Huge PR and a terrific performance Friday by Paul VI junior Kambi Walker, who placed third in the emerging elite high jump at the New Balance Nationals.
Walker, who began her high school track career at St. Basil Academy in Abington, Pa., cleared 5-7 after going into the meet with a PR of 5-4 1/2, which she cleared at the Wayne Letwink Memorial Winter Championships at Ocean Breeze in early February.
Walker, a Florence resident, was the state Group Parochial A champ with a 5-4 clearance and also cleared 5-4 at the Meet of Champs.
But on Friday, she cleared the first four heights — 4-11, 5-1, 5-3 and a PR of 5-5 — all on her first attempt. She then PR’d again at 5-7 on her second attempt before missing three tries at 5-8 1/2.
Walker moved all the way up to =No. 8 on the all-time South Jersey indoor list:
Dennisha Page ran a near-PR 24.63 in the trials of the emerging elite division at the New Balance Nationals Friday, advancing to the championship race.
Page, a senior at Wilson, won the sixth of nine heats by more than half a second. She has the third-fastest time going into the finals, scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Friday evening.
Page has an indoor PR of 24.57 from the prelims at Easterns.
Makhia Jarrett (24.18) of Salem High in Virginia Beach, Va., and Jasmine Riley of Park Crossing High in Montgomery, Ala., (24.45) were the only two qualifiers who ran faster.
Heat sheet for the final is here. Page will be in lane 4 for the second are in the two-section final.
Naseem Smith and Claudine Smith got the New Balance Nationals off to a hot start for South Jersey Friday with fast fourth-place finishes in the emerging elite division of the high hurdles.
Naseem Smith, a Deptford senior, ran 8.05 for fourth in the boys 60-meter highs, finishing just 11-100ths of a second out of first place. He ran 7.99 in the trials. Smith’s official FAT times through 55 meters were 7.42 and 7.47.
Smith’s 7.99 in the qualifying rounds is No. 9 in South Jersey history for the 60-meter highs and fastest by a Gloucester County hurdler since S.J. record holder Sultan Tucker of Delsea ran 7.73 back in 1997.
Smith’s 7.42 is also a personal-best for 55, besting his 7.43 from the Meet of Champions last month and moves him up on the all-time South Jersey list:
ALL-TIME S.J. 55-METER HURDLES LIST
7.18 … Sultan Tucker [Delsea], 1996
7.22 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], 2001
7.22 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], 2012
7.29 … Nate Harley [Pleasantville], 1996
7.29 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.29 … Will Brown [Palmyra], 2006
7.29 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
7.32 … Jon Dickey [Penns Grove], 1985
7.34 … Chais Hill [Highland], 2015
7.1h … Jon Dickey [Penns Grove], 1985
7.1h … Jim Little [Moorestown], 1976
7.1h … Marc Dickerson [Willingboro], 1979
7.1h … George Bland [Penns Grove], 1987
7.35 … Gerard Reynolds [Willingboro], 1990
7.39 … Rashad Baker [Wilson], 2000
7.40 … Lance Reed [Willingboro], 1982
7.42 … Kevon Brown [West Deptford], 2009
7.42 … Anthony Acklin [Triton], 2001
7.42 … Naseem Smith [Deptford], 2019
7.43 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.43 … Edwin Alston [Winslow Twp.], 2015
7.45 … Kevin Hagamin [Timber Creek], 2014
7.46 … Syteek Farrington [Camden], 2010
7.46 … Herb Reid [Lenape], 2000
7.47 … Darius Holmes [Willingboro], 2012
7.48 … Reuben McCoy [Winslow Twp.], 2004
7.48 … Tyrell Ross [Clearview], 2005
7.49 … Devon Carter [Washington Twp.], 2010
7.49 … Vince Rawlins [Eastern], 1991
7.49 … Chris Nichols [Willingboro], 1991
7.49 … Sam Aviles [Palmyra], 2019
As for Claudine Smith, a senior at Atlantic City, she ran 8.65 for fourth in the final after a 60-meter PR of 8.64 in the trials. Her 55-meter official FAT times were 8.04 and 8.05. Her 55-meter hurdles PR is 8.03 from her Meet of Champions win last month.
The 8.65 is No. 9 in state history and No. 5 in South Jersey history.
The Rutgers freshman via Paul VI ran another 200-meter dash PR this weekend when he took second at the IC4A Championships in 21.05 on Ithaca’s track.
Rutgers swept the top three spots in the 200, with senior Izaiah Brown winning in a meet-record and Rutgers-record 20.75, Tarantino second and sophomore Taj Burgess third in 21.14.
Tarantino had posted the second-fastest time in the trials, running 21.24 in the 10th of 11 heats of qualifying.
Tarantino lowered his indoor PR from 21.09 to 21.05. He had run 21.09 at the David Hemery Valentine Invite in Boston last month.
Tarantino’s time makes him the No. 8 freshman in NCAA Division 1 this year.
It would be nice to know where his time ranks I the history of the IC4A meet, which dates back to 1923. But incredibly the IC4A web site doesn’t list any former individual champions and doesn’t have an all-time performance list. This is one of the biggest problems with track and field. The people running meets don’t give fans and athletes any sense of the history of their events. The IC4A meet goes back almost a century! It’s got an incredible history. But good luck finding any of it. I came up empty trying to find any sort of list of all-time winners.
Similarly, the Rutgers web site lists school record holders but unlike most colleges doesn’t provide an all-time top-5 or top-10 list, so it’s impossible to tell where Tarantino ranks in school history.
Before Brown ran 20.75 the school record was 20.95 by Rob Waters in 2006. It’s possible nobody has run between 20.96 and 21.05 but we have no way of knowing.
In any case, Tarantonio’s indoor 200 PR at Paul VI was a 21.82 in the trials at New Balance last winter. His outdoor PR is a wind-aided 20.51 in the trials of the outdoor New Balance nationals. His outdoor wind-legal PR is a 21.07 from the finals of last year’s New Balance nationals.
At the first handoff, Isaac Kole had Mt. St. Mary’s in the lead with a 3:00.75 split with Providence’s Jack Carleo through in 3:00.96 and Long in third.
Russell Malko from Hunterdon Central split 48.46 for the 400 for Rider, with freshman Kevin Heredia of Clifton running 1:53.49 and anchor Daniel Belay of Gaithersburg, Md., 4:12.71.
“The men’s DMR was ready for some big things,” said Rider coach Bob Hamer, a former star distance runner at Council Rock in Bucks County and the 1995 Big Ten 5,000 champion. “Tom really got things rolling and the rest of the guys did their job. They topped their performance from yesterday with this race.”
Rider ran 9:57.67 in the trials on Saturday. Long led off with a 3:02.66 in that race, with the other splits coming in at 47.91, 1:54.26 and 4:12.85.
The previous school record was a 9:57.37 set in 2010 by Christian Gonzalez of Franklin Township, Bordentown graduate Daequan Kim, David South of Hunterdon Central and Michael Soroko of Kinnelon.
Rowan’s all-South Jersey 800-meter relay team is already fastest in the country in NCAA Division 3, and that speedy quartet showed why this weekend.
At the All-Atlantic Regional Track Championships at Ithaca, Rowan broke the meet and facility records, winning easily in 1:28.99.
Freshman Dayquan Murray from Hammonton, freshman Spencer Jarrett from Salem, sophomore Tyler Garland from Glassboro and senior Shai Mumford from West Deptford beat conference-rival SUNY Farmingdale, which ran 1:30.33, by more than two seconds.
What’s cool is that none of those four sprinters broke 23 seconds indoors for 200 meters in high school!
The previous meet record was RIT’s 1:30.57 last year. The previous facility record was Rowan’s 1:29.57 with Kingsway’s Steve Jones, Jonathan Ramirez of Memorial of West New York, Garland and Mumford at the Bomber Invitational.
So Rowan now has the two-fastest times in the country this year.
There is no 4-by-200 at NCAA’s so Rowan’s next venture in the 800-meter relay will come this spring. Rowan’s outdoor record is 1:25.2, set in 1985 when the school was known as Glassboro State by the quartet of Rich Forbes, Keith Thomas, Ronald Moore and Willie Lawson.
Lenape graduate Carly Pettipaw, at far left, led off Delaware’s 2019 U.S. collegiate #1 3,200-meter relay team this weekend in Boston
Lenape graduate Carly Pettipaw, now a senior at Delaware, finished her final indoor season in style with a big PR in the open 800 and a leadoff leg on the Blue Hens’ world-best 3,200-meter relay team.
Granted, the 4-by-800 is only run indoors in the U.S. and only contested in college meets, and it’s no longer contested at the indoor NCAAs. Still, according to the IAAF rankings, Delaware’s 8:45.08 at the IC4A/ECAC meet in Boston on Sunday is the fastest 4-by-800 in the world this year.
Delaware supplanted Lehigh, which ran 8:48.80, last month in Annapolis, Md.
The time is No. 25 in U.S. collegiate history. The full list appears below, courtesy of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association web site.
Pettipaw led off with a 2:11.8 leg out of the whole, followed by sophomore Sydni Stovall (2:13.5), senior Jeanette Bendolph (2:11.5) and junior Michaela Meyer (2:08.3).
Quinnipiac was a distant second, finishing 60 meters back in 8:56.10. Boston College (8:57.94), Loyola of Maryland (8:57.98), James Madison (8:58.56) and Cornell (8:59.32) all broke nine minutes as well.
Delaware posted the fastest qualifying time with an 8:51.60 with a slightly different lineup on Saturday, with Pettipaw splitting 2:10.70 on the leadoff leg. In the prelims, freshman Tina Capparell ran with Pettipaw, Meyer and Bendolph.
The Blue Hens broke the school record in both races. It was 8:54.17 going into the weekend, with the team of Pettipaw, Meyer, Angie Spadaccini and Liz McGroarty last year. Delaware also ran under the school’s outdoor 4×8 school record of 8:55.47, set by McGroarty, Meyer, Spadaccini and Bendolph in 2017.
Delaware’s time is third-fastest in IC4A/ECAC history, behind only Boston College’s 8:43.06 from 2017 and Monmouth’s 8:44.57 from 2017. The B.C. time is listed as questionable, which indicates a likely technical error resulting in the race being less than 3,200 meters.
It’s been a big year for Pettipaw, highlighted by a 2:11.34 open 800 at the Navy Select Meet in Annapolis, Md., last month. That ranks her No. 2 in Delaware history indoors. Here’s the top 5:
Pettipaw also broke school records in the 500 (1:14.71) and 600 (1:32.59) this winter. The previous marks were 1:14.87 by Cristine Marquez in 2008 and 1:37.11 by Meyer last year.
Before this winter, Pettipaw’s indoor PR was a 2:13.20 from sophomore year at IC4A’s on the same track. She has a PR of 2:09.75 outdoors from a meet at Towson last spring. That’s No. 4 in school history by less than two seconds off the school record of 2:08.12, set in 2014 by Linday Prettyman. She also anchored Delaware’s school-record 4:01.98 sprint medley team last spring.
In the intermediate hurdles, Pettipaw has been an IC4A medalist and run as fast as 1:01.14, which is third-fastest in school history.
Here are the top 25 colleges in the indoor 4-by-800, including only the best performance by each school. As you can see, Delaware’s time is seventh-fastest over the past 25 years.
Freshman Iyanla Kollock sprinted herself into the Rutgers University record book Sunday in her first ECAC championships.
Kollock, a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Franklin Township, Gloucester County, placed fourth in the 60-meter dash final in 7.59, seventh-fastest time in Rutgers history and fastest ever by a freshman.
Kollock went into ECAC’s at Boston College with a PR of 7.62 from the trials of the Big 10 Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., last weekend. After a 7.65 in the trials made her the No. 7 seed going into the finals, she ran 7.59 to finish fourth and just 7-100ths of a second behind winner Kaitlin Salisbury, a Bucknell junior out of Hawthorne Christian.
Look at how Kollock’s PR has dropped this year:
7.83 … Jan. 12 [TCNJ Invite trials]
7.78 … Jan. 12 [TCNJ finals]
7.77 … Jan. 25 [John Thomas Classic trials]
7.75 … Jan. 31 [Mets trials]
7.69 … Jan. 31 [Mets finals]
7.62 … Feb. 22 [Big Ten trials]
7.59 … March 3 [ECAC]
Here’s the fastest times in Rutgers history (four of the top eight are from South Jersey sprinters!)
7.34 … Gabrielle Farquharson [Williamstown], 2016
7.41 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], 2006
7.43 … Oniesha Clarkee [Chase Collegiate, Waterbury, Conn.], 2019
7.47 … Tylia GIllon [Jackson], 2014
7.53 … Bria Saunders [Parsippany], 2018
7.56 … Michelle Gomes [University HS, Orlando, Fla.], 2010
7.59 … Jamie Walker [Haddon Heights], 2011
7.59 … Iyanla Kolock, 2019 [Our Lady of Mercy Academy], 2019
Cole Pschunder of Rutgers out of Eastern Regional High School ran a big 5,000 PR of 14:26.53 Saturday at the IC4As.
Pschunder, a Rutgers junior, took 15 seconds off his previous PR of 14:41.84 from the Big Ten meet two weeks ago. Before that, his 5,000 PR was a 15:21 at an outdoor meet last spring on his home track in Piscataway. Pschunder never ran a track 5,000 in high school or in college before last spring.
According to the timing site, Pschunder ran his 1,000s in 2:51, 2:51, 2:56, 2:59 and closed in 2:47, which is roughly 2:13 800 pace for the last five laps.
Pschunder, who also has a 4:11.99 mile to his credit this winter, moved up to No. 3 in Rutgers history in the indoor 5,000, behind only Manalapan High graduate Jim Casey, who ran 14:12.9 hand-timed in a meet at Jadwin Gym in Princeton in 1981 (and is now a NJSIAA Central Jersey sectional meet director), and Chris Banafato (from Bridgewater-Raritan), who ran 14:21.06 at the 2015 IC4A’s in Boston.
Only Casey has run faster than Pschunder’s time outdoors in Rutgers history. He ran 13:57 at the 1982 outdoor IC4As at Princeton.
Cole Pschunder is apparently the same person as Nick Pschunder, which is how he is listed in various results.
Moorestown graduate Natalie Cooper shattered a 19-year-old College of New Jersey 3,000-meter run record Saturday when she finished first at the All-Atlantic Region Championships in Ithaca.
Cooper, a senior at TCNJ, ran 9:54.59, winning by 20 meters over senior Laura Barreca of SUNY Geneseo. She broke the meet record of 10:03.53, set last year by Jaime Lord of RPI, and she broke the TCNJ indoor mark of 9:56.76, set in 2000 by Noel Whitall, a former star runner at Toms River East (and now a coach at Toms River North).
Cooper beat her 3,000 PR of 9:58.37, which she set at Boston University last month. Her time is No. 21 nationally in NCAA Division 3.
Cooper hit 400 meters in 80.65 in sixth place but gradually moved up with 200 splits of 38.1, 38.9, 39.5, 40.1 and 40.2 and took the lead right at the midway point of the race with a 39.9 eighth lap. She closed in 78 seconds for her final 400 to pull away from Barreca.
At Moorestown, Cooper’s 3,200 PR was 11:17.89, and her 9:54.59 converts to a 10:38.29 for 3,200 meters, so that’s a nearly 40-second improvement since high school.
Cooper is a four-time NJAC champ in track and cross country for the Lions and was an All-America in cross country this past fall.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 