Rowan junior Anthony Salemo lowered his 400-meter intermediate hurdles PR from 52.00 to 51.33, the fastest time this year in NCAA Division 3.
Salemo’s time is just 8-100ths off the Rowan school record of 51.25 set in 2012 by Demetrius Rooks from Absegami.
Salemo, a graduate of Ramsey High School, turned in the time at the Oneonta (N.Y.) Final Qualifier at SUNY Oneonta.
It was quite a race between Salemo and Peter Girardi of St. John Fisher, who finished second in 51.34 — 1-100th of a second behind Salemo. Girardi was second at Division 3 nationals last year in 50.88 and was the top underclassman. Salemo was eighth in that race.
Salemo and Girardi are now the only two Division 3 runners who’ve gone faster than 51.78 this year.
Salemo had just run the 52.00 PR a few days earlier in a last-chance meet at Swarthmore. As a matter of fact, he’s now PR’d four times since April 21, when he tied his PR of 52.71 originally set at last year’s NJAC meet:
52.71 … Morgan State Legacy Meet [April 21]
52.29 … Penn Relays [April 27]
52.00 … Swarthmore Final Qualifier [May 15]
51.33 … Oneonta Final Qualifier [May 17]
Salemo was a Bergen County champion at Ramsey, where his fastest 400IH time was 54.45 at the 2014 state Group 2 meet at Egg Harbor, when he placed second to Raymund Clarke of Abraham Clark.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 