Cade Antonucci, a Holy Spirit graduate, made his return to the javelin a successful one over the weekend at the Florida State Relays at Mike Long Track in Tallahassee.

Antonucci, a senior at Auburn, threw 232-10 to place second, behind only teammate Nils Fischer, who set a school record of 241-9.

It was Antonucci’s first track meet since the 2019 outdoor NCAA Championships, and his 232-10 is currently No. 13 in NCAA Division 1 and No. 5 in the SEC.

Antonucci has a PR of 237-5 from the 2019 Penn Relays at Franklin Field, so he was less than five feet off his lifetime best despite competing in his first meet in nearly two years. He ranks No. 3 in school history.

In high school, Antonucci threw 220-11 when he won the 2017 Meet of Champions. He also threw the shot put 59-5 1/4 and the discus 169-1. He’s only thrown the javelin in his Auburn career.

Antonucci’s throw is No. 15 in the U.S. early in the outdoor season. He’s one of three South Jersey athletes in the top 20: Curtis Thompson is No. 3 [258-11], Antonucci is No. 2 and Chris Mirabelli is No. 20 [229-0]

Tionnna Tobias was awfully busy Saturday. Busy setting PRs.

Tobias, an Iowa freshman from Winslow, posted PRs in two events and missed a third PR by a fraction at the Big Ten Invite #1 at Billy Hayes Track and Field Complex at Indiana University in Bloomington.

She placed second in the high hurdles in 13.58, second in the long jump at 19-11 and even ran a fast 200, clocking 24.70.

Competing in a number of events at a high level at one meet isn’t new for Tobias, who’s an accomplished multi-event competitor. She placed 5th in the Big Ten pentathlon in February. She hasn’t competed in a heptathlon yet as a collegian but she scored 4,672 when she won the 2018 AAU National Club Championship in Kissimmee, Fla. 

Let’s take a look at each of Tobias’s performances at Indiana:

100-METER HURDLES

Tobias placed second to teammate Jenny Kimbro, who ran 13.46. Tobias’s previous PR was a 13.99 at the 2019 state Group 2 meet at Central Regional. Kembro is the school record holder in the heptathlon and an honorable mention All-American in 2019.

Tobias’s hurdles time is No. 6 in Iowa history and No. 11 in NCAA Division 1 so far this year among freshmen. Kimbro and Tobias currently rank No. 1 and 2 in the Big Ten Conference.

LONG JUMP

Tobias soared 19-11 in the long jump, placing second to Indiana’s Leah Moran, who jumped 20-7 1/4.

She missed her lifetime PR of 19-11 1/2 – from the 2018 state meet at Central Regional – by half an inch, but her mark is No. 7 in Iowa history, No. 7 among NCAA freshmen this year and No. 3 this year in the Big Ten, behind Penn State senior Madeline Holmberg (20-10 1/2) and Moran.

200-METER DASH

Tobias never ran a 200 in high school, but she ran 24.70 Saturday, No. 9 this year in the Big Ten so far.

In the same race, former high school teammate Shakira Dancy ran a PR of 24.30 in her first outdoor college race. Dancy placed fourth.

Moorestown graduate Brandon Outlaw, a Virginia junior, ran a 400 PR of 46.35 at this weekend’s Raleigh Relays at Paul Derr Track, placing a close second to teammate Jordan Willis, who ran 46.10.

His time is No. 5 in Virginia history.

Outlaw’s previous collegiate PR was a 46.53 indoors at last year’s ACC Championships at Notre Dame on an over-sized track. His previous legal PR was a 46.69 indoors at Clemson last month It was his first outdoor 400 since the ACC Championships on his home track in Charlottesville in May of 2019. His previous outdoor PR was a 46.82 at the 2017 Group 3 sectionals at Bernards. His college outdoor PR was a 47.27 at 2019 ACCs.

Willis and Outlaw rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the ACC this year. They’re also No. 13 and No. 14 in all of NCAA Division 1. They also rank No. 30 and No. 40 in the world on the latest IAAF list and No. 12 and 13 on the U.S. list.

Outlaw also ran a personal-best wind-legal 200 of 21.62. He ran a 21.22 last week in Charlottesville with a 3.7 wind. His previous wind-legal 200 PR was a 21.79 at the Miami Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables in May of 2018.

Bryanna Craig, who won the 2019 national scholastic heptathlon title for Millville and also set the national freshman record, PR’d Saturday and Sunday in her first heptathlon since moving to Texas.

Craig, now a junior at Coronado High School, scored 5,117 points to win the two-day, seven-event test at the NSAF USA Meet of Champions at Doug Shaw Stadium in Myrtle Beach, N.C.

That’s the No. 36 score in U.S. scholastic history and No. 8 in Texas high school track history. It’s the best score by a Texas high school girl in six years, since Kaylee Hinton of Rockwall High School scored 5,245 points at the 2015 USATF Junior Nationals in Eugene, Ore.

Craig’s family moved last year to Texas, where her father – legendary Millville athlete Raffael Craig – is now coaching at Texas Tech in Lubbock.

The U.S. team for the 2021 IAAF Junior Pan Am Games in Cali, Colombia, in September will be determined by the top two scores among eligible U.S. Under-20 athletes through June 13.

It’s very early in the season, but with her 5,117, Craig has the highest score in the world so far this year in the Under-20 age group, moving ahead of Ana Paula Arguello of Paraguay, who scored 4,798 in a meet earlier this month in Ibagué, Columbia.

Her previous heptathlon PR was 5,049 points from the 2019 USATF Under-20 Championships in Miramar, Fla.

Her score is No. 10 overall among U.S. women this spring as well and No. 18 in the world in the early going.

Craig opened with a 14.50 in the high hurdles, scoring 909 points and taking a lead she would never relinquish. That’s just 1-100th of a second off her PR of 14.49, which she set in her heptathlon at the USATF Under 20’s in 2019.

She jumped 5-5 3/4 in the high jump for 818 points and after two events had over a 200-point lead. Next up was the shot put, where she added 503 points with a 31-6.

She ran 25.47 in the 200 for 844 points, missing her PR of 25.24 from USATF juniors by about a quarter of a second, then PR’d in the long jump with an 18-8 1/2 for 759 more points. Her previous long jump PR was an 18-5 1/2 from the 2019 Rowan Open in Glassboro, where she placed second to Tionna Tobias.

Craig finished with a 108-7 in the javelin for 536 points and a 2:25.69 in the 800 for 748 points.

This will be Craig’s last multi-event test until the Texas Greatest Athlete heptathlon in early June at St. Mark’s School in Dallas.

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Here is the all-time U.S. heptathlon list, with every girl in United States high school history to score 5,000 points.

I compiled this list in 2019 from various sources – Track and Field News annual lists, the USATF web site, old copies of Jack Shepard’s U.S. High School Track Annual and the MileSplit database.

ALL-TIME H.S. GIRLS 5,000-POINT CLUB
5,798 … Anna Hall, Valor Christian [Highlands Ranch, Colo.], 2018
5,578 … *Kendell Williams [Kell, Marietta, Ga.], 2012
5,577 … Emma Fitzgerald [Thayer, Braintree, Mass.], 2016
5,533 … Shana Woods [Poly, Long Beach, Calif.], 2006
5,523 … Sterling Lester [Marietta, Ga.], 2018
5,522 … Ryann Krais [Methacton, Norristown, Pa.], 2008
5,466 … Ashlee Moore [Hamilton, Chandler, Ariz.], 2014
5,412 … Kendra Reimer [New Braunfels, Texas], 1998
5,411 … Gayle Hunter [North, Riverside, Cailf., 2004
5,365 … *Diana Pickler [Rowlett, Texas], 2001
5,363 … Shaina Burns [South, Lakeville, Minn.], 2014
5,357 … Lauren Reimer [New Braunfels, Texas], 2001
5,338 … Julie Pickler [Rowlett, Texas], 2002
5,337 … *Tyra Gittens’ [Ensworth, Nashville, Tenn.], 2016
5,333 … Lauren Stewart [Brentwood, Tenn.], 2005
5,300 … *Alex Gochenour [Magnolia, Logan, Iowa], 2010
5,286 … *Jacquelyn Johnson [Yuma, Az.], 2002
5,270 … Ashley Smith [Millikan, Long Beach, Calif.], 2010
5,270 … Erica Bougard [Attendance Center, Byhalia, Miss.], 2011
5,266 … Shevell Quinley [West, Tracy, Calif.], 2005
5,258 … Tiana Bonds [Centennial, Las Vegas], 2014
5,251 … *Beatričė Juškevičiūtė’ (IMG, Bradenton, Florida), 2018
5,245 … Kaylee Hinton, Wylie, Texas], 2015
5,237 … Sharon Hatfield [Fountain Valley, Calif.], 1982
5,231 … Kelly Blair [Proser, Wash.], 1988
5,217 … Kendall Gustafson [Pal, Pacific Palisades, Calif.], 2013
5,198 … Jodi Anderson [New Braunfels, Texas], 1998
5,197 … Whitney Fountain [Columbus, Bronx, N.Y.], 200
5,185 … Lindsay Vollmer [Penny, Hamilton, Mo.], 2011
5,184 … Lauren Leaverton [Naaman Forest, Garland, Texas], 1998
5,170 … Camille Harding [Kamiakin, Kennewick, Wash.], 1983
5,163 … Peggy Odita [Upper Arlington, Ohio], 1986
5,158 … *Alexa Harmon-Thomas [Free, Lawrence, Kansas], 2013
5,149 … **Tierra Crockrell [Calabasas, Calif.], 2017
5,130 … *Caice Lanovaz [Los Gatos, Calif.], 2015
5,127 … Hillary Werth [Glenwood, Chatam, Ill.], 2004
5,117 … *Bryanna Craig [Coranado, Texas], 2021
5,115 … *Ashley Bethel [Mission Viejo, Calif.], 1997
5,114 … Kerry O’Bric [Edison, Huntington Beach, Calif.], 1996
5,113 … *Shauna Rohbock [Mountain View, Orem, Utah], 1994
5,104 … Ellannee Richardson [Gladstone, Ore.], 1998
5,101 … Pam Connell [Norwell, Mass.], 1986
5,101 … **Annika Williams, College Station, Texas, 2017
5,098 … Allie Jones [San Marcos, Santa Barbara, Calif.], 2018
5,094 … ***Bryanna Craig [Millville], 2019
5,090 … Megan Franza [Cascade, Leavenworth, Wash.], 1996
5,089 … Debbie DeCosta [Palmetto, Miami, Fla.], 1982
5,087 … Jamie Walker [Paschal, Fort Worth, Texas], 1999
5,086 … Melissa Flandera [Magnificat, Rocky River, Ohio], 1993
5,084 … Debra Larsen [Weatherwax, Aberdeen, Wash.], 1982
5,074 … Gea Johnson [Washington, Phoenix, Ariz.], 1986
5,074 … Karli Johonnot [Centennial, Las Vegas, Nev.], 2011
5,071 … Aaron Howell [Farmington, Mich.], 2012, 2013
5,069 … Lyndsey Lopes [Edison, Fresno, Calif, 2015
5,029 … **Gabby Williams [Reed, Sparks, Nev.], 2012
5,109 … Allison Reaser [El Segundo, Calif.], 2010
5,108 … Jessica Flax [Pearland, Texas], 2008
5,053 … *Shakeia Pinnick [Waubonsie, Aurora, ill.], 2008
5,038 … **Shannon Meyer [Sultana, Hesperia, Calif.], 2000
5,034 … Nicolette Chambers [Hillhouse, Conn.], 1999
5,031 … Tiffany Lott [Pine View, St. George, Utah], 1993
5,029 … Gabby Williams [Reed, Sparks, Nev.], 2012
5,014 … Timara Chapman, Leesville Road, Raleigh, N.C.], 2018
5,012 … Alyssa Miller [McKinney Boyd, McKinney, Texas], 2018
5,007 … Evette Lyman [Glades Central, Belle Glade, Fla.], 1986
5,002 … Alyssa Thompson (Salpoint, Tucson, Ariz.], 2013
5,000 … Shelley Spires [St. Paul’s, Mobile, Ala.], 2014

Kingsway’s Allie Pierontoni continued her terrific freshman year at Monmouth Saturday when she ran the 5th-fastest 5,000 in Monmouth history.

Pierontoni, in her second collegiate track race, ran 17:40.98 at the Lafayette Open in Easton, Pa. She finished second to senior teammate Mackenzie Jones, who ran 17:32.02. Competing for Delaware, Jones ran 17:09.81 indoors two years ago at the Armory.

As for Pierontoni, she had only run one previous track 5,000, and that was as a Kingsway freshman, when she clocked 19:18.80 at the Rowan Open and placed second to teammate Alexis Mullarkey.

Pierontoni broke the Monmouth freshman class record of 18:03.98, set in 2007 by Meredith Malloy in a meet at Moravian University in Bethlehem.

Her time is fastest by any Monmouth runner for 5,000 meters in eight years, since Kelsey Maher from Jackson Memorial ran 17:33.86 at the 2013 Monmouth Season Opener in West Long Branch.

Here’s a look at Monmouth’s new all-time top-5:

• • 17:06.46 … Jennifer Nelson [Barnegat], 2012 [NEC Championships, Emmitsburg, Md.]
  • 17:28.94 … Maggie Hanlon [Toms River North], 2007 [Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic, Lewisburg, Pa.]
  • 17:29.23 … Katina Alexander [Pleasantville], 2006 [Stanford Invitational, Palo Alto, Calif.]
  • 17:33.86 … Kelsey Maher [Jackson Memorial], 2013 [Monmouth Season Opener, West Long Brancch]
  • 17:40.98 … Allie Pierontoni [Kingsway], 2021 [Lafayette Open]

Pierontoni’s time is No. 3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference so far this year, behind Manhattan freshman Andria Scaglione [17:22.59] and Jones.

Last weekend, Pierontoni ran 4:42.56 for 1,500 meters. Earlier this month, she placed 6th in the MAAC XC Championships.

In her first javelin competition in two years, Hammonton graduate Alexa Gardner, a sophomore at Rutgers, threw a personal-best 152-7 Saturday at the Maryland B1G Invite at Kehoe Track and Field Complex in College Park.

Gardner actually PR’d three times in the competition.

She  placed second to Penn State junior Madison Smith, who threw 165-7.

Gardner had a strong series, with three throws over 150 feet. She opened with a 137-10 before a personal-best 152-1 on her second attempt and then a 144-0. After a PR 152-2 on her first throw of the finals, she hit 142-8 on her fifth throw before popping the 152-7 on her final attempt.

Her previous PR was a 146-3 at the 2019 Metropolitan Championships at A.P. Randolph in New York. She last competed in the javelin at the 2019 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City in May of 2019.

Gardner’s throw is No. 5 in the Big 10 Conference so far this year. She’s the third South Jersey girl to hit 150 feet in the javelin already this spring. Brielle Smith of Oakcrest threw 157-5 for Stanford last weekend and RV graduate Danielle Staff of Monmouth hit 151-5 at Army last weekend. 

At Hammonton, Gardner had a best of 142-1, when she won the 2017 state Group 3 title at Northern Burlington.

Collingswood senior Josh Forrest made his way to North Carolina on Saturday to find a fast 3,200, and he wound up with a PR.

Forrest placed 6th of 246 runners in the New Balance Dash for Doobie 3200 at Ronald Reagan High School in Winston-Salem with a time of 9:21.22.

His previous PR was a 9:25.32 over a full two-miles at adidas Indoors last month in Virginia Beach. His 3200 time Saturday is equal to a 9:24.48 for two miles.

Forrest’s time is No. 1 in New Jersey in the early going this outdoor season and a school record. There wasn’t an outdoor season in 2020 and according to the MileSplit database, Forrest didn’t run outdoor track in 2019, and as a freshman in 2018 he only ran the 1,600, so this actually looks like his first outdoor 3,200 ever, if that’s possible.

Forrest ran 16:46 at Holmdel this past fall and 4:20.74 last week at Cherokee.

After a nearly two-year wait, Micah Wood finally got to run an intermediate hurdles race, and the result was victory and a big PR.

Wood, a 2019 Rancocas Valley graduate and now a Monmouth freshman, raced his first outdoor intermediates race as a collegian Saturday at Lafayette and won in 53.78.

That’s a giant PR of nearly two seconds for Wood. His previous PR was a 55.49 at the 2019 state Group 4 meet at Franklin Township High. This was his first 400IH race since the 2019 Meet of Champions a week later at Northern Burlington – 22 months ago.

Wood competed indoors for Monmouth last year – he ran a big 800 PR of 1:53.46 in a meet at Boston in January of 2020 – but Monmouth did not compete outdoors last year or indoors this past winter. 

On Saturday, Wood found himself in a two-person intermediates race at the Lafayette Open in Easton, Pa. The only other entrant, a Lehigh runner, ran just under 58, so Wood ran solo, which in the intermediates is not necessarily a bad thing. 

His time just misses the all-time Monmouth top-10 but isn’t far off. Some familiar names on that list for South Jersey track fans, including 2008 Egg Harbor graduate Stevenson Cajuste and 1992 Shawnee grad Jim Angermeier. The school’s freshman record of 52.58 was set by Chris Rutherford of Toms River East in 2009.

Wood also ran the third leg on Monmouth’s 1,600-meter relay team, which won in 3:16.05.

Monmouth’s other freshman from Rancocas Valley, Ian Moore, also PR’d at Lafayette. Moore, who ran 1:52.76 for Monmouth indoors last year, ran his first collegiate 1,500 and placed second in a field of 22 runners in 4:02.20, finishing behind only Bishop Eustace’s Connor Melko, a Lehigh sophomore.

Melko ran 3:59.66, but Moore’s time converts to 4:21.58 for a full mile (or 4:20.05 for 1,600 meters) and is a PR and an equivalent PR. He ran 4:23.33 indoors last year for a full mile.

We wrote about Melko last week after he ran a 3:52.88 at Lehigh. You can read that here.

Rider’s Richie Castañeda, a freshman from Camden Catholic, posted a monster 1,500 PR Saturday in the Penn Challenge at Franklin Field.

Castañeda’s time is No. 9 in Rider history and No. 3 among South Jersey high school graduates, behind Terrance Armstrong of Camden [3:46.02 in 1995] and Ron Brock of Riverside [3:50.95 in 1996].

The 3:53.41 ranks Castañeda 4th in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the early going this spring.

This was Castañeda’s first outdoor college race on the track, his first collegiate 1,500, his first race of any kind since 2020 IC4As in early March last spring in Boston and his first outdoor race since he ran a 1:57.81 800 PR at the Cherokee Night of Racing in June of 2019.

The fastest freshman 1,500 I could find by a Rider runner going back to 2008 was a 3:55.86 in 2008 by Christian Gonzalez from Franklin High School. Since nobody on the Rider all-time top-10 is listed as having run faster than 3:53.41 between Brock’s 3:50.95 in 1996 and Gonzalez’s school-record 3:42.92 in 2010, that means Castañeda’s time is fastest by a Rider freshman since at least 1996.

Most schools do keep freshman class records. If anybody knows Rider’s freshman 1,500 record, let me know!

What a race!!!

In his first discus competition for Rutgers, Collingswood High School graduae Adam Hunt won the event at the Maryland Invitational Saturday with a huge personal best and the No. 4 mark in Rutgers history.

Hunt threw 174-7 on his sixth and final throw, winning by 10 inches over Penn State’s Thomas Bojalad, who threw 173-9.

Hunt threw 162-9, 163-3 and 156-6 in the trials but then bombed the three best throws of his life, PR’ing on three straight throws with 170-0, 170-10 and then the 174-7.

In his first outdoor meet wearing a Scarlet Knights uniform, Hunt moved into the No. 4 spot in school history.

After a year at Gloucester County College, Hunt competed indoors the last two years, focusing on the shot and weight throw, with PRs of 57-8 1/2 in the weight throw and 55-2 1/4 in the shot.

But the discus is his best event and he got to throw the plate Saturday for the first time since May 11, 2019, when he won the JUCO national title for Gloucester County College with a 145-3 throw at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, N.Y.

Hunt’s previous discus PR with the college/open implement was 165-0 from the Stockton Invitational in Galloway Township in April of 2019. 

Hunt’s 174-7 puts him at No. 4 in Rutgers history, according to Rutgers’ on-line fact book. He trails James Plummer of Central Regional (205-11 in 2013), Sam Segond (199-8 in 2005) and John Mooers of Middle Township (185-2 in 2019).

At Collingswood, Hunt had PRs of 184-4 with the high school discus and 49-1 in the shot. He placed second in the 2017 Meet of Champions to Jordan West of Rahwah, who now throws for Tennessee and PR’d Thursday with a 177-1 at the Florida State Relays.

The high school discus weighs 1.6 kilograms, and the college and international disc weighs 2 kilograms.