Five laps into her 3,200 Friday night at Cherokee, Collingswood senior Sophie Steidle was averaging 83.6 seconds per lap and on pace for a time of 11:08.

That would have been a big PR but well short of the sub-11 she was hoping for at Cherokee’s Night of 3200s.

Then she picked up the pace. Big-time.

Steidle ran her 6th lap in 81.30 and then closed in 79.35 and 80.30 for about a 4:01 final 1,200, getting her under 11 minutes with what turned out to be the 3rd-fastest time at Cherokee Friday night and 2nd-fastest among South Jersey girls.

Steidle stopped the clock at 10:58.83, becoming the first Collingswood girl ever to run sub-11 for the 3,200 or two-mile.

Although they all ran in different sections, Lily Shapiro of Colts Neck (10:18.36), Haddonfield’s Sarah Naticchia (10:43.48), Lindsay Hausman of Kent Place School in Summit (10:58.89) and Steidle ran the four-fastest times in the state so far this year.

Steidle’s 1,600 PR is 5:15.11 from last year’s indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze, and her outdoor PR is 5:17.77 from the 2019 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township, so her second 1,600 on Friday night, which she ran in 5:26.17, was only 11 seconds off her PR.

Steidle was the state Group 2 champ at 1,600 meters in the winter of 2020. She ran that race at 80 seconds per lap and averaged 82.4 on Friday for a race that’s twice the distance. 

Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-11-minute list. Naticchia is now No. 20 in South Jersey and Steidle is No. 38.

For the complete all-time South Jersey top-50, click here.

10:12.8h ….. Michelle Rowen (Washington Twp.], 1983
10:19.31 … Chelsea Ley (Kingsway], 2009
10:22.02 … Megan Lacy (Cherokee], 2012
10:27.44 … Alyssa Aldridge (Mainland Reg.], 2017
10:28.6h….. Erin Donohue (Haddonfield], 2001
10:29.28 … Rachel Vick (Kingsway], 2017
10:30.57 … Dina Iacone (Washington Twp.], 2012
10:32.4h….. Mindy Rowand (Sterling], 1985
10:33.22 … Holly Bischof (Bishop Eustace], 2012
10:33.25 … Megan Venables (Highland], 2011
10:34.79 … Theresa Cattuna (Cherry Hill East], 2007
10:35.59 … Amanda Goetschius (Delsea], 2007
10:37.47 … Meghan McGlinchey (West Depford], 2009
10:37.53 … Vanessa Wright (Haddonfield], 2005
10:39.15 … Devon Grisbaum (Ocean City], 2015
10:40.24 … Katie Van Horn (Triton], 2005
10:40.95 … Erika Kemp (Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:42.22 … Jenn Rawls (Highland], 2009
10:43.3h….. Deanna Germano (Shawnee], 1985
10:43.48 … Sarah Naticchia (Haddonfield], 2019
10:43.50 … Alyssa Condell [Timber Creek], 2017
10:44.23 … Brittany Sedberry (Ocean City], 2004
10:45.12 … Briana Gess (Haddonfield], 2014
10:45.40 … Julianna Catania (Egg Harbor Twp.], 2016
10:45.73 … Meghan Hughes [Moorestown], 2002
10:46.38 … Madison Coppolino [Sterling], 2018
10:52.32 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 2009
10:52.75 … Meghan Malloy [Haddonfield], 2013
10:52.9y … Monique Purcell [Holy Spirit], 1978
10:54.0y … Lori Watson [Cherry Hill East], 1983
10:54.05 … Maria Ruiz [Williamstown], 2009
10:54.16 … Lisa Burkholder [Cherokee], 2004
10:55.92 … Isabella Turner [Shawnee], 2018
10:56.34 … Brianna Rogers [Moorestown], 2005
10:56.54 … Arianna McKinney [Highland], 2004
10:57.52 … Mara Schiffhauer [Seneca], 2014
10:58.46 … Doreen Startare [Paul VI], 1978
10:58.83 … Sophie Steidle [Collingswood], 2021
10:58.97 … Megan Quimby [Lenape], 2015
10:59.25 … Pam Adams [Gateway], 1976
10:59.56 … Amanda Bakley [Pennsauken], 2015

Kyle Rakitis ran a 4:28 mile Friday night, which isn’t bad. Especially when you consider that it was the second half of a 3,200.

Rakitis, a Kingsway junior, was the top South Jersey finisher at Cherokee’s Night of 3200s, moving into the all-time South Jersey top-50 with a 9:14.93.

His time is No. 43 in South Jersey history.

Collingswood senior Josh Forrest also made his way onto the all-time South Jersey top-50 in the No. 50 spot with a 9:16.52.

Racing in the 17th and final heat, Rakitis finished just behind Matt Bogdan of Colts Neck, who ran 9:13.74.

His previous PR was a 9:20.45 last month on the same track. His time is No. 5 in Gloucester County history and fastest in 10 years. He eclipsed the school record of 9:16.39 that his former teammate Stone Caraccio set at Holmdel High School’s Night of 3200s in May of 2019.

Here’s a look at the fastest times in Gloucester County history:

9:01.9y … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1979
9:06.2y … Greg Stremmel [Gateway], 1974
9:11.88 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:14.31 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2011
9:14.93 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
9:16.39 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2019
9:19.19 … Nick Costello [Delsea], 2012

The race went out so slow – the lead pack of nine runners all came through in the 4:45-4:46 range – it was hard to imagine the times would be so fast.

But Rakitis is a 1:55 half-miler and finished strong, negative-splitting 4:46.20 and 4:28.73 and closing in 59.4.

Chris DeSousa of Colts Neck [9:15.67], Collingswood’s Forrest [9:16.52] and Rodolfo Sanchez of St. Peter’s in Jersey City [9:17.58] all negative split and ran well under 9:20 and Woodbury senior Brady Shute and Haddonfield junior Tobias Janssen also ran sub-9:25, Shute with a 9:21.93 and Janssen at 9:23.20.

Everybody in the lead group negative split the race. Forrest ran 4:46.04 / 4:30.51 (closing in 2:06.43), Shute ran 4:46.03 / 4:35.91 (closing in 2:12.05) and Janssen 4:46.87 / 4:37.67 (closing in 2:12.28).

Forrest’s previous PR was 9:21.22 last month in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Shute’s was 9:39.55 indoors in the winter of 2020 in the Bubble. Janssen had never run a serious 3,200.

Cherry Hill East senior Aidan Groff and Triton’s Dennis Fortuna also ran sub-9:30 with negative splits, Groff with 4:46.51 / 4:41.61 for 9:28.12 and Triton’s Dennis Fortuna with 4:46.27 / 4:41.99 for 9:28.26. Groff’s previous PR was 9:40.36 at Cherokee last month and Fortuna had never broken 10 before.

The complete all-time South Jersey top-50 (not updated yet) can be found here.

Here’s a look at all the South Jersey runners under 10 minutes Friday at Cherokee:

Kyle Rakitis (Kingsway) 9:14.93
Josh Forrest (Collingswood) 9:16.52 17
Brady Shute (Woodbury) 9:21.93
Tobias Janssen(Haddonfield) 9:23.20
Aidan Groff (Cherry Hill East) 9:28.12
Dennis Fortuna (Triton) 9:28.26
Brett Shea (Cherokee) 9:30.42
John Hurly (Haddonfield) 9:32.85
Caleb Clevenger (Haddonfield) 9:34.07 16
Nick Kuenkel (Cherokee) 9:38.60 16
Gabe Rodriguez (Cherry Hill East) 9:40.88
Cole Kolodziej (Washington Twp.) 9:42.83
Julian Lawson (Washington Twp.) 9:44.96
Michael Henry (Timber Creek) 9:45.63
Sean Eisenhower (Haddonfield) 9:46.23 16
Giancarlo Vega (Timber Creek) 9:46.70
Justin Whitney (Cherry Hill East) 9:48.50
Patrick Ditmars (Cherokee) 9:50.40
Mason Brewster (Washington Twp.) 9:53.96
John Ruona (Shawnee) 9:54.17
Chris Colavita (Washington Twp.) 9:54.37
Dawson Baptiste (Delsea) 9:55.14
Cole Mylan (Timber Creek) 9:59.63

 

 

It was her first major track race in nearly 14 months, and Sarah Naticchia made it an unforgettable one.

Naticchia, who missed the indoor season after a terrific XC season, moved into the all-time South Jersey top-20 with a 10:43.48 Friday at Cherokee’s Night of 3200s.

Naticchia negative-split 5:26.93 and 5:16.55 and closed in 2:34.75 for her final 800.

Her time is No. 20 in South Jersey history and No. 3 in the proud history of Haddonfield’s track program, behind only Olympian Erin Donohue [10:28.6 in 2001] and Vanessa Wright [10:37.53 in 2005].

Naticchia’s previous PR was 10:48.87 at the 2019 state Group 2 championships at Central Regional in Bayville. Other than a 11:42 at a polar bear meet last month, that was her last 3,200.

Naticchia’s time was second-fastest among girls at Cherokee Friday. In a different race, Colts Neck junior Lilly Shapiro ran 10:18.36, No. 10 in state history and the fastest 3,200 or two-mile ever run on South Jersey soil.

Naticchia, who will attend Harvard, ran the fastest time by any South Jersey runner since 2017, when Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge ran 10:27.44 and Kingsway’s Rachel Vick ran 10:29.28.

Here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey sub-10:50 list:

10:12.8h ….. Michelle Rowen (Washington Twp.], 1983
10:19.31 … Chelsea Ley (Kingsway], 2009
10:22.02 … Megan Lacy (Cherokee], 2012
10:27.44 … Alyssa Aldridge (Mainland Reg.], 2017
10:28.6h….. Erin Donohue (Haddonfield], 2001
10:29.28 … Rachel Vick (Kingsway], 2017
10:30.57 … Dina Iacone (Washington Twp.], 2012
10:32.4h….. Mindy Rowand (Sterling], 1985
10:33.22 … Holly Bischof (Bishop Eustace], 2012
10:33.25 … Megan Venables (Highland], 2011
10:34.79 … Theresa Cattuna (Cherry Hill East], 2007
10:35.59 … Amanda Goetschius (Delsea], 2007
10:37.47 … Meghan McGlinchey (West Depford], 2009
10:37.53 … Vanessa Wright (Haddonfield], 2005
10:39.15 … Devon Grisbaum (Ocean City], 2015
10:40.24 … Katie Van Horn (Triton], 2005
10:40.95 … Erika Kemp (Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:42.22 … Jenn Rawls (Highland], 2009
10:43.3h….. Deanna Germano (Shawnee], 1985
10:43.48 … Sarah Naticchia [Haddonfield], 2021
10:43.50 … Alyssa Condell [Timber Creek], 2017
10:44.23 … Brittany Sedberry (Ocean City], 2004
10:45.12 … Briana Gess (Haddonfield], 2014
10:45.40 … Julianna Catania (Egg Harbor Twp.], 2016
10:45.73 … Meghan Hughes [Moorestown], 2002
10:46.38 … Madison Coppolino [Sterling], 2018
10:48.87 … Sarah Naticchia (Haddonfield], 2019

All-America long jumper Zarria Williams of Camden Catholic is off to a fast start to her senior season at Shippensburg.

Williams, who hadn’t competed since February of 2020, popped an 18-9 1/4 at the Shippensburg Mid-Week Meet. That ranks her No. 3 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Williams, a Mount Laurel native, was a two-time NAIA All-America at Ohio Christian in Circleville, Ohio, and is a two-time All-America since transferring to Shippensburg for the 2019 season.

Her PR is a wind-legal 20-0 3/4 at a meet at Shippensburg in April of 2019. She also had a 20-foot even jump at 2019 NCAA Division 2 Championships at Texas A&M Kingsville, when she placed 5th. She’s jumped 19-3 1/4 indoors from the 2020 PSAC Championships in Edinboro, which she won.

Williams competes again on Saturday at the Paul Kaiser Classic at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium.

At Camden Catholic, Williams had a long jump PR of 17-8 from winning the South Jersey Parochial A title in the spring of 2016 at Egg Harbor. She went on to place second at states at 17-7.

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta posted an PR in his second collegiate 800 race.

Moronta, a freshman at Mississippi State, ran 1:52.00 at the https://static.hailstate.com/custompages/stats/tf/2021/ms0410.pdf
at Sam Bailey Stadium at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Moronta’s previous PR was a 1:52.46 indoors at the 2020 Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze, where he edged Old Bridge’s Nicholas Medeiros and Delaware Valley’s Kyle Reers, who also ran sub-1:53.

His previous outdoor PR was 1:54.74 from New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., in the spring of 2019.

Moronta has also run 1:52.66 this spring, at a meet at Auburn, so he’s been well under his outdoor PR in his only two collegiate races. He hadn’t raced since the end of the 2020 indoor season in March of 2020.

Moronta also ran a leg (split not listed in official results) on Mississippi State’s 7:43.74 3,200-meter relay team at the Bulldog Relays last month on MSU’s home track in Starkville.

It took Jordon Floyd one collegiate meet to shatter his long jump PR. It took him one more meet to shatter it again.

Floyd had a long jump PR at Rancocas Valley of 20-8, which he hit at an indoor meet at the Bubble in February of 2020, and an outdoor PR of 19-6 1/2 from 2018 Group 4 sectionals at Washington Township.

RV’s 2020 outdoor season was wiped out, as was Kutztown’s 2021 indoor season, so Floyd is now competing for the first time since March of 2020 and competing outdoors for the first time in two years.

But in his first collegiate long jump competition, the 38th annual Millersville (Pa.) Metrics earlier this month, he jumped an outdoor PR 20-5 1/4 on his first jump, a lifetime-best 20-10 on his fourth jump and another PR of 21-0 3/4 on his sixth jump. All three jumps were wind-legal.

His next meet was the Bill Butler Invitational at West Chester and although his series isn’t available – West Chester’s results don’t list them – he popped at least one more PR, jumping 21-8.

That means he’s now added a foot to his PR in the first month of his college career, and he’s added more than two feet to his outdoor PR.

Floyd has also tripled jumped 43-5 1/4 and high jumped 6-0 3/4 for Kutztown so far this spring. His lifetime best in the triple is 44-7 1/2, again from 2019 Group 4 sectionals, and his high school high jump PR was 6-2, which he hit eight times.

He ranks in the top 10 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in both horizontal jumps.

Prisca Blamon, a Cinnaminson grad, bombed her second shot put PR in a week Sunday at the Monmouth Spring Invitational in Long Branch.

Blamon, a Monmouth junior, threw 45-7 3/4, adding half an inch to her PR of 45-7 1/4 from the previous weekend in a meet at Rider in Lawrenceville.

Before that her PR was 45-1 1/2 from an indoor meet in January of 2020 at Navy in Annapolis, Md., and her outdoor PR was 44-7 1/2 from March of 2019, also at her home track at Monmouth.

Blamon ranks 3rd in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, behind two Manhattan throwers – Alexandra Preckajlo (48-6 1/4) and Lasma Padedze (47-3).

Her 47-7 3/4 ranks 6th in school history and is the best by a Monmouth woman in four years.

Blamon also ranks 6th in the MAAC in the hammer throw (143-11) and 12th in the discus (116-6). 

At Cinnaminson, Prisca had PRs of 38-6 1/4 in the shot and 130-3 in the discus. She also triple jumped 34-11 and was a sectional medalist.

Blamon’s older sister Faith ranks 4th in Monmouth history in the javelin with a throw of 162-7 and placed 13th at the USATF Championships in Sacramento in 2017.

Stockton junior Hunter Daly from Florence hit a high jump PR of 6-6 3/4 at the Bill Butler Invitational at West Chester.

Daly finished second on misses to Earnest Daniel of Rowan, a Kingsway graduate, but it was his first lifetime clearance of 2.0 meters, a significant barrier for high jumpers.

Daly’s previous lifetime best was 6-6 1/4 indoors in a meet at Ocean Breeze in February of 2020. His previous outdoor PR was 6-6, which he achieved twice – at Cortland, N.Y., in May of 2019, Stockton’s last outdoor meet before last month, and also back in the spring of 2017, his senior year at Florence, when he won the Woodbury Relays.

As for Daniel, his PR is 6-8 3/4 from a meet in Orlando in March of 2019. He’s also a 47-foot triple jumper

Daly and Daniel share the No. 14 ranking in NCAA Division 3 and the No. 1 ranking in the NJAC along with Alex White of Penn State Harrisburg, who cleared 6-6 3/4 earlier this month at a different meet in West Chester. White has a 6-8 1/4 PR from the spring of 2018.

Daniel also triple jumped 47 feet at Kingsway and has gone as far as 45-11 1/4 for Rowan. He’s only tripled once this spring, going 44-4 1/4 at West Chester, No. 4 in the conference.

Jewel Ash didn’t quite break 60 seconds in the 400-meter intermediates yet, but she’s knocking on the door.

Ash, an Eastern graduate and a freshman at Charleston Southern, ran a huge personal-best 1:00.01 in the 400IH this past weekend, winning the event at the https://www.flashresults.com/2021_Meets/Outdoor/04-16_GTInvite/029-1.pdf
in Atlanta.

Ash had a PR of 1:01.46 entering college from from the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington. 

She actually tied that exactly last month at a meet in Columbia, S.C., before blowing it away this past weekend.

Ash’s time is No. 2 in school history, behind only Dotrine’ Jacobs, who ran 59.52 at the 2014 Florida Relays.

Her time is No. 16 in NCAA Division 1 among freshmen and No. 1 in the Big South Conference. Ash is also No. 2 in the conference in the 100-meter high hurdles (14.26).

Ash also ran the leadoff leg on Charleston Southern’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:47.59, No. 8 in school history. Her split wasn’t listed in the official results or on Charleston Southern’s web site.

Rancocas Valley’s Ian Moore ran his first sub-1:52 800 Sunday, winning a fast race at the Monmouth Spring Invitational in West Long Branch.

Moore ran 1:51.98, lowering his PR from 1:52.76 indoors at Ocean Breeze in February of 2020. His outdoor PR was 1:53.24 from last week at Rider.

Moore’s high school PR was 1:56.43 from the 2018 South Jersey Invitational at Delsea.

Six runners broke 1:54, and Moore out-raced Fordham’s Zalen Nelson for the win, edging Nelson by two meters. Nelson ran 1:52.52.

Moore ran even splits, out in 55.56 and back in 56.42. 

In the same race, Egg Harbor Township graduate Gobi Thurairajah, a Rider sophomore, ran a massive PR of 1:53.99. His previous best was 1:56.30 earlier this month in a home meet in Lawrenceville.

Thurairajah’s high school PR was a 1:58.05 at the 2019 Cape-Atlantic Championships at Bridgeton.

As for Moore, his time is No. 4 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this year behind Kevin Heredia of Rider [1:51.53], Moore’s Monmouth teammate Louis DiLaurenzio [1:51.61] and Rider’s Tamrat Snyder [1:51.71].

Moore’s time is No. 9 in Monmouth history:

1:47.20 … Dylan Capwell, 2019
1:50.07 … David Gaines, 2007
1:50.0h … Mel Ullmeyer, 1978
1:50.33 … Andrew Langille, 2015
1:50.97 … Chris Marco, 2018
1:51.01 … Ford Palmer, 2013
1:51.59 … Felix Olivo, 1999
1:51.61 … Lou DiLaurenzio, 2021
1:51.98 … Ian Moore, 2021 
1:52.26 … Kris Landers, 2002