There are PRs and then there are PRs.
Rowan sophomore Francis Terry, who brought a PR of 49.37 into Monday’s New Jersey Athletic Conference meet, won the 400-meter dash at the NJAC conference meet with a blistering 47.99 at the Ocean Breeze facility on Staten Island.
Terry’s time is No. 2 in NCAA Division 3 this year.
Terry ran within 13-100ths of a second of the meet record of 47.86 set in 2000 by Rowan’s Rich Dixon.
It’s more than a 1 1/2-second indoor PR for Francis and gets him within only 65-100ths of a second of Dixon’s school record of 47.34, which the Delaware native set in 1999.
Dixon, recruited to Rowan to play soccer by soccer coach Dan Gilmore, was a five-time national champion and 11-time All-America at Rowan, is a member of the Rowan Athletic Hall of Fame and is now a police sergeant in Evesham Township.
Terry, a graduate of Sterling, competed outdoors last year for Neumann University in Aston, where he won the CSAC conference title at 200 meters at Gwynedd-Mercy College but only placed fifth in the 400 in 51.06.
On Monday, just nine months later, he ran more than three seconds faster on a 200-meter indoor track.
Terry’s previous overall 400 PR was 49.37 at the 2016 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township, when he placed second to Haddonfield’s Luke Colehower with a time of 49.37.
His previous indoor PR was a 49.72 for fifth place at the 2016 Easterns at the Armory.
His previous college PR was a 49.55 from the Great Dane Classic, also at Ocean Breeze, back in January. His fastest 400 time last year running for Neumann was 51.07 at a meet at George Mason.
Second place in the race is also a remarkable story.
Terry won by 10 meters over second-place Olivier Paul of Stockton, an Oakcrest graduate, who was second in 49.30.
Paul also recorded a huge PR. His high school PR was 51.88 at a SJTCA meet at the Bennett Center and his college PR before Monday was a 50.77 at a meet at the Armory in January.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 