Egg Harbor Township freshman Lauren Princz tied the Atlantic County record in the 55-meter dash this weekend.

Princz, in her first major invitational as a high school sprinter, placed third in the Ocean Breeze Invitational on Staten Island with a time of 7.18. She had run 7.32 in the trials.

She finished behind Ashley Seymour of Bullis School in Potomac, Md., who won with a personal-best 7.06, and former national age-group 55, 100 and 200 champion Najiya Cornish of Ursuline in Wilmington, Del., who ran 7.11.

Princz tied the Atlantic County record of 7.18 set in 1998 by Sherese Price of Pleasantville. Price was a Meet of Champions champ in the high hurdles outdoors and also Big East runner-up for Villanova in 2002.

Price ran her 7.18 in the trials of the 1998 Meet of Champions at Jadwin Gym before placing fourth in the final.

Princz’s time is also No. 1 in the state this year. Her time is also fastest by a South Jersey freshman since Olympic gold medalist English Gardner of Eastern ran 7.04 back in 2010.

Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey 55-meter dash list:

• 6.73 … Michelle Glover (Willingboro), 1981
• 6.88 … Patti Dunlap (Camden), 1979
• 6.91 … English Gardner (Eastern), 2010
• 6.95 … Bria Mack (Williamstown), 2017
• 6.95 … Torie Robinson (Winslow Twp.), 2014
• 6.95 … Denise Mitchell (Edgewood), 1983
• 7.00 … Amandi Rhett (Moorestown), 2000
• 7.01 … Aliyah Taylor (Rancocas Valley), 2017
• 7.03 … Iyanli Kollock (Our Lady of Mercy), 2017
• 7.05 … Dana Burnett (Williamstown), 1996
• 7.07 … Annie Johnson (Shawnee), 2012
• 7.07 … Audrey Wilson (Deptford), 2009
• 7.07 … Magenta Taylor (Willingboro), 1999
• 7.07 … Angela Clyburn (Egg Harbor Twp.), 1991
• 7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil (Winslow Twp.), 2012
• 7.09 … Emily Carson (Haddonfield), 2013
• 7.11 … Jamie Walker (Haddon Hts.), 2006
• 7.12 … Assante Johnson (Camden), 2009
• 7.14 … Shonda Burroughs (Vineland), 1999
• 7.17 … Nia Lawrence (Pemberton), 2013
• 7.17 … Kiara Lester (Deptford), 2014
• 7.17 … Krystal Cantey (Winslow Twp.), 2006
• 7.18 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville), 1997
• 7.18 … Lauren Princz (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2018
• 7.19 … Latoya Benson (Washington Twp.), 2001
• 7.19 … Adia Starnes (Timber Creek), 2017
• 7.20 … Medina Salaam (Camden), 1974
• 7.20 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville), 2006
• 7.20 … Fametta Lewis (Wilson), 2007
• 7.20 … Tacquaya Tobias (Our Lady of Mercy), 2010
• 7.20 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow Twp.), 2013
• 7.20 … Gabrielle Farquharson (Williamstown), 2011

Cinnaminson senior Kamron Kobolak bombed a two-foot indoor shot put PR Saturday, winning the South Jersey Track Coaches Association meet at the Bennett Center with a 55-10 3/4.

Kobolak’s previous indoor PR was a 53-10 1/2 two weeks ago in a SJTCA meet also at the Bennett Center. His overall PR is a 58-1 to win last year’s state Group 2 meet outdoors.

Kobolak’s throw is best by a Burlington county thrower in 14 years, since Willingboro’s Ell Ash set the county indoor record of 60- 1/2 while winning 2004 Easterns at the Armory.

It’s also No. 7 all-time in Burlington County history indoors and No. 2 in the state this year, behind only C.J. Licata of Gill St. Bernard’s School in Somerset County. Licata threw 69-9 3/4 last weekend at the Jim Mitchell Invitational at the Armory.

Here’s the all-time Burlington County indoor top-10:

60- 0 1/2 … Ell Ash (Willingboro), 2004
58- 5 ……. Kareem McKenzie (Willingboro), 1997
57- 2 3/4 … Tati White (Willingboro), 1993
57- 2 1/4 … Gil Winters (Willingboro) 1990
57- 1 1/4 … James Coleman (Bordentown), 1990
57- 0 1/4 … Gerald Williams (Rancocas Valley), 2000
55-10 3/4 … Kamron Kobolak (Cinnaminson), 2018
55- 1 ……. Nigel Walker (Willingboro), 1996
54-11 1/2 … Dzigbodi Ababio (Willingboro), 2000
54- 7 1/2 … Joel Bewley (Moorestown), 1987

Pennsauken freshman Jade Pope won the high jump with a 5-4 clearance Wednesday at the second South Jersey Track Coaches Association meet at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

It was her first official high school high jump competition.

Four girls cleared 5-0 or better, which is pretty good this early in the season. Tionna Tobias of Winslow and Kenady Wilson of Willingboro both cleared 5-2 and Kassidy Mulryne of Allentown cleared 5-0. (Kennedy-Wilson could have been a dual meet in the mid-1980s!)

Pope’s 5-4 is the top mark in South Jersey in the early going this year and No. 2 in New Jersey.

Pope is the first South Jersey freshman to clear 5-4 or better indoors since Mary Durek of Shawnee in 2009. Derek cleared 5-6 that winter and went on to win the state Group 3 meet and place third in the Meet of Champions.

 

Promise Fadahunsi is the top freshman woman long jumper in NCAA Division 3. She competes for Rowan.

Oluwapelumi Adesina is the No. 2-ranked freshman woman long jumper in NCAA Division 3. She competes for Rowan.

The Profs have three of the top 17 long jumpers in the country so far, according to the Direct Athletics database, and Fadahunsi and Adesina are ranked No. 6 and 11 overall and No. 1 and 2 among athletes carrying a freshman designation indoors.

Junior Michelle McCauley, ranked 17th overall, gives Rowan three underclassmen at 17-6 or better just a few weeks into the season.

Fadahunsi, a graduate of Monroe Township High in Jamesburg, and Adesina, who competed scholastically at Rahway, are the only Division 3 freshmen who have jumped 17-9 or better.

Fadahunsi surpassed the 18-foot barrier at the Lehigh Fast Times Before Finals meet at Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem, jumping 18-1 on her second attempt in the trials.

Adesina reached 17-9 1/2 when she placed third at the Lehigh Season Opener, also at Rauch Fieldhouse. She and Fadahunsi actually both went 17-9 1/2 on their second attempt of the finals, with Fadahunsi getting second based on a superior second-best jump.

Asia Young of Rider via Holy Spirit won the event with a 19-3 1/2, five inches off her Rider indoor school record set last year.

McCauley, a Franklin grad, was second in the Fast Times meet with a 17-6 1/2 on her third attempt of the trials.

Two more Rowan long jumpers, sophomores Angel Rowe out off Passaic County Tech and Kari DiTonno from Livingston, are closing in on the 17-foot mark. Rowe has jumped 16-10 and DiTonno 16-8 3/4.

The whole group is chasing the indoor school record of 18-1 3/4, set three years ago by Jamie Thompson at the NJAC meet at the Armory.

Fadahunsi’s high school PR was 19-1 1/2, good for third place this past spring in the Meet of Champions. She also ran as fast as 11.93 in the 100, so look for her to do some sprinting this spring as well.

Adesina’s PR in high school was only 16-6, so she’s already shown some remarkable improvement. That 16-6 came indoors when she placed 10th at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic two years ago this week at the Armory in New York.

Rowan’s Francis Terry is the fastest freshman in NCAA Division 1 in the 400-meter dash after a 49.96 opener in a meet at Lehigh’s Rauch Fieldhouse.

Terry, who ran scholastically at Sterling, is ranked fifth overall nationally. Direct Athletics converted his time to 49.18 because it was run on an under-sized track.

Terry edged teammate Anthony Salemo, an intermediate hurdles All-America, for the win. Salemo ran 50.92.

Terry set his 400 PR of 49.37 when he was second to Luke Colehower at the 2016 Camden County meet at Haddon Township.

His indoor 400 PR of 49.72 came when he was fifth at Easterns as a senior.

Terry ran last spring for Neumann College in Aston, Pa., where he won the 200-meter dash at the Colonial State Athletic Conference championships at Gwynedd-Mercy College in 22.35 after a PR 22.01 in the trials.

He didn’t run indoor track for Neumann, so he carries freshman eligibility this winter at Rowan.

Terry also ran the second leg on Rowan’s 1,600-meter relay team, which placed first in 3:24.67 – No. 8 nationally. Salemo, Chris Mesiano from Schalick and Hunter Barbieri from Egg Harbor also ran.

Rancocas Valley senior Aliyah Taylor, who was hurt much of last year, is healthy again and opened the 2017-18 season in explosive fashion Saturday, breaking the South Jersey record in the 300-meter dash at the Bishop Laughlin Games.

Taylor ran 39.42, breaking the South Jersey record of 40.27, set two years ago by Deptford’s Kiera Lester in the same meet but on a different track.

Lester ran 40.27 when the Laughlin Games were held at the 168th Street Armory. The meet is now held at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Center in Staten Island.

Taylor had run only one 300 before this weekend, and that was a 42.07 running for Pemberton High at the North Shore Invitational in 2015, also at the Armory.

On Saturday, Taylor ran 41.49 in the trials, which was only the sixth-fastest qualifying time. But in the final, she lowered that by a full two seconds, placing second to Cameron Hinton of Franklin, who ran 2-100th of a second in a second section of the two-race final. Hinton is a transfer from Bullis School in Potomac, Md., where she ran 55.29 last year.

Taylor’s time is No. 5 in New Jersey history, behind Olympian Sydney McLoughlin of Union Catholic (36.82 in 2017), Columbia’s Olivia Baker (38.73 in 2014) and Paramus’s Myasia Jacobs (39.28 in 2012). It’s also No. 4 nationally in the early going.

The previous Burlington County record was Taylor’s 42.07 in 2015. Before that it was 42.67 by Kristen Frombach, also of R.V., in 2014.

Boston University freshman Cecelia Gerstenbacher won the 200-meter dash at the Boston University Season Opener at the B.U. Track and Tennis Center over the weekend.

It was Gerstenbacher’s first career collegiate race.

Gerstenbacher, a four-time state Group 2 champ at 55, 100 and 200 meters at Delsea, ran 24.71 to edge junior Patrice Williams of Northeastern, who ran 24.91.

Her time is No. 17 in NCAA Division 1 in the early-going and third-fastest by a freshman, according to the Direct Athletics database.

Gerstenbacher also ran the second leg on Boston University’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, teaming with Jordan Coverson, Leah Fowlkes and Carissa Stots to run 3:49.18.

Gerstenbacher’s 200 PR indoors is 24.52 from last year’s Easterns, when she was second to Winslow’s Shakira Dancy.

Her overall 200 PR is 24.45, set on her home track at Delsea in last year’s Tri-County meet, where she was second to Williamstown’s Bria Mack.

Jaymes Dennison is off to a quick start this winter. Dennison, a senior at Iowa State out of Penns Grove High School, ran 47.79 to win the 400-meter dash this past weekend at the Cyclone Duals, which also included Drake and Northern Iowa.

Dennison won easily over Bas Van Leersum of Drake, who was second in 48.57, six meters back. The meet was held on the 200-meter track at Iowa State’s Leid Rec Center in Ames, iowa.

Dennison’s time is his fastest indoors at Iowa State but not an indoor PR. He ran 47.18 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University while he was attending Monroe College.

Dennison’s 47.79 ranks No. 3 in NCAA Division 1 so far this indoor season. His overall PR is 47.08 from the Stanford Invitational last spring.

Dennison was the Big 12 champion in the 600-yard run last winter with a 1:08.97, third-fastest in school history. He ran as fast as 1:47.63 for 800 meters last spring as well, fifth-fastest in Iowa State history.

He also ran on the Cyclones’ 1,600-meter relay team that ran 3:05.61, setting an indoor school record. He won national JUCO titles at 600 meters in 2015 and 2016 for ASA College in Brooklyn and Monroe College in the Bronx.

Dennison won state Group 1 titles at 400 and 800 meters at Penns Grove, where he had PRs of 48.33 and 1:52.97. Penns Grove won the 2013 and 2014 state Group 1 team titles Dennison’s junior and senior years.

Princeton junior Carly Bonnet recorded her first collegiate win in the 400-meter dash this weekend, running 58.91 to beat the field at the Princeton New Year’s Invitational at Jadwin Gym.

Bonnet, a Haddonfield High School graduate, edged teammate Samantha Anderson by about two meters. Anderson ran 59.19.

Bonnet is mainly an intermediate hurdler and has run as fast as 60.87 when she placed fourth in the Ivy League Championships as a freshman. She’s placed as high as fifth in the Ivy’s in the 500, where she has a PR of 1:15.55.

She rarely runs the 400 and in fact this was only her sixth open 400 as a collegian. Her PR is 57.94 in January at a meet at the Ocean Breeze Center in Staten Island.

Bonnet was the state Group 2 400IH champ as a senior and also earned All-America honors as part of a Haddonfield DMR team that placed second at the 2014 New Balance indoor nationals in 11:43.94, second-fastest in New Jersey history. That quartet also included her sister Kaitlyn along with Shelby Cain and Briana Gess.

Rowan junior Aspen McMillan opened her season with the fastest time in the country in the 60-meter hurdles.

McMillan ran the fastest early time in NCAA Division 1 according to the Direct Athletics data base when she won the high hurdles Friday at the Lehigh Fast Times Before Finals Invitational at Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem.

(Rauch Fieldhouse is also where the Eagles used to practice when it rained when they held training camp at Lehigh from 1996 through 2012.)

McMillan equalled her PR of 8.90 to win the final after cruising to a 9.19 qualifier in the trials. Jocelyn Anderson of Montclair State out of Monmouth Regional was second in the final in 9.11

McMillan, a graduate of South Brunswick High School, matched her PR of 8.90 set at NCAA Division 3 nationals in March in Grinnell, Iowa, nearly two years ago. McMillan placed 11th the last two years in the 100-meter hurdles at NCAA Division 3 nationals. She earned All-America honors in 2016 by running a leg on Rowan’s third-place 400-meter relay team.

For full results from Lehigh, click here for women and here for men.