Haddonfield juniors Sarah Naticchia, Allison Colflesh and Payton Weiner all ran indoor PRs of at least six seconds and swept the 1,600 at sectionals.

Naticchia ran 5:06.90, Colflesh 5:08.17 and Weiner 5:12.74 and swept the first three spots at the South Jersey Group 2 meet at the Bennett Center Saturday morning.

Naticchia’s previous indoor PR was a 5:13.84 from states last year. Colflesh’s was a 5:20.06 from a meet in December at the Armory. And Weiner’s was 5:19.54 from states in 2018.

Colflesh actually ran below her outdoor PR of 5:07.01 as well.

Haddonfield also has junior Lindsay Colflesh, who has run 5:24.02 this year and 5:17.80 outdoors.

Hopefully a four-mile relay is in this group’s future!

Naticchia, Colflesh and Weiner ran the three-fastest times in South Jersey so far this year. They’re No. 6, No. 9 and No. 19 in the state.

Delsea’s Marco Morales recorded the best pole vault performance ever in an indoor New Jersey sectional meet Saturday morning when he cleared 15-8.

Morales won the South Jersey Group 2 title at the Bennett Center, and his twin brother Nico, competing for the first time in six weeks, was second at 14-6.

Marco Morales broke the overall sectional record of 15-6 set in 2013 by Robbinsville’s Craig Hunter. Hunter’s 15-6 was also the overall sectional Group 2 record. Morales also broke the overall South Jersey sectional mark of 15-1 set in 2014 by Kingsway’s Dylan Altland, and he broke the South Jersey Group 2 sectional mark of 14-7 that he set last year.

Indoor sectionals have been held since 2008.

Marco Morales and Nico Morales shared the indoor South Jersey record of 15-7 with West Deptford’s Dan Batdorf from 2008 until Marco cleared 15-7 at Ocean Breeze last month. Then he jumped 16-0 at Ocean Breeze on Monday to break his own South Jersey indoor record and tie the overall South Jersey indoor/outdoor mark of 16-0 set by Haddon Heights’ Bob Green in 1992.

Interestingly, Morales’s mark is also superior to the outdoor South Jersey sectional pole vault record of 15-7 shared by Brandon Kurtz of Absegami in Group 3 in 1991 and Jordan Subai of Toms River South in Group 4 in 2010.

What a performance by the Ocean City boys in the 1,600 at the Group 3 sectionals!

Sophomore Owen Ritti, senior Luke Kramer and junior Tyler Greene swept the 1,600, all in 4:32 or faster.

That’s 24 points in one event for the Red Raiders at the Bennett Center!

Ritti ran an indoor-outdoor PR of 4:27.62, Kramer was second in a season-best 4:30.54 and Greene Edged Ryan Tobin of Toms River South for third in a personal-best 4:32.09.

Ritti’s previous PR was a 4:31.89 last weekend at Ocean Breeze. His time is No. 3 among New Jersey sophomores this year and No. 2 among South Jersey milers, behind Kingsway’s Kyle Rakitis [4:22.97]. It’s No. 5 overall in South Jersey this year.

Greene’s previous PR was a 4:39.08 last month on the same track, so that’s a seven-second PR for him. Kramer ran 4:27.60 at states last year.

Heck of a 400 race at the Bennett Center, with Pennsauken junior Jade Pope edging Winslow senior Nylah Perry by 8-100ths of a second.

Pope won the South Jersey Group 3 400 title early Sunday morning in 58.01, with Perry in 58.09. Winslow’s Janeya Hammond [58.84], Shawnee’s Amanda Demko [59.53] and absegami’s Diamond McLaughlin [59.93] also ran under a minute.

The three repeated their 1-2-3 finish from last year, when Pope ran 57.46, Perry 58.24 and Hammond 58.60.

Pope was second to Winslow’s Flora Ahiarakwe as a freshman, so she’s placed in the top two three straight years now with one to go.

Pope’s time is No. 3 in South Jersey this year behind Perry’s 56.85 at the Varsity Classic and Hammond’s 57.59 at the Hispanic Games, both at the Armory.

The Group 2 and 3 sectionals are just getting underway at the Bennett Center so lots of good stuff to come this morning and this afternoon!

Eric Barnes, an Egg Harbor graduate now running for Rutgers, PR’d in the 800 Saturday at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

Barnes, a junior, ran 1:52.67 in a deep field of nearly 300 half-milers, finishing 33rd overall and third in his section.

https://www.lancertiming.com/results/winter20/valentine/index.htm

Barnes lowered his PR from 1:53.13, which he ran last month on the same track. He also beat his outdoor PR of 1:53.21.

His time is No. 9 in Rutgers history indoors. Ahead of him on that list at No. 4 is another South Jersey runner, Pleasantville graduate Joe Lewis, who ran 1:51.16 for R.U. in 2002.

Barnes had PRs of 1:54.06 outdoors at Egg Harbor and 1:56.43 indoors. He was third in the indoor Meet of Champions his senior year at EHT.

Senior Meredith Updike ran a meet-record and personal-best 8.29 to win the hurdles and highlight a huge day for Cinnaminson at the Central Jersey Group 2 meet Saturday at the Bennett Center.

Updike broke her 55-meter highs PR of 8.33 from her win at Group 2 states last winter on the same track.

The previous meet record was 8.45 by Mjcah Collier of Lawrence in 2017. Updike won last year’s race in 8.60.

Her time is No. 7 in the state this year and No. 3 by a South Jersey hurdler behind Jewel Ash (8.15) and Jailya Ash (8.20) of Eastern.

Her time is No. 3 in Burlington County history, behind only Olympic long jumper Carol Lewis, who ran 7.92 in 1981 for Willingboro, and Jasmine Staten of Lenape, who ran 8.28 in 2016.

Updike nearly broke the meet record with an 8.46 in the trials, then won the final by a whopping four meters over Matawan’s Tiana Ellis, who was second in 8.99.

The versatile Updike added an indoor PR in the 400 and an overall indoor/outdoor PR in the 800 for 22 total points in three events.

She placed 2nd in the 800 in 2:22.72, finishing just 16-100ths of a second behind winner Sydney Todd of Monmouth, and 4th in the 400 in 59.44.

The 400 time breaks her indoor PR of 59.73, which she ran twice last winter. Her previous overall 800 PR was a 2:22.93 last January.

<strong>ALL-TIME S.J. 55 HURDLES LIST</strong>
7.29 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
7.89 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.89 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], 2006
7.94 … Lenaami Morton [Camden], 2017
7.98 … Nicole Belcher [Wilson], 1992
7.98 … Tisonna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2019
8.01 … Samantha Sharper [Wilson], 2008
8.03 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.03 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
8.04 … Zonya Cross [Edgewood], 1983
8.05 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.06 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
8.10 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest]. 2008
8.10 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2019
8.11 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.15 … Jewel Ash [Eastern], 2020
8.16 … Te’Seanna Harris [Camden], 2019
8.17 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.18 … Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015
8.19 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp,], 2016
8.22 … Jamillah Nock [Wilson], 2004
8.23 … Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], 2019
8.24 … Malea Broome [Millville], 2019
8.26 … Janee Sharper [Wilson], 2006
8.28 … Kristina Keegan [Haddonfield], 2003
8.28 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape, 2016
8.29 … Keisha Williams [Camden], 2015
8.29 … Aliya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI], 2019
8.29 … Meredith Updike [Cinnaminson], 2020
8.30 … Joshonda Johnson [Absegami], 2017

Mike Zurzolo, a College of New Jersey senior from Cherokee, had a huge 3,000 race in Boston Saturday, placing second out of 100 runners at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.

Zurzolo ran a massive PR of 8:31.87, finishing behind only Neil Braganza of Yale, who won the race in 8:30.99.

That’s the fastest time by a TCNJ runner in 13 years.

Zurzolo was out in 2:18.7, 2:17.7 and 2:18.4 before running the final 600 in 1:37, which is 2:09 pace. He closed in 62.4 and 29.5.

His previous PR for 3,000 was 8:44.66 last month in a meet at the Armory. 

Zurzolo’s time is No. 19 in NCAA Division 3 and fastest by any NJAC runner this year by nearly 10 seconds.

At Cherokee, Zurzolo had an indoor 1,600 PR of 4:35.90, so he came through the 1,600 only about half a second slower Saturday in a 3,000 than his high school PR for a race nearly half as long.

Zurzolo’s 3,200 PR at Cherokee was 9:30.60. An 8:31.87 converts to approximately a 9:09.6 for 3,200 meters or about 9:12.8 for a full two miles.

His time is fastest by any TCNJ runner indoors or out since Brian Kopnicki ran 8:22.73 at the 2007 New Balance NYC Gotham Cup at the Armory on Jan. 12, 2007.

2020 indoor

2019 outdoor – 5th 20.97

2019 indoor – 3rd 20.63

2018 outdoor – 20.14 7th

2018 indoor – DNC

2017 outdoor – 14th 19.02

Delsea graduate Josh Awotunde finished fifth in the shot put Saturday at the USATF Championships in Albuquerque, his fourth straight top-8 finish at nationals.

Awotunde threw 66-1 1/2 on his third throw and had four throws of 64-11 1/2 or better in a very consistent series.

Awotunde placed 7th and 5th at outdoor nationals the last two years and was third at indoor nationals last winter.

He was sitting in 8th going into his third and final throw of the first round when he popped a 66-1 1/2, not far from his season best of 67-1. He would have made the finals either way, but that throw moved him up from 8th into 4th.

Awotunde opened with throws of 62-10 1/2 and 63-11. In the finals, he threw 64-11 1/2, 65-10 1/4 and 65-7 but was bumped into 5th when Roger Steen threw 66-1 3/4 on his fifth throw. 

Awotunde, a Delsea graduate and five-time All-America at South Carolina, has PRs of 69-11 3/4 indoors and 68-1 3/4 outdoors, both from the 2018 SEC Championships.

Ryan Crouser won with a meet-record throw of 74-1 3/4, best in the world this year. He had the top four throws of the competition.

Awotunde, NCAA runner-up as a South Carolina senior in 2018, ranked 22nd in the world last spring at 69-3 3/4. He ranks 25th in the world this year with his 67-1. He’s No. 40 in U.S. history outdoors and No. 24 indoors. 

At Delsea, Awotunde was Meet of Champions winner in the shot put and runner-up in the discus. He threw 61-6 with the 12-pound ball in high school and 192-5 in the discus.

Jessica Woodard placed 6th in the shot put Friday night at the USATF Championships in Albuquerque.

Woodard, a Cherokee graduate and six-time All-America at Oklahoma, overcame fouls on three straight throws to take 6th with a throw of 57-11.

Woodard opened with a 57-7 before fouling on her last two attempts of the trials. But that was good enough to get her into the finals in seventh place. 

She fouled on her first throw of the finals before hitting 57-11 on her fifth throw to move up to 6th. She finished with a 56-10 1/4.

Woodard had set an indoor PR of 59-0 1/4 last weekend in Norman, Okla. She’s thrown as far as 61-3 1/2 outdoors.

In her three indoor meets this winter, she’s fouled on 10 of her 18 throws. 

Woodard ranks No. 17 in the world this year and No. 9 among U.S. women.

Woodard’s sixth-place finish matches her finish at outdoor nationals last summer in Des Moines, Iowa. She was seventh at indoor nationals last year and ninth at outdoor nationals in 2018. She also placed 11th at 2018 nationals in the discus. In 2017 she was 8th at outdoor nationals and 13th in the discus at outdoor nationals. In 2016, she was 11th in the shot at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Rowan freshman Jake Kolodziej from Washington Township destroyed his indoor 800 PR Friday at the at the Fastrack National Invite at Ocean Breeze.

Kolodziej finished first of 52 half-milers with a time of 1:56.86, breaking his indoor PR of 1:59.26 set last weekend on the same track. His overall PR of 1:57.10 was set as a Washington Township senior, when he ran 1:57.10 in a meet at West Chester (Pa.) Henderson.

His time is No. 3 in the NJAC this year behind teammate Nick Neville [1:56.05] and Ramapo freshman Charles DaSilva [1:56.61]. It’s No. 6 in the Division 3 Atlantic Region.

Kolodziej looks like the No. 4 freshman in NCAA Division 3, behind Carter Oberfoell of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa [1:54.45], Murray Bingham of Southern Virginia of Buena Vista, Va. [1:56.17] and DaSilva.

Kolodziej attended Rowan College of Gloucester County in Deptford last year and placed 6th at NJCAA Division 3 nationals in Utica, N.Y., in 2:01.56.

Rowan freshman Joe DeVito from Jackson Liberty was second out of a different section in 1:57.53, breaking his indoor PR of 1:58.30 from last weekend on the same track. DeVito ran 1:53.25 at Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last spring.finishing second behind Hopewell Valley’s Sean Dolan, the Meet of Champions mile champ.

Two Absegami graduates, freshman Joga Keisjaum and sophomore Esteban Delgado, also broke two minutes. Keisjaum ran 1:58.61, breaking his overall indoor PR of 2:00.20 from last year’s Meet of Champions and his college indoor PR of 2:01.21 from last weekend. Delgado ran 1:59.19. He has a 1:57.11 to his credit this winter, also from last weekend at Ocean Breeze.