Mariah Hubbard, a Monmouth junior from Absegami, sailed 39-3 1/4 in the triple jump Friday at the Penn State National Invitational.

Hubbard came within 3/4 of an inch of her lifetime PR of 39-4, set when she won the 2017 Metro Atlantic Conference Championships two years ago at the Armory.

Hubbard ranks No. 2 spot on the all-time Monmouth indoor performance list, behind only current Monmouth senior Ashley McKinnon, who jumped 40-4 3/4 last year. McKinnon jumped 38-2 1/2 at Penn State on Friday.

Hubbard’s jump is bet in the MAC this winter. She moved ahead of Dominyka Leskauskaite of Manhattan, who jumped 38-7 at Yale last month.

At Absegami, Hubbard was a sectional champ in the high jump, a conference medalist in the hurdles and long jump and third-place finisher in the triple jump at the Meet of Champions.

Senior Raelynne Miller and freshman Bryanna Craig ran on two first-place relay teams and the Millville girls placed in the top three in six of nine events Wednesday to win their first state relays title.

Millville outscored second-place Ridge by 20 points!!! — 48-28 — to win the Group 4 title at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

The Thunderbolts became the first South Jersey school to win the Group 4 state relays title since Lenape in 2012. Lenape also won in 2008 and 2011. The last South Jersey school other than Lenape to win the G4 relays title was Washington Township in 1999.

No Cumberland County girls program had ever won a state relays title.

Miller, Craig senior Brionah Patterson and Zaniah Bowman ran on the winning 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 4:05.49, and Miller and Craig were joined by junior Ciara Bowman and senior Malea Broome on the winning sprint medley, which ran 4:17.37.

Millville’s shuttle hurdles team ran the fourth-fastest time in South Jersey history and set a Cumberland County record in finishing second to Eastern. You can read about that race here. Broome, Craig, Patterson and Ellis ran the shuttles.

Broome, Ellis and Zaniah and Ciera Bowman ran on the third-place 800-meter relay team, which clocked 1:45.91 and finished just 7-100ths out of first place in a crazy 1-2-3 finish.

In the high jump relay, junior Kenny’a Dunns and Craig each cleared 5-0 for a combined 10 feet and second place. Dunns tied her PR.

Millville’s shot put duo took third with a combined 69-9 1/2. Junior Tereana Parker demolished her PR with a 38-8. Her previous indoor PR was a 37-8 3/4 at a meet in North Jersey in December, and her outdoor PR is a 36-5.

The Eastern and Millville girls ran the third- and fourth-fastest shuttle hurdles times in South Jersey history Wednesday in a 1-2 finish in the Group 4 race at the state relays.

Eastern won the race in 31.58, and Millville was second in 31.93. Eastern ran under the Group 4 meet record of 31.6 hand-timed, set by Plainfield in 1986 and ran less than half a second off the overall state relays record of 30.74 set by Winslow in the Group 3 meet in 2014.

Juniors Noelle Scott and Abigail Brocco opened up for Eastern, followed by sophomore Jailya Ash and junior Jewel Ash.

For Millville, senior Malea Broome, freshman Bryanna Craig, senior Brionah Patterson and freshman Leah Ellis ran.

Eastern’s time is No. 17 in state history and Millville is No. 21. The times are also No. 1 and No. 2 on the MileSplit U.S. 2019 list, although very few states run the shuttle hurdles indoors before nationals.

Millville’s time broke the Cumberland County record of 32.05 set by Millville a few weeks ago at the Merli Invitational on the same track.

Millville won the Group 4 team title by 20 points — 48-28 over Ridge. It was Millville’s first state relays team title and the first ever by a Cumberland County school, although both Bridgeton (1994, 1997) and Vineland (2004) have won boys state relays titles.

More on Bridgeton’s title coming soon!

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS SHUTTLES LIST
30.74 … Winslow Twp., 2014
31.27 … Winslow Twp., 2013
31.58 … Eastern, 2019
31.93 … Millville, 2019
32.02 … Woodrow Wilson, 2006
32.05 … Millville, 2018
32.06 … Lenape, 2014
32.22 … Absegami, 2016
32.65 … Bishop Eustace, 2011
32.81 … Timber Creek, 2016
32.6h … Pleasantville, 1998
32.88 … Pennsauken, 2000
32.89 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2009
32.90 … Wilson, 2002
32.96 … Haddonfield, 2019
32.99 … Buena, 2012

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS SHUTTLES LIST
29.55 … Jackson, 2004
29.57 … Jackson, 2003
29.4h … Rahway, 1983
29.70 … Middletown South, 1998
29.6h … Neptune, 1983
29.6h … Neptune, 1994
29.7h … Vailsburg, 1984
29.8h … Trenton, 1983
29.8h … Vailsburg, 1986
29.8h … Plainfield, 1986
30.74 … Winslow Twp., 2014
30.98 … Union Catholic, 2015
31.27 … Winslow Twp., 2013
31.28 … Union Catholic, 2017
31.40 … Union catholic, 2016
31.3h … Franklin, 1986
31.58 … Eastern, 2019
31.64 … Notre Dame, 2014
31.76 … Essex County Vo-Tech, 2012
31.6h … Plainfield, 1984
31.93 … Notre Dame, 1998
31.93 … Millville, 2019
31.7h … Piscataway, 1996

Rutgers sophomore Eric Barnes of Egg Harbor Township recorded an indoor 800 PR Saturday when he ran 1:55.83 at the Penn 8-Team Select meet at the Ocean Breeze track on Staten Island, N.Y.

Barnes placed seventh out of 40 Division 1 runners in the 800 but was less than 1 1/2 seconds behind winner Mason Gateway of Penn, who ran 1:54.49. He was fourth in his section.

Barnes’ previous indoor 800 PR was a 1:56.20 last February in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University. His overall PR is 1:54.55 from the Metro Championships in Piscataway in April.

At Egg Harbor, Barnes had PRs of 1:56.43 indoors from the 2017 Meet of Champions and 1:54.06 outdoors from 2016 outdoor Meet of Champions.

Camden Catholic graduate Kyle Kirk won the 500-meter dash in a personal-best 1:07.09 Saturday to help Lehigh beat Lafayette in the annual battle of Northampton County.

Kirk, a senior from Pennsauken, broke his previous PR of 1:07.45 from a meet last year also at Lehigh’s Rauch Fieldhouse.

Kirk, runner-up at 800 meters in last year’s Patriot Conference indoor championships, has run 1:53.32 outdoors and 1:54.94 indoors at Lehigh. He’s run everything from the 400 to the 5,000 on the track during his career in Bethlehem.

Lehigh won the showdown between neighboring schools, 100-81. The Engineers have defeated Lafayette 11 straight times in their annual January showdown.

Kirk was a two-time South Jersey Parochial champ and Olympic Conference champ in cross country at Camden Catholic and ran 4:22.98 and 9:43.62 on the track.

Deptford shattered a 15-year-old South Jersey record when the Spartans’ shuttle hurdles team ran 29.45 Friday evening.

Deptford set the mark at the state Group 2 relay championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

The Spartans broke the South Jersey mark of 29.72, set in 2004 by Reuben McCoy and Winslow Township.

Deptford broke the overall state relays record of 29.84 set in 2013 by Union Catholic and the Group 2 record of 29.7 hand-timed set in 1978 by Asbury Park. The Group 2 FAT record was a 30.36 set last year by Rahway.

Seniors Tyrece Brown, Naseem Smith, Tyriq Bundy and Khion Smith won a very fast race over Rahwah, which also broke 30 seconds in 29.81 – the second-fastest time ever run in any group at the state relays.

Led by the shuttle hurdles team and a win in the 4-by-200, Deptford outscored second-place Rahway, 42-37, to win the first state indoor relays team title in school history.

The 29.45 is No. 4 in state history among FAT times:

28.62 … East Orange, 2017 [New Balance Indoors]
29.20 … Union atholic, 2013 [New Balance Indoors]
29.44 … East Orange, 2018 [New Balance Indoors]
29.45 … Deptford, 2019 [State Relays]

Here’s the all-time South Jersey list, with hand-times listed where their converted equivalent would be:

29.45 … Deptford, 2019
29.72 … Winslow Twp., 2004
29.74 … Egg Harbor, 2009
29.5h … Woodrow Wilson, 1999
29.6h … Camden, 1978
20.7h … Paul VI, 1972
29.8h … Willingboro, 1982
29.9h … Moorestown, 1975
30.0h … Willingboro, 1978
30.07 … Oakcrest, 2012
30.22 … Camden, 2009
30.26 … Winslow Twp., 2003
30.41 … Camden, 1996
30.47 … Willingboro, 2012
30.52 … Washington Twp., 2012
30.3h … Camden, 1999
30.64 … Seneca, 2012
30.4h … Camden, 1979
30.4h … Camden, 1997
30.81 … Willingboro, 2016
30.90 … Winslow Twp. 2015
30.94 … Deptford, 2018

Deptford also broke the Gloucester County record of 30.52, set by Washington Township at the 2012 state Group 4 Relays and the school record of 30.92 set last week at the SJTCA meet at the Bennett Center.

Deptford’s time is No. 1 in the U.S. so far this year, according to the MileSplit database.

Here’s a complete list of all Gloucester County schools to win state boys indoor titles:
Clearview [Group 1-2 in 1966]
Delsea [Group 2 in 2010, 2011]
Deptford [Group 2 in 2019]
Kingsway [Group 3 in 2014, 2015]
Washington Twp. [Group 4 in 2009]
Woodbury [Group 1 in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983]

For the fourth time in history, Willingboro has swept both the boys and girls titles at the state relays.

The Willingboro boys won their 16th title and third in a row and the girls won their 10th but first since 2010 in the Group 1 meet at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

The last Willingboro sweep was in 2005 in Group 3. The Chimeras also swept the boys and girls relay titles in 2002 and 2003 in Group 3.

Since 1982, either the boys or the girls have won a title in 24 of 38 seasons.

Only Christian Brothers Academy (27) has won more  state relay titles than the Willingboro boys. Asbury Park has won 15 but none since 1995.

Willingboro is the first to win three straight boys Group 1 state relay titles since Woodbury won four straight from 1976 through 1979.

Junior Mikell Dolo, sophomore Balkis Lyiola, senior Tamia Welch Smith and senior Kenady Wilson won the shuttle hurdles in 33.89 to lead the Willingboro girls to a 32-30 win over Collingswood.

Dolo, freshmen Deshia Davis and Jadah Grant and Lyiola ran 1:51.49 for third in the 800-meter relay, and Dolo, Welch Smith, Wilson and Lyiola ran 4:33.81 for fourth in the sprint medley. Lyiola, Dolo, Welch Smith and senior Amatulla Ibn Abdul Kareem ran 4:21.02 for fourth in the 1,600-meter relay.

Wilson cleared a PR-tying 5-6 and teamed with Smith [4-6] to take second on misses to Clark with a combined clearance of 10 feet.

The Willingboro boys scored a whopping 64 points, the most ever in Group 1, third-most ever in any public school state relays meet and the most in 17 years. The previous record was Willingboro’s 60 in 2010. It’s the most points scored in any public school meet since Willingboro won Group 3 in 2002 with 66 points.

They placed third or better in all but two events.

The Chimeras won the 1,600-meter relay in 3:33.94, shuttle hurdles in 31.86, high jump relay at 12-6 and shot put relay at 87-9 and picked up second places in the 800-meter relay, sprint medley and pole vault.

Senior Jayaire King ran on both winning relay teams. He was joined by seniors Dinonn Capp, Reginald Jones and Elijah Valme on the 4-by-4 and by seniors Joshua Dorvilus and Kevin Peterson and freshman Bryson Bright on the shuttles.

Juniors Kameron Smith and Nate Robertson won the high jump relay by a foot, Smith clearing 6-4 and Robertson 6-2.

Sophomore Deonte Allen threw 46-2 3/4 and senior Emmanuel Lewis III 41-6 1/4 to win the shot put relay by four inches over New Providence.

Juniors Jason Dingle [11-6] and Dontavis Wilson [11-0] combined for a 22-6 to take second to New Providence in the pole vault relay.

King, Jones, Peterson and Valme ran 1:33.67 for second to Camden in the 4-by-8, and senior Joshua Akinsanya, King, Jones and Valme ran on the sprint medley team.

That’s two firsts and two seconds for King, a first and two seconds for Jones and a first and two seconds for Valme,

Here’s a look at Willingboro’s relay titles:

BOYS
1982 [Group 4]
1983 [Group 4]
1985 [Group 3]
1986 [Group 3]
1987 [Group 3]
1990 [Group 4]
1996 [Group 4]
2000 [Group 3]
2001 [Group 3]
2002 [Group 3]
2003 [Group 3]
2005 [Group 3]
2012 [Group 3]
2015 [Group 1]
2017 [Group 1]
2018 [Group 1]
2019 [Group 1]

GIRLS
1992 [Group 4]
1993 [Group 4]
1995 [Group 4]
1997 [Group 4]
2002 [Group 3]
2003 [Group 3]
2004 [Group 3]
2005 [Group 3]
2010 [Group 2]
2019 [Group 1]

And here’s a look at the highest point totals in boys meet history:

90 – CBA [Parochial], 2011
88 – Union Catholic [Parochial B], 2013
86 – CBA [Parochial A], 2017
84 – CBA [Parochial A], 2016
80 – CBA [Parochial A], 2013
77 – CBA [Parochial], 2012
72 – CBA [Parochial A], 2015
72 – CBA [Parochial A], 2018
70 – Hudson Catholic [Parochial B], 2015
68 – Union Catholic [Parochial A], 2014
66 – Willingboro [Gorup 3], 2001
66 – Willingboro [Group 3], 2002
64 – WIllingboro [Group 1], 2019
64 – Willingboro [Group 3], 2003
60 – Asbury Park [Group 2], 1992
60 – Bishop Eustace [Parochial B], 2017

 

Flora Ahiarakwe, a spring Winslow graduate, is off to a fast start as a freshman at Pittsburgh.

Ahiarakwe ran a personal-best 56.82 in her first college 400 at the Youngstown (Ohio) State Icebreaker, which makes her one the 12th-fastest freshmen in NCAA Division 1 two months into the indoor season.

Ahiarakwe won her section of the 400 by nearly two seconds, which was good enough to bump all but four runners in the two “faster” sections of the race. She was the fastest of 23 freshmen in the field of 62 runners.

That 56.82 ranks sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference and first among ACC freshmen. It’s also an overall indoor PR for Ahiarakwe, whose indoor 400 PR at Winslow was a 57.36 for third at last year’s Eastern’s.

She also ran the leadoff leg on Pitt’s first-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:52.84, and also ran 7.87 in her 60-meter dash debut.

Ahiarakwe followed that up with another fast 400 — she ran 57.56 for third at the Nittany Lion Challenge, again out of an unseeded heat.

This time she ran the second leg on Pitt’s 4-by-4, which ran 3:46.48, second behind only Penn State’s 3:40.85.

Highland senior Yarayah Hawkins set an indoor PR and nearly broke his outdoor PR when he won the 800 in 1:58.40 Saturday in the Tri-County race at the Olympic / Tri-County Conference meet at the Bennett Center.

His time is fastest in South Jersey so far this year.

Hawkins won by 15 meters over Colin Kane of Delsea, who ran 2:01.08, an indoor PR of his own. Deptford junior Philip Sedalis was also under 2:02, third in 2:01.53, a huge PR as well.

Kane lowered his indoor 800 PR more than half a second, from 2:03.60 at a meet in December at Ursinus in Collegeville, Pa. He ran 1:58.71 last May at the Tri-County Championships on his home track in Franklinville.

Sedalis’ previous indoor PR was 2:04.27 last month at the Armory. He has a 2:04.00 outdoor PR to his credit from the Cherokee Night of Racing #2 last May.

Two other South Jersey runners broke 2:02 in the Olympic Conference are, with Camden Catholic’s Richard Castaneda going 2:00.18 and Washington Township junior Jayden Greene just behind him in 2:01.07.

Castaneda ran 4:21 and 9:33 last spring. His overall 800 PR was 2:00.50, also at the Cherokee Night of Racing #2 in May. His indoor PR was a 2:06.27.

Greene has range from the 100-meter dash up to cross country. His overall 800 PR is 2:00.09 from last May’s Haddonfield Distance Night. This was his first indoor 800.

Hawkins, Castaneda , Greene, Kane and Sedalis now rank No. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in South Jersey this winter.

Ethan Wechsler led a deep, fast group around the Bennett Center track for the fastest 3,200-meter run in the state this year Saturday in Toms River.

Wechsler, a Cherokee junior, ran a N.J. #1 9:28.00 to win the Olympic Conference race at the Olympic / Tri-County meet at the Bennett Center.

The race produced three of the four-fastest times in the state this year and some interesting PR’s.

—> Wechsler actually broke both his indoor PR [10:00.31 last year at sectionals] and his overall PR [9:31.06 at the Holmdel Night of 3200s last May] in leading the field across the line. His time is fastest by a Cherokee runner indoors since Keith Krieger ran 9:25.88 for third at the 2003 Meet of Champions and third-fastest overall indoors, behind Marc Pelerin [9:11.78 converted from two miles] and Krieger.

—> Camden Catholic senior Matt Coffey was two strides back in a school-record 9:29.04, which is NJ#2 this year and shattered his indoor PR of 9:47.19 at the same meet last year and was less than three seconds off his overall PR of 9:26.24, from his win last year at Parochial A sectionals.

—> Connor Melko of Bishop Eustace was third in 9:31.56, NJ#4. That’s also an overall PR because it appears to be his first serious attempt at the distance either indoors or out for the 800 / 1600 specialist [1:56.53 / 4:16.20]. Is that a Eustace indoor record?

—> Junior Oliver Adler of Cherry Hill East ran fourth in NJ#8 9:34.97, a huge breakthrough for another runner who is more of an 800 / 1600 guy and hadn’t run any serious 3,200s in the past.

Cherokee junior Chase Miller [9:46.10], Cherry Hill East senior Kyle Krell [9:52.50] and Camden Catholic senior Denny Kelly [9:56.80] also broke 10 minutes.