Texas senior Derrell Manhertz, a former state champion at Kingsway, ran an indoor PR of 1:50.49 recently at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational at Kentucky Nutter Fieldhouse in Lexington, Ky.

Manhertz’s previous college indoor PR was a 1:52.22 in the Power Five Invite last January in Birmingham Ala. His overall indoor PR was 1:51.80 when he placed second to Isaac Clark of Pleasantville in the 2013 Meet of Champions at the Bubble.

Manhertz ran 1:49.38 at the Texas Invitational in April of 2015, which stands as his overall PR.

Next for Manhertz is the Tyson Invitational this weekend in Fayetteville.

TCNJ’s Jake Lindacher won the 55-meter high hurdles in a dual meet with Rider on Friday with the No. 3 time in the country this year in NCAA Division 3.

Lindacher, a graduate of Egg Harbor Township and now a senior at The College of New Jersey, ran 7.48, finishing 7-100ths of a second ahead of Rider freshman Nate Bowie.

Lindacher’s 7.48 breaks Lindacher’s 55 PR set in the same dual meet two years ago and converts to a 8.06 for the more conventional college distance of 60 meters. Lindacher’s 60-meter hurdles PR is an 8.21 from the Villanova Open at the Ocean Breeze track in Staten Island earlier this month.

On the 2017 Division 3 list, Lindacher now ranks third, behind only Bobby Cooks of Aurora (Ill.) with a 7.95 from the Grand Valley State Invitational in Allendale, Mich., in December, and an 8.03 by Rowan’s David Benjamin at the Gotham Cup at Ocean Breeze last month. Benjamin is a graduate of Freehold High School.

So two of the top three Division 3 hurdlers in the country have South Jersey ties.

Lindacher also ran a personal-best 7.11 for the 60-meter dash in that Rider dual meet, which was held at the Lavino Fieldhouse in Lawrenceville.

At EHT, Lindacher was DQ’d in the finals of the 110-meter highs at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals his senior year, but he was the sectional champ indoors at 7.69, helping EHT win the team title.

 

Woodstown sophomore India Norman had quite a sectional meet Friday, recording two firsts and a second in the South Jersey Group 1 girls meet at the Bubble in Toms River and also anchoring a third-place relay team.

Norman PR’d in winning both the 55 and 55 hurdles and ran a near-PR in placing second in the 400.

She’s the first double-winner from Woodstown in indoor sectional history. This was the 10th year for indoor sectionals.

The Wolverines’ last outdoor sectional double winner was horizontal jumper Alexa DiGregorio, who won the long jump and triple jump in 2014.

In the 55, Norman ran 7.61 to lead all qualifiers then 7.56 to win by one step over junior Gabrielle Dillard of Clayton, who ran 7.61. Her previous PR was a 7.60 at a SJTCA meet last winter as a freshman, also at the Bubble.

In the 55 hurdles, Norman ran 9.11 in the trials and 8.75 in the final, winning by three steps over Rachel Leyrer of Buena, who was second in 9.06. Her previous PR was an 8.77 at an Olympic Conference meet at the Bubble last January. Norman won the event last year at sectionals in 8.84.

Norman registered her third indoor PR in the 400, where she ran 61.69, finishing just behind Audubon junior Bailie Rizzo, who ran 61.29. Norman’s previous indoor 400 PR was 1:02.39 at an Olympic Conference meet at the Bubble last month.

She set her overall PR of 1:00.74 outdoors at last year’s Salem County Championships at Schalick, when she placed second to Schalick’s Amanda Chomo.

Norman also anchored Woodstown’s third-place 1,600-meter relay team.

Woodstown placed third with 43 points, behind only Schalick (72) and Audubon (57).

Christin Bettis’s high school 1,600 PR at Hammonton was 5:13.01, which converts to about a 5:14.83 for a full mile. Her mile PR at Rowan was 5:15.89.

Then she raced at Lehigh a few days ago and five years after the last time she PR’d in the mile, she PR’d again.

Bettis ran 5:02.33 to win the fast section of the mile and wound up the overall winner in a field of 35 runners at the John Covert Classic at Rauch Fieldhouse.

That is a PR of about 13 1/2 seconds for Bettis, a 2012 graduate of Hammonton High School and now a senior at Rowan.

Bettis generally runs longer stuff — she won the 10,000 at the ECAC Division 3 meet last spring at Springfield (Mass.) College and reached the NCAA Division 3 nationals last spring. But she also has 2:19 wheels in the 800.

In fact, at the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet at Ramapo College in Mahwah last spring, she won the 10,000 and was third in the 800! Talk about crazy range!

So the mile should be a natural event for her, and at Lehigh she beat the field by 25 meters, finishing about 4 1/2 seconds ahead of second-place Cassandra Hrusko of Stockton via Manchester Township High School.

That should augur well once Bettis gets back to racing her specialties, the 5,000 and 10,000!

 

Rancocas Valley junior Aliyah Taylor broke 25 seconds in the 200 for the first time and ran an indoor 400 PR in a monster sprint double at the Ocean Breeze Invitational on Staten Island.

Taylor ran 24.93 in the 200 and placed second to Kouri Peace of Pennridge High in Perkasie, Pa., who ran 24.62.

Taylor also ran 56.32 to place third in the 400 behind two girls from Cheltenham (Pa.) High  – Alexis Crosby (56.13) and Bria Barnes (56.23).

Her 200 time is No. 8 in South Jersey indoor history, and her 400 time is No. 9 on the all-time S.J. indoor list.

Taylor is one of only four girls that’s now on both all-time South Jersey lists — the 200 and 400. She joins Dana Burnett of Williamstown in 1997, Krystal Cantey of Winslow Township in 2006 and Kiara Lester of Deptford in 2016.

Last year, Taylor was the indoor Meet of Champs winner in the 55 while competing for Pemberton.

Taylor’s previous 200 PR was a 25.24 in the 200 trials Sunday. Before this weekend, her 200 PR was a 25.40 to win the Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last spring. Her indoor 200 PR was a 25.90 at one of the SJTCA meets at the Bennett Center.

In the 400, Taylor had an indoor PR of 56.81 from a SJTCA meet last week. Her outdoor 400 PR is a 57.29 for third at last spring’s Meet of Champions.

Taylor is No. 1 in New Jersey in both the 200 and 400 this winter. Her 200 time is No. 41 nationally and her 400 time is No. 17.

Let’s take a look at the all-time South Jersey top-10 lists in both events. I included all 200 times under 25 seconds and all 400 times under 57 seconds.

200-METER DASH
24.38 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
24.46 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
24.61 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
24.73 … Cecelia Gerstenbecher [Delsea], 2016
24.5h … Jennifer Jackson [Eastern], 2003
24.78 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996
24.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2014
24.93 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
24.94 … Shardae Anderson [Paulsboro], 2005

400-METER DASH
54.24 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.91 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
55.16 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
55.19 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2008
55.4h … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
55.6h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016
56.21 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1997
56.32 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
56.34 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
56.44 … Avionne Sloan [Camden], 2006
56.62 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
56.65 … Britney Kott [Millville], 2009
56.76 … Simone Thomas [Willingboro], 2003
56.85 … Emily Duffey [Lenape], 2912
56.88 … Marcene Jack [Mainland Reg.], 2004
56.90 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1999