Shawnee graduate Amanda Demko, a freshman at The College of New Jersey, had a nice breakthrough race for The College of New Jersey this weekend.

Racing at the Quaker Invite at Franklin Field, Demko ran 57.46, the fastest time so far this spring by any NCAA Division 3 freshman. She bumped Alyssa Pfadenhauer of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, who ran 57.54 earlier this month in a meet at Waverly, Iowa. 

Demko lowered her collegiate PR more than a second, from 58.84 to 57.46. She had run 58.84 at a meet last month at Stockton University. She placed 4th behind three quarter-milers from Temple and Penn.

Her time is No. 8 in NCAA Division 3 this year and No. 1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, ahead of teammate Megan Gasnick, who ran 58.20 in the same race Saturday in West Philly.

Before this weekend, Demko had a lifetime best of 58.66, which she ran twice while attending Shawnee – first at the Rowan Open in May of 2019 and again at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals a few weeks later at Washington Township.

Demko also ran a leg on TCNJ’s 4-by-4 team that ran 3:54.63 at a meet at West Chester University last weekend, the No. 5 time in NCAA Division 3. Splits are not listed on TCNJ’s web site or on the official meet results. Also on that team were Gasnick and Alli Uhl, both from Park Ridge High, and Samantha Gorman (Scotch Plains-Fanwood).

 

Heck of a race Sunday by Monmouth freshman Stone Caraccio, who ran 3:54.32 to place a close second in the 1,500 at the Monmouth Invite in West Long Branch.

Caraccio, a freshman from Kingsway, closed in 59.9 for his final 400 and 2:03.9 for his final 800. He took second to Rider’s Kevin Heredia, who won the race in 3:53.19 with a final-lap 59.3.

Caraccio’s 3:54.32 is the equivalent of a 4:11.59 for 1,600 meters and 4:13.07 for a full mile. His previous 1,500 PR was a 3:56.63 from a meet in West Point, N.Y., last month. His high school 1,600/mile PR was 4:13.46 for 1,600 at Group 4 states at Franklin in 2019 along with a 4:15.35 indoor full mille at the Millrose Games at the Armory, which is a bit slower.

Either way, this is a lifetime best in only his second collegiate 1,500 or mile race. His time is No. 10 so far this year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and No. 5 among freshmen. 

Monmouth’s school record was set by another South Jersey runner, Absegami graduate Ford Palmer, who ran 3:44.90 at the George Mason Spring Invitational in 2013. Palmer went on to run 3:54.92 indoors in Boston in 2017, a South Jersey alumni record and 3rd-fastest ever by a New Jersey native.

Another South Jersey freshman, Camden Catholic graduate Richie Castañeda, a freshman at Rider, placed 5th in 3:55.70, just off his PR of 3:53.41 from Penn last month.

Kristin Siegle, a Rider senior from Buena, continued her hot racing streak Sunday with a massive 1,500 PR and another school record at the Monmouth Spring Invitational in West Long Branch.

Siegle, who raced to a 3-second 800 PR last weekend with a school-record 2:10.83, ran a 6-second 1,500 PR Sunday, crossing the line in 4:28.75.

She broke the school record of 4:28.76, set by Emily Ritter at the 2014 Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton.

Her previous PR was a 4:34.78 earlier this month in a meet at Rider. Before that it was 4:39.94 from a meet in the spring of 2019 at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

That means she’s lowered her 1,500 PR by more than 11 seconds this month.

A 4:28.75 is the equivalent of a 4:48.56 for 1,600 meters or a 4:50.25 full mile. Her mile PR is 4:55.34 from the ECAC Championships indoors in Boston in March of 2020, her last race for a year.

With two laps to go, Siegle, Monmouth’s Katie Locker and Siena’s Morgan Serkes were all together, all coming through 700 meters in 2:09-point. But Siegle closed in 70.8 and 68.6 for a final 800 of 2:19.4 – faster than she ever ran for 800 meters until her junior year at Monmouth.

Locker, a graduate of Elizabethtown (Pa.) Area, finished second with a huge PR of her own at 4:33.89 and Serkes was third at 4:35.02.

Siegle’s time is No. 3 this year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, behind two Iona grad students – Gemma Nuttall [4:23.68] and Kaitlyn Ohrtman [4:26.65].

To get a sense for how much Siegle has improved, her high school PRs were 2:20.03 for 800 meters – she ran that at the state Group 2 meet at South Plainfield in 2015 – and 5:15.98 for 1,600 meters, which she ran at the 2014 Cape-Atlantic Championships at Egg Harbor, when she placed second to Bridget Flynn of Ocean City.

Siegle has now cut her 1,600 equivalent PR nearly half a minute since high school!

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In an earlier version of this story, I had Siegle attending Monmouth. I know she goes to Rider! It was a mistake. I try not to make very many but we all make some, last I checked. I apologize to Kristin and the Rider and Monmouth programs and everybody else in New Jersey! 🤦

Villanova sophomore Ashley Preston, a 2018 Delsea graduate, hit a new pole vault PR Saturday at the Quaker Invite at Franklin Field.

Preston cleared 13-3 3/4 on her second attempt to break her lifetime best of 13-3 1/2, which she cleared winning the 2020 indoor Big East Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Her previous outdoor PR was a 13-2 1/4, which she cleared at the 2019 outdoor Big East Championships at Icahn Stadium in New York. Preston has won all four Big East Championship pole vaults that have been held since she entered Villanova.

Preston’s mark Saturday makes her the No. 3 performer in Villanova history, behind Alexandra Wasik, who cleared 13-10 at the Gotham Cup at the Armory in 2015, and Ashyln Llerandi, who cleared 13-5 3/4 indoors at the ECAC Championships in Roxbury, Mass., in March of 2020. Her mark is tied for No. 2 in Villanova outdoor history, behind only Wasik’s 13-7 1/4 at the 2014 NCAA East Regional prelims in Jacksonville and tied with McPhillips’ mark at the 2015 Big East Championships at Villanova.

At the Quaker Invite, Preston passed the first five heights and entered the competition at 12-5 1/2, which she cleared on her first attempt. She cleared 12-11 1/2 and 13-3 3/4 on her second attempts. With the win locked up, she had the bar moved up to 13-5 3/4 and missed her three tries.

Preston’s mark is No. 1 this year in the Big East. U. Conn junior Emma Chee is No. 2 at 13-5 earlier this month in a meet in Storrs.

At Delsea, Preston was a Group 3 state champ and Meet of Champions runner. She had a high school PR of 12-7 1/2 when she placed third at the 2018 Penn Relays at the same pole vault facility where she PR’d this weekend. She’s No. 2 in South Jersey scholastic history, behind only Shawnee’s Danielle O’Reilly, the former national scholastic indoor record holder with her 13-5 at the 2004 Varsity Classic at the Armory. O’Reilly’s outdoor best was 13-3 at the 2004 Olympic Conference meet at Pennsauken. 

Kingsway’s Allie Pierontoni continued her outstanding freshman year at Monmouth Sunday morning by running the 4th-fastest 10,000 in school history.

Pierontoni ran 37:06.10 to win the 10,000 at the Monmouth Spring Invitational in West Long Branch. After averaging 87.2 on her first five laps, she ran 17 of her next 19 laps between 89.1 and 91.9 and then closed in 81.2.

Her time is fastest by a Monmouth runner since Kelsey Maher from Jackson Memorial ran 36:36.02 in a meet at Bucknell in 2013. 

Pierontoni has shown tremendous range in her first year of college track, running 1,500 meters in 4:42.56, 3,000 in 10:15.36 and 5,000 in 17:40.98 along with her 10,000. She has yet to run any distance more than once this spring, and this was her first lifetime 10,000. 

She won by about 40 meters over Carissa Kahn of Siena (N.Y.), who placed second in 37:15.30.

 

What an incredible race tonight by Trenton’s Athing Mu, who won the 800 at the Michael Johnson Invitational at Baylor in 1:57.73.

Her time:

–> Breaks the U.S. Collegiate record of 1:59.10, set in 2017 by Raevyn Rogers of Oregon at Mt. SAC in Walnut, Calif.

–> Breaks the U.S. Under-20 record of 1:58.21 set by Neptune High graduate Ajee Wilson set at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

–> Is No. 8 on the all-time world Under-20 list.

–> Is No. 1 in the world this year, moving her ahead of  Wilson, who ran 1:58.93 in Austin in February.

–> Is No. 10 in U.S. history. Only three American women – Wilson, Meredith Rainey-Valmon (whose husband Andrew Valmon ran for Manchester High School) and Alysia Montaño – have run faster on U.S. soil.

Kiara Lester, a Deptford High School graduate and grad student at Texas Tech, ran sub-54 for 400 meters for the first time outdoors in a meet in Lubbock, Texas.

Lester ran 53.99 at the Masked Rider Open, lowering her outdoor PR of 54.08, which she set at the 2019 Big Ten Championships, while she was attending Penn State.

Her lifetime best is a 53.37 from the winter of 2020, when she won the 400 at the Big Ten Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Lester had a high school PR of 55.72 from when she won the state Group 3 title in South Plainfield in the spring of 2015.

Looks like Lester’s time is No. 12 in Texas Tech history outdoors:

51.39 … Shereefa Lloyd, 2005
52.21 … Montenae Roye-Speight, 2014
52.22 … Licretia Sibley, 2004
52.32 … Sara Limp, 2018
52.60 … Candace Jackson, 2011
52.63 … Taylor Evans, 2010
53.20 … Olivia Lewis, 2012
53.35 … Christen Rivers, 2013
53.55 … Marika Brown, 2017
53.62 … Ngozi Iwu, 1999
53.94 … Trudeann Clarke, 2009
53.99 … Kiera Lester, 2021

Check out this hot sprint double by Rowan freshman Jah’mere Beasley:

10.74 in the 100 and 21.30 in the 200.

WOW!!!

Beasley, a Sterling graduate, won both dashes at the Bill Fritz Invitational on Rowan’s home track in Glassboro. Fritz is the legendary former Glassboro State and Rowan coach who led the Profs to five straight NCAA Division 3 track championships from 1980 through 1984.

Beasley ran a barely wind-aided (2.1) 10.74 in the trial sand then a wind-legal 10.80 in the final, outracing teammate Nana Agyemang, who was second in 10.97. Beasley’s previous collegiate 100 PR was a 10.88 earlier this month on the same track and his previous lifetime best was a 10,.81 at the 2019 New Balance nationals in Greensboro.

In the 200, Beasley outraced Nick DiMaria of Stevens, who was second in 21.55 in a fast race that saw four sprinters under 22 seconds. Agyemang, a freshman from Parsippany, was fourth in 21.96. Both of Ageymang’s times were PRs as well.

Beasley’s previous college best 200 was a 21.72 last weekend at West Chester (Pa.) University. He tied his lifetime best of 21.30 which he ran at the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.

The official results do not show any wind information.

Beasley’s 100 time is currently No. 11 in NCAA Division 3 and his 200 time is No. 2, behind only J.P. Vaught of Centre College of Danville, Ky., who ran 21.25 back on March 6 in a meet at Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga.

Beasley is closing in on school records in both sprints. Dior Hightower set the 100 record of 10.64 in the prelims of the Oscar Moore Invitational at Rowan in April of 2017 and Ali Ejaz set the 200 mark of 21.18 in 2012 in the prelims of the NCAA Championships in Claremont, Calif. (He ran 21.31 for fourth in the final).

 

Sterling graduate Sydney Coppolino found herself in a hot 800 Saturday afternoon and wound up with another personal best.

Coppellino, racing in the Virginia Challenge at Lannigan Field on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, ran 2:08.61 in the fourth of six sections of a race that saw 25 women break 2:10,.

Coppolino, a Virginia sophomore, smashed her personal best of 2:09.21, which she just set earlier this month on the same track. Her time is No. 9 in the ACC so far this year.

Before this season, Coppolino had a collegiate PR of 2:10.67 from the 2020 indoor ACC Championships at Notre Dame.

Coppolino ran 2:11.45 at the 2017 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington, and that remained her lifetime best outdoors until this month.

Coppolino’s 2:08.61 doesn’t quite make Virginia’s all-time top-10 outdoor times, but it’s only 1.02 seconds off the No. 10 time so she’s in very good company. 

Williamstown graduate Edwyn Pierre of Rutgers ran his second-fastest 400-meter intermediate hurdles time ever Friday with a season-best 53.30 at the Husker B1G Invite in Prairie View, Texas.

It was his fastest time since a 52.71 at the 2018 Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind.

It was only Pierre’s third 400IH race in the last three years. He didn’t compete outdoors in 2019 and the 2020 outdoor season was wiped out but he’s run 53.X in all three of his intermediate hurdles starts so far this spring.

Four of the nine-fastest intermediate hurdlers in Rutgers history are South Jersey high school graduates: Delsea’s Aaron Younger set the school record of 50.65 in 2010, Lenape’s Steve Swern is No. 4 at 51.68, Delran’s Harran Williams is No. 7 at 52.19 and Pierre is No. 9 with his 52.71.

Pierre on Friday also ran 14.51 in the 110-meter high hurdles into a 2.5-meters per second wind. It was his first outdoor high hurdles race since the 2018 Big Ten Championships, when he ran his PR of 14.42.

This past indoor season, Pierre ran 8.04 for the 60-meter high hurdles, the No. 4 time in school history.