Rowan’s Amara Conte, Jah’mere Beasley, Justin Bishop and Francis Terry teamed up Saturday to run the fastest 4-by-4 in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Racing in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at Franklin Field, Rowan ran 3:12.35, finishing just behind Penn [3:12.16] and beating Division 1 schools St. Joe’s [3:15.63] and Villanova [3:17.34].

After Conte opened with a 49.01, Beasley split 48.20 and Bishop 47.06 to set up Terry’s 48.09 anchor leg.

Conte is a freshman from Ferris High in Jersey City, but there three other legs are from South Jersey – Beasley is a sophomore from Sterling, Bishop a senior from Mainland Regional and Terry a senior, also from Sterling.

Rowan’s previous-best time this spring was a 3:15.86 in a meet at West Chester University earlier this month with a lineup that included Terry leading off along with junior Hunter Barbieri of Egg Harbor Township, Conte and Vincent Delle of Old Bridge.

That time is No. 6 in Division 3 so far this year, and another Rowan 4-by-4 – 3:16.53 in Glassboro two weeks ago – is No. 9. That team included Barbieri, Conte, Bishop and Terry.

With their 3:12.35, the Profs knocked Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio, out of the top spot on the 2021 NCAA Division 3 list. Mount Union ran 3:13.43 at a meet at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.

Rowan’s time is just over two seconds off the school record of 3:10.10 set by Deptford’s Tommy Adams and Overbrook’s Ronald Moore along with Keith Thomas and Willie Lawson in 1985 when the school was known as Glassboro State. That quartet went on to win the NCAA Division 3 title in Granville, Ohio, in 3:11.57.

One thing about that 1985 team: I can’t for the life of me figure out where the Profs ran that 3:10.10 (and I covered them for the Gloucester County Times!). If you were on that team or remember the race, let me know! 

After a brief stay at Towson, Elisia Lancaster has resurfaced at Southern Illinois and has taken her track career to another level.

Lancaster, a Delsea graduate, began her collegiate career at Indiana State but it appears she never competed for the Sycamores.

She returned to South Jersey and was a six-time JUCO national champion in the discus, hammer and shot put competing for Rowan College-Gloucester County. The school’s web site doesn’t list any school records, but it looks like her best marks while at Rowan-GC were 182-2 in the hammer, 43-5 1/4 in the shot and 126-4 in the discus.

Lancaster spent the 2020 winter season at Towson and threw 41-4 in the shot and 64-9 in the weight throw, which is No. 6 in school history. She never competed outdoors for Towson.

Lancaster re-emerged at Southern Illinois this year and indoors she threw 64-7 3/4 in the weight throw, just off her Towson PR, and placed second in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She even competed in a meet at Indiana State in Terre Haute, where she began her collegiate career four years earlier.

This spring, Lancaster has finally gotten the opportunity to throw the hammer for the first time since the spring of 2019.

That 182-2 PR?

She blew it away in her first meet, throwing 188-0 in a home meet in Carbondale in March, then bombed a 199-0 throw a week later in a meet at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. She has since thrown 194-9, 194-8 and 197-10 in her last three meets.

Her 199-0 is No. 9 in school history.

Lancaster’s 199-0 is No. 2 in the Missouri Valley Conference, behind All-America teammate Shauniece O’Neal, who threw 211-2 last month.

Lancaster, a 2016 graduate of Delsea, had PRs of 39-8 in the shot and 124-5 in the discus for the Crusaders. She was a state medalist in the shot and a sectional medalist in the discus.

Southern Illinois has a long tradition as one of the top throwing programs in the country. Among the notable graduates are 2016 Olympic hammer thrower DeAnna Price and NCAA javelin champ Bob Roggy, a graduate of Holmdel High School and the former American record holder in the old javelin.

In her first outdoor collegiate race, Pennsville graduate Arianna Smith won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the Princeton Invitational Sunday.

Smith ran 1:02.88 despite being the only runner in the race. The cutoff for Princeton’s all-time top-10 is 1:02.07, so in her very first collegiate 400IH race she ran less than a second off the all-time school performance list.

https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/2012/5/10/205425944.aspx?id=618

Smith had not competed outdoors since June of 2019, when she placed 8th at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. A week earlier she won the Meet of Champions with a PR 1:00.13 at Northern Burlington, No. 5 in South Jersey history.

Big day for Bloomfield junior MarQuel Davis from Deptford High at the New Jersey Relays in Jersey City.

Davis easily won the 100-meter dash with a wind-legal 10.84 – second place was 11.19 – after an 11.03 in the trials.

That’s Davis’s second-fastest 100 race ever and his fastest since he won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference title with a 10.69 in Lakewood back in May of 2019.

It’s also fastest ion the CACC so far this year and the only time under 11 seconds.

This was actually his first open 100 since that race.

Davis has a 200 PR of 21.58 but hasn’t run one yet this spring.

Another Deptford athlete, senior Ja’haud Lowber, won the long jump with a personal-best 22-1 3/4 (no wind info listed) and also took second in the triple jump at 44-3 1/4. He’s gone as far as 47-2 1/2.

Also for Bloomfield, Willingboro grad Tyler Davidson, a senior, won the intermediate hurdles at 57.98.

Davis also anchored Bloomfield’s winning 400-meter relay team [43.04] and ran on the 2nd-place 800-meter relay team along with senior Samuel Keleekai of Rancocas Valley. Keleekai, Davis and Davidson all ran on Bloomfield’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:27.04.

Davidson and Rancocas Valley graduate Vincent Brown ran on Bloomfield’s 3,200-meter relay team [8:18.80], Brown and Rancocas Valley’s Isaiah Curbelo ran on the sprint medley and Brown ran on the DMR.

Bloomfield’s connection to South Jersey is assistant coach Jerome Robinson, the 1986 state Group 1 high jump champion for Bordentown.

Alanna Woolfolk has a pretty loaded resume from age-group track, filled with regional and national titles over the last few years.

So her performance in her first major high school meet shouldn’t have come as a shock.

But still, a freshman clearing 5-6 is always impressive.

Woolfolk, a Delsea freshman, won the high jump at the Cherokee Pow Wow #1 in Marlton Saturday in her first outdoor high school meet.

Woolfolk competed in a few indoor meets but only in the hurdles and sprints, and her high school high jump debut puts her into the all-time South Jersey top-30 and is No. 2 in Delsea history, behind Brianna Hunt, who cleared 5-8 at the Rowan Open in the spring of 2010.

She’s the fifth South Jersey freshman to clear 5-6 or better. The South Jersey freshman class record is 5-10, set by Timber Creek’s Tierra Hooker at the 2017 Meet of Champions. Bryanna Craig of Millville cleared 5-8 as part of her heptathlon at the 2019 USATF Under-20 Championships in Miramar, Fla.

Her 5-6 clearance equals the No. 5 clearance in Gloucester County history. She’s the first Gloucester County girl over the bar at 5-6 since Megan Kirschling of West Deptford nine years ago. 

5-10 ½ ….. Megan Kirschling [West Deptford], 2012
5-8 ………. Misty Farrell [Washington Twp.], 1995
5-8 ………. Brooke Minor [Kingsway], 2001
5-8 ………. Brianna Hunt [Delsea], 2010
5-6 ………. Megan Kustera [West Deptford], 2010
5-6 ………. Alanna Woolfolk [Delsea], 2021

Timber Creek senior Tatina Carr, who came into the meet with a 5-0 PR, cleared 5-4 for second place.

Another Delsea freshman, Zianna Johnson-Slater, won the shot put at 36-9 1/2. That’s the top throw by a Gloucester freshman since Lavon Childress of Paulsboro threw 38-5 in 2008.

Rancocas Valley opened the outdoor season Saturday with a couple hot sprint relay performances at the Metuchen Relays.

The Red Devils ran state-leading marks of 43.13 in the 400-meter relay and 1:30.38 in the 800-meter relay, winning both events in the morning large-school division.

Junior Masai Byrd, senior Isaiah Arzu, junior Herbert Quarterman and senior James McGhee ran on the 4-by-100 team and Arzu, junior David Murry, Byrd and McGhee ran on the 4-by-200.

Both relay times are R.V.’s fastest since 2017.

Red Devils ran 42.12 at the 2017 state Group 4 meet and 1:29.11 at New Balance Nationals in Greensboro.

School records are 42.03 and 1:28.23, both from 2015. The Red Devils ran the 42.03 when they won the 4×1 at the Meet of Champions in South Plainfield and they ran 1:28.23 in the Group 4 race at the Woodbury Relays, when they finished just behind Williamstown’s 1:27.96.

Earlier today, I posted how Monmouth’s Montel Johnson and Jude Misko of Rutgers-Camden were racing to the 200-foot barrier in the hammer.

Johnson, a 2017 graduate of Bishop Eustace, brought a hammer PR of 192-11 into Saturday’s meet at Bucknell and Misko, a 2015 graduate of Cherry Hill East, had a PR of 195-4 going into Misko’s meet in Philly.

Johnson competed first, throwing a PR 197-7 in a meet at Lewisburg, Pa., but a few hours later Misko eclipsed him, surpassing 200 feet for the first time. 

Misko, a senior at Rutgers-Camden, threw 200-9 to win the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at the Mondschein throwing area outside Franklin Field.

Misko fouled on his first two throws before hitting exactly 197-7 – tying Johnson’s best throw from earlier in the day – before the 200-9 bomb on his fourth attempt. He finished with a 197-11 and a 195-3.

So he came into the day with a PR of 195-4 and then averaged 197-10 on his four legal throws.

Misko’s previous PR was 195-4 from a meet at Stockton earlier this month, so he had the three biggest throws of his life on Saturday in West Philly.

Misko’s throw is No. 1 in NCAA Division 3, two inches farther than Alex Kristeller of Widener, who threw 200-7 at a meet in Chester last weekend.

Another race, another monster PR for Buena High School graduate Kristin Siegle, who’s having a terrific senior year for Rider.

Siegle trimmed another 3 1/2 seconds off her week-old 1,500 PR Saturday with a remarkable performance at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at Franklin Field.

Siegle ran 4:25.33, shattering https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/rider.sidearmsports.com/documents/2019/8/14/All_Time_Top_10_Outdoor_Women.pdf

, which she set on Sunday in a meet at Monmouth. Seven days ago, her 1,500 PR was 4:39.94 from the 2019 Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.

She’s now reduced that by an incredible 14 1/2 seconds in the span of just two races.

Her time is the equivalent to a 4:44.88 for 1,600 meters or 4:46.56 for a full mile.

Temple senior Grace Moore won the race in 4:19.56 and Delaware grad student Holly Manning, a New Zealand native and Stony Brook transfer, was second in 4:23.54. Both also PR’d.

Siegle’s time is No. 2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, behind only Iona junior Gemma Nuttall, who ran 4:23.68 earlier this month in Providence.

Siegle, a native of Estell Manor, ran 2:20.03 for 800 meters and 5:15.98 for 1,600 meters in high school.  So she’s now lowered her mile equivalent time about half a minute since arriving in Lawrenceville.

Bishop Eustace graduate Montel Johnson, a junior at Monmouth, shattered the South Jersey alumni record in the hammer throw Saturday with a 197-7 bomb in a meet at Lehigh.

Johnson, a Gibbsboro native, placed first in the Lehigh Carol & John Covert Classic in Bethlehem. His series is not listed in the official results.

The previous best throw by a South Jersey native was recorded just a few weeks ago when Jude Misko, a Cherry Hill East graduate and a senior at Rutgers-Camden, threw 195-5 in a meet at Stockton University in Galloway.

Johnson’s previous PR was a 192-11 last month at a meet at Lafayette. He and Misko are both vying to become the first 200-foot hammer thrower in South Jersey history.

Johnson’s 197-7 is the No. 1 throw in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this year and No. 6 in Monmouth history, the best throw by a Monmouth athlete in five years.

Johnson was a sectional champ in the discus at Cherry Hill East with a PR of 157-5 and he threw the shot 50-1. He first threw the hammer as a freshman at Monmouth, reaching 161-11 in 2018. He threw 190-4 as a sophomore in 2019 before a two-year layoff. He’s now PR’d twice in his last four meets.

The Sharpe sisters, now competing for Clayton, opened the spring season with some fast 400-meter dashes.

Seniors Amirah Sharpe ran 55.16, Arianna Sharpe ran 57.47 and Ariel Sharpe 58.97 at the Metuchen Relays Saturday.

Amirah’s time is No. 16 in South Jersey history and 3rd-fastest ever by a Gloucester County runner, behind Dana Burnett of Williamstown [53.51 in 1996] and Audrey Wilson of Deptford [54.62 in 2008].  

It’s also the 2nd-fastest ever by a runner from a New Jersey Group 1 school, behind only a 54.75 by Faleesha Dowe of Pennsauken Grove at the 2014 state meet in South Plainfield.

Amirah Sharpe’s previous PR was an indoor 56.84 last month in Virginia Beach and her outdoor PR was 58.15 from Group 1 states in 2019.

All three Sharpe sisters attended Paulsboro High School through at least last spring. They competed unattached at various winter meets and their performances were credited to Paulsboro High School, alma mater of their father Fred Sharpe, star of the 1997 Meet of Champions. They may however have been attending Clayton at that point.

In any case, Arianna Sharpe lowered her PR from 57.62, which she ran in the spring of 2018 at the state Group 1 meet at Washington Township, and Ariel Sharpe lowered her PR from 1:00.42, which she ran in the spring of 2018 in a meet at Pennsauken.

Julia Jackson of Scotch-Plains won the race in 54.98. Another Clayton girl, Erica Thomas, ran 68.41, so the Clippers have the legs to go sub-4:00 in a 4-by-4. Paulsboro ran 3:55.54 in 2018 with the Sharpe sisters and Christina Franks.

It looks like Clayton’s previous school record was a 57.98 by Jewel Brown when she was second to Brianna Crofton of Delsea at the 2011 Gloucester County Championships at Delsea. Now that’s No. 3.