jersey history and fastest by a South Jersey sprinter since English Gardner ran 11.49 in 2008. Her time is No. 12 in state history. The full list of all New Jersey girls to run 11.70 or faster is below.
Mack, the Meet of Champions runner-up a year ago, broke the South Jersey Group 4 meet record of 11.74, set in 2007 by Gardner, and it’s also the fastest FAT time ever recorded at any sectional meet.
Mack’s previous best for 100 meters was 11.90 in last year’s state Group 4 meet at Egg Harbor. Her previous best this year was a 12.03 at the Tri-County Meet.
There was a lot working against Rancocas Valley’s sprint medley team Monday.
They raced after a 40-minute rain delay. They were unpushed. They ran just two days after a monster effort at the Burlington County Open, where they won their third consecutive title.
No biggie.
The quartet of Robert Hawkins, Brandon Boggs, Samuel Keleekai and Isaiah Curbello blazed 3:30.78 to win the sprint medley at the Willingboro Relay Meet.
The Red Devils finished about 50 meters ahead of second-place Northern Burlington, which ran 3:37.96.
RV’s performance is No. 1 in South Jersey this year and No. 2 in New Jersey, behind only Ridgewood’s 3:29.80 at the Jack Yockers Relays last month at River Dell High School in Oradell.
Hawkins led off with a 49.4, followed by Boggs (22.8) and Keleekai (22.1), setting up a 1:55.9 anchor by three-time County Open 800 champ Curbello.
R.V.’s time is just over a second shy of the school record of 3:29.72 set at outdoor nationals in Greensboro in 2005 by the quarter of Josh Raines, Dwayne Dobbins, Phil Reid and Ian Waterhouse.
That group won its heat at nationals, then waited for the seeded heat to finish before learning they had bumped one school in the final section and placed eighth overall, earning All-America status.
There are PRs and then there are PRs. And then there’s what Kevin Fox just did.
Good grief! This is an all-time PR!
Fox, racing Tuesday night at the Haddonfield Distance Night, demolished his 800 PR of 1:57.15 and ran 1:52.60 to edge Haddonfield’s Greg Pelose on a perfect night for racing.
That’s right, 1:52.60.
No. 1 in Burlington County, No. 1 in South Jersey, No. 1 in New Jersey.
Yes, that is a 4.55-second PR in a race where PRs generally are recorded in fractions of a second.
Fox, ranked No. 38 in New Jersey coming into the day, is now the state’s fastest half-miler. Michael Thurston of Ridgewood had been No. 1 at 1:52.79.
Fox ran his previous PR of 1:57.15 in the same meet on the same track last year. His fastest time this year was a 1:57.52 Saturday at the Burlington County Open in Mount Holly, where he was second to Isaiah Curnello of Rancocas Valley.
His time is No. 17 in South Jersey history, and he’s the fastest junior in New Jersey in three years.
Since Novak in 2005, the only South Jersey underclassman to run faster than Fox is Oakcrest’s Ishmael Muhammad, who ran 1:51.79 at the state Group 3 meet in 2013. Muhammad is now at Villanova and ran on the Wildcats’ Big East-champion 1,600-meter relay team earlier this month.
Fox’s time is fifth-fastest in Burlington County history and fastest since Matt Poskus of Cinnaminson ran 1:52.37 in 2007. He’s the No. 2 junior in county history, behind Rob Novak, who ran 1:51.38 as an 11th-grader at Westampton Tech racing for Bordentown.
Fox broke a 53-year-old school record. The previous mark was 1:55.4 over 880 yards by Barey Middleton in 1963.
Middleton had a heck of a career at Moorestown, winning four state championships and earning honorable mention honors on the NJ.com Team of the Decade for the 1960s.
He was the state Group 1-2 combined XC champ as a senior, running 12:39.9 over 2 1/2 miles in the fall of 1962 and he won state Group 2 mile titles in 1962 and 1963 – 4:35.2 in 1962 and 4:25.9 in 1963. He was also state indoor Group 2 champ in 1963 with a 4:43.4.
Middleton went on to serve several years in the U.S. Navy and was a firefighter in Moorestown for nearly 20 years. He served as a detective for more than 20 years with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. Middleton passed away in 2012.
OK, time to check out the updated all-time South Jersey 800-meter list:
Pennsauken knew after it ran 1:28.38 at the Woodbury Relays there was plenty of room for improvement.
On Monday, the Indians showed that improvement, winning a hot 4-by-200 at the Willingboro Relays that saw five schools run 1:31.08 or under.
Marquan Jones, Nahzir Russell, Braheem Whitfield and Martin Booker beat second-place Deptford by almost two seconds. Jones and Booker were also on the Pennsauken 4-by-2 team that won the Boro Relays last year.
Their time ranks No. 8 in South Jersey history and No. 2 in New Jersey, behind only Paul VI’s 1:27.37 to edge Pennsauken at Woodbury.
Paul VI did not race at either relay meet Monday and actually hasn’t run a 4-by-200 since Woodbury.
This is only the second time ever that two South Jersey schools have run 1:27-point the same year. In 2002, Winslow ran 1:27.84 and Camden 1:27.88.
Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey 4-by-200 list:
Kara Bonner of Shawnee and Megan Quimby of Lenape lead the 800 approaching the gun lap. Photo courtesy of RunningWorksPix.
The rest of Burlington County kept throwing fresh runners at Megan Quimby. And she kept sprinting past them.
Quimby, a Lenape junior, on Saturday became the first runner in 37 years to triple the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 at the Burlington County Open.
Kari Vigerstol never did it. Liz Moore never did it. Even Caitlin Orr never did it, although she came close.
Quimby ran 2:17.70, 5:23.30 and 11:53.81 to single-handedly score 30 points and help Lenape win its eighth team total in 10 years.
The only other girl to win all three long races on the track at a County Open was Kathy Sjolie of long-shuttered Kennedy High in Willingboro. Sjolie ran 2:22.2, 5:20.9 and 11:42.6 in 1979 for 880 yards, a full mile and two miles.
But she ran as fast as 2:15.7 and 5:01.9 and remains one of the all-time greats in South Jersey history. She was coached at Kennedy by Bill Lewis, father of Carl and Carol Lewis.
Sjolie ran for Kennedy’s boys XC team, since there were no girls XC teams back then. She went on to run at UNLV, becoming the first female in JFK High School history to earn an athletic scholarship. She now lives in Castle Pines, Colo.
Quimby raced just to win Saturday and didn’t come close to her PRs, which are 2:12.78 (from last year’s Meet of Champions), 4:57.12 (this year’s indoor M-of-C) and 10:58.97 (from last year’s County Open).
Quimby got all she could handle in the 800 from Shawnee’s Kara Bonner, who ran 2:18.56, pushing Quimby all the way to the line.
In the 1,600, Jess McAdams of Cherokee stayed with Quimby until the 200-meter mark before finishing second.
And in the 3,200, Quimby just stayed with the field until the last lap, closing in 69 for her final 400 and probably 32 for her final 200. Ashley Dunteman of Northern finished second in 12:02.55.
Quimby is the first Lenape girl to win the County Open 800 since Moira Cunningham in 2008 and the first to win the 3,200 since Orr won her fourth straight in 2010. Orr is now an assistant coach at Cherokee. She’s the second in a row to win the 1,600, following Camille Franklin last year.
Quimby and Staten are members of an elite group of girls who have tripled at the Burlington County Open. Since the girls meet was added in 1978, only nine girls have won three events at the same meet. Two of them are current Lenape juniors:
Lenape outscored second-place Rancocas Valley 124 1/3-90 to win its three straight team title.
Lenape is now responsible for six of the nine-highest points totals in meet history, all since 2007. RV’s 90 points represent the fourth-highest second-place point total ever.
Good luck trying to figure out Jasmine Staten’s best event.
English Gardner, already one of the fastest women in the history of Earth, ran the second fastest 100 of her life Saturday, winning the 
There are PRs and then there are PRs. And then there’s what Kevin Fox just did.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 