Cherry Hill East graduate Maya Drayton, a Georgetown freshman, had a huge breakthrough couple days at the Big East Championships.

Competing at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, about six miles south of Lake Erie, Drayton on Monday won the first section of a two-section final in 54.78 and that time stood up for third place overall.

That appears to be the No. 7 time in Georgetown indoor track history and fastest since Abigail Johnson ran 53.64 for second at the 2010 Big East Championships at the 168th Street Armory.

Is it a Georgetown freshman record? There is literally no way to figure that out since the performances ahead of Drayton on the all-time Georgetown list go back as far as 1993. But it has to be close.

Drayton finished behind only juniors Leah Andrson of St. John’s (53.76) and Kiersten Walker of DePaul (54.66), who she didn’t even get a chance to race because they were in the second section of the two-race final. 

But it was a tremendous performance for Drayton, who came into the meet with a PR of 56.38 from a meet in January at Penn State, then lowered her PR to 55.34 in the trials.

Drayton’s time makes her the No. 11 freshman in NCAA Division 1. She appears to be the fastest freshman in the Big East in at least 10 years, or as far back as class stats are available on TFRRS.org, the national college performance ranking system.

Georgetown’s track web site has a “media guide” that believe it or not was last updated in 2009. I found the top women’s indoor 400 performances at Georgetown through and tried to update the list with all the sub-55 Georgetown times since 2009 — there haven’t been any, surprisingly – and came up with an all-time Georgetown indoor 400 list:

53.14 … Steffanie Smith, 1993
53.64 … Abigail Johnson, 2010
53.78 … Sasha Spencer, 2001
54.13 … Monica Hargrove, 2004
54.28 … Carron Allen, 2000
54.37 … Nickey Penado, 2001
54.78 … Maya Drayton, 2020
54.79 … Bridget Johnson, 1996
54.91 … Jennifer Bell, 1987

(Note to SIDs: UPDATE ALL-TIME PERFORMANCE LISTS)

At Cherry Hill East, Drayton didn’t run indoors, so this is her first season of indoor track, and the Big East was only the third meet of her life in which she’s contested an open indoor 400. She’s PR’d in each one.

Drayton’s outdoor PR at East was 56.00, which she ran this past spring at the state Group 4 meet, where she placed second to Shauntae Nelson of Piscataway, who’s now at U. Conn.

Drayton came back to place fourth in the 200 in 24.40 after setting a PR of 24.3 in the trials on Sunday.

Ashley Preston continued her perfect record at the Big East Championships with her third conference pole vault title in three tries.

Preston, a Delsea graduate and sophomore at Villanova, clear a personal-best 13-3 1/2 Sunday to win the Big East indoor title at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

As a freshman, she won last year’s indoor title at SPIRE at 12-7 1/2 and then won the outdoor title at Icahn Stadium in New York at 13-2 1/4.

Preston passed the first five heights and then cleared 11-11 3/4 on her second try and 12-3 1/2, 12-7 1/2 and 12-11 1/2 on her first try. When nobody else cleared 12-11 1/2, she had the event won.

She had the bar moved up to 13-3 1/2 and cleared it on her second attempt before three attempts at 13-5 1/4.

Preston’s 13-3 1/2 is No. 3 in Villanova history indoors and No. 7 on the overall all-time indoor-outdoor list.

Her previous PR was that 13-2 1/4 last spring. Her previous indoor PR was a 13-1 1/2 at a meet in January in Annapolis, Md.

Her 13-3 1/2 clearance is the best by a Villanova vaulter indoors or outdoors since 2015, when Alexandra Wasik cleared 13-10 at the Armory.

Preston trails only Wasik and Ashlyn Llernadi (13-5 3/4 in 2010) on the all-time Villanova indoor list.

Preston and Wasik are the only three-time Big East pole vault champs in Villanova history.

This fantastic Villanova track history book shows where Preston ranks among all-time Villanova athletes in Big East titles. Considering she’s only halfway through her sophomore year, she’s moving up rapidly!

 

Click to access pole_vault.pdf

The NJSIAA has released the preliminary performance list for the 52nd annual indoor Meet of Champions (42nd for the girls), which starts at 10 a.m. next Sunday, March 8, at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island, N.Y.

This will be the first time ever any NJSIAA track event has ever been held outside New Jersey, and it will also be the first time any NJSIAA track event has been held on a banked track … or a fast track.

It’s finally going to be an indoor Meet of Champions worthy of the incredible runners, jumpers and throwers that New Jersey always produces. It’s going to be fast!

Remember, the performance lists for the so-called Showcase Events – the events not contested at states – can be updated through noon Tuesday, and any winners from states can update their seed times up through noon Tuesday as well.

We’ll have lots more in the coming days about the Meet of Champions, including our exclusive all-time Meet of Champions performance list, which Jim Lambert and I put together and have been maintaining for several years.

But for now, dig in!

2020 indoor Meet of Champions performance list

And remember, you can watch the entire Meet of Champions live on MileSplit at this link!

Nico Morales lost his South Jersey pole vault record to his twin brother Marco earlier this year, but now he’s a state champion.

Morales, in only his third meet of the year, beat his brother for the first time since sectionals last spring and tied a meet record along the way.

Nico Morales cleared 15-6, matching his indoor PR and one inch off his overall PR, and Marco cleared 14-0 for third, and the amazing Morales brothers’ 16 points along with some clutch running by senior Noah Deckert, hurdling by Damir Lomax and throwing by junior Joe Metzger led the Crusaders to the state Group 2 championship.

The state indoor title is Delsea’s third in the last 10 years. Delsea, always strong in distance and the throws, also won Group 2 in 2011 and 2018.

Woodbury is the only Gloucester County school with more indoor state titles. The Thundering Herd has won five, all between 1969 and 1982.

Marco Morales broke the South Jersey record when he cleared 16-0 at Ocean Breeze earlier this month, and he broke the overall New Jersey sectional record last weekend when he cleared 15-8.

Both Morales brothers and West Deptford’s Dan Batdorf, who cleared 15-6 in 2008, came into the season sharing the South Jersey indoor record.

Marco Morales and Bob Green (Haddon Heights outdoors in 1992) are the only 16-footers in South Jersey history.

Nico Morales is tied for 9th in state history indoors at 15-6 and No. 4 in South Jersey history overall at 15-7.

Nico tied the Group 2 meet record of 15-6 set in 2013 by Craig Hunter of Robbinsville and matched in 2019 by Liam Landau of Pascack Hills.

But the Morales brothers definitely got some help Saturday!

Deckert had a strong double with 4:24.39 for second in the 1,600 and 9:41.60 for fifth in the 3,200. His 4:24.39 was an overall indoor-outdoor PR, breaking his mark of 4:28.17. He just broke 4:33 for the first time earlier this month. His 9:41.60 was just off his PR of 9:40.35 from last month.

Metzger threw 52-10 1/4 for second in the shot put, a little over a foot off his PR of 54-1 1/4 that he set last week. He never threw 50 feet before late last month.

Lomax barely got into the finals of the hurdles at sectionals after an 8.35 in the trials, but he bounced back with an 8.10 for second in the final and then ran 8.08 in the trials Saturday and matched his PR with an 8.04 in the final.

Deptford graduate Kiara Lester, a Penn State senior, won her first Big Ten Conference title Sunday with a personal-best time at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Lester ran 53.37 to win the first section in a two-section final. Chisom Nwoko of Illinois was second in 53.51 running out of a different race. 

Her time appears to be fastest by a Penn State woman since 2014, when Kiah Seymour ran 52.53.

Lester’s previous PR was 53.78 from last year’s indoor Big 10 meet, where she placed fourth. She ran her outdoor PR of 54.08 placing third in last year’s outdoor Big 10 meet in Iowa City. 

Lester ran 54.56 in the trials, only the sixth-fastest time going into the final. 

Trying to navigate Penn State’s horrible on-line “track yearbook” is a nightmare. It’s literally the worst platform I’ve ever seen. Give it a try for laughs: https://issuu.com/gopsusports/docs/2018-19_track_yearbook

But anyway, it looks like Lester is Penn State’s first indoor Big Ten 400 champ since Seymour in 2014 and fifth all-time along with Shana Cox (53.40 in 2008), Fawn Dorr (54.10 in 2009) and Seymour in 2014 (52.53) and 2015 (52.72).

At Deptford, Lester ran 55.72 outdoors and 55.83 and also long jumped over 18 feet. She was Meet of Champions 200 champ indoors in both 2015 and 2016.

Elizabethtown senior Samuel Gerstenbacher from Schalick turned in a huge double at the Landmark Conference Championships, winning the mile and 3,000 Saturday at Susquehanna’s track in Selinsgrove, Pa.

Gerstenbacher ran 4:18.41 to beat Scranton’s Matt Kinback by just over a second in the mile and won the 3,000 in 8:49.84 to win by just over a second over long-time rival Greg Jaindl of Moravian. He had about two hours and 10 minutes between races.

Including indoor and outdoor track, the remarkable Gerstenbacher has won 16 consecutive Landmark Conference titles. The last conference event he raced and didn’t win was the 1,500 at the 2017 outdoor championships.

Here’s a look at his 16 consecutive wins:

2017 outdoor
5,000 meters [15:23.90]
2017 XC
8K [27:27.3]
2018 Indoor
Mile [4:24.60]
3,000 [9:09.22]
2018 Outdoor
1,500 [3:59.45]
5,000 [15:27.01]
Steeple [9:20.72]
2018 XC
8K [26:02.9]
2019 Indoor
Mile [4:25.93]
3,000 [8:51.00]
2019 Outdoor
1,500 [3:59.02]
5,000 [15:08.09]
Steeple [9:27.35]
2019 XC
8K [26:03.2]
2020 Indoor
Mile [4:18.41]
3,000 [8:49.84]

Gerstenbacher has PRs of 1:57.84 for 800, 4:17.40 for the mile, a school-record 8:29.21 for 3,000 meters, 14:54.79 for 5,000 meters and 9:00.21 in the steeple.

He ranks No. 4 in NCAA Division 3 Mideast Division in the 3,000 and No. 9 in the mile going into the All-Atlantic Regional Championships at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.

 

 

CInnaminson’s Austin Gabay turned in a monster double Saturday at the state Group 2 meet.

Gabay won the 1,600 in 4:21.42 for his first career indoor state title and then came back with a brilliant 9:12.77 in the 3,200 to out-race Haddonfield’s Martin Riddell.

Gabay’s 3,200 broke the meet record of 9:14.31 set in 2013 by Jimmy Daniels of Sterling and bumped Oliver Adler of Cherry Hill East and Ethan Wechsler of Cherokee – who ran 9:12.87 and 9:12.90 earlier in the day in the state Group 4 race – into No. 7 and No. 8 in South Jersey history.

To put all that in perspective, more South Jersey two-milers ran sub-9:13 in one day (three) than in the past 33 years combined (two).

Riddell ran an indoor personal-best 9:16.29. He’s run 9:10.75 outdoors. His time was fourth-fastest of the day by a South Jersey runner but No. 14 in South Jersey history.

The state titles were the third and fourth of Gabay’s career. He won the 1,600 outdoors last spring and XC in the fall.

Gabay’s previous indoor PR was 9:15.90 at Ocean Breeze earlier this month. He’s run 9:15.13 so this was an overall indoor-outdoor PR.

Gabay has run faster for 1,600 meters – 4:16.02 outdoors and 4:20.31 full mile indoors last month.

The two titles make Gabay the first Cinnaminson athlete ever to double at the indoor state meet.

Three Cinnaminson athletes have doubled at the outdoor state meet: Anderson (1,600, 3,200 in 2004), Matt Poskus (800, 1,600 in 2007) and Kamron Kobolak (shot and disc in 2018). 

Going into the Meet of Champions, Gabay, Adler and Wechsler are the No. 3, 4 and 5 seeds, behind defending champ and Foot Locker finalist Liam Murphy of Allentown [9:04.41] and Foot Locker XC national top-10 finisher Jack Jennings of Mendham [9:09.27]. Riddell is the No. 7 seed. Murphy and Jennings are also the top-two seeds in the 1,600 (4:13.83, 4:14.63), so it will be interesting to see who winds up on the starting line for what could be a historic M-of-C 3,200 on the faster, banked track at Ocean Breeze next weekend.

Gabay wasn’t Cinnaminson’s only state champ Saturday at the Bubble. Corey Harrell, a junior, won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.78 after going into the meet with a PR over 8 seconds.

With the wins from Gabay and Harrell, Cinnaminson finished second in Group 2 team scoring behind only Delsea.

ALL-TIME S.J. INDOOR 3,200 LIST
8:58.81 ….. Jonathan Vitez [Haddonfield], 2010
9:11.1y ..… Mike Butynes [Sterling], 1970
9:11.2y ..… Mike Elder [Haddon Twp.], 1974
9:11.86y … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2002
9:11.9y ….. Johnny Englehardt [Willingboro], 1976
9:12.77 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2020
9:12.87 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], 2020
9:12.90 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2020
9:13.33 ….. Michael Rankin [Paul VI], 2010
9:13.93 ….. Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:14.31 ….. Jimmy Daniels [Sterling], 2013
9:15.8y ….. Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
9:15.82y … Kevin Pumphrey [Highland], 1986
9:16.09 ….. Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2016
9:16.29 … Martin Riddell [Haddonfield], 2020
9:17.52 ….. Lou Corgliano [Hammonton], 2013
9:17.55 ….. Greg Hughes [Mainland Reg.], 2004
9:17.71 ….. Dave Forward [Shawnee], 2009