Cherokee moved into the top spot in South Jersey in the 3,200-meter relay with a 7:59.17 over the weekend at its own Cherokee Relays in Marlton.

Brett Shea’s 1:55.59 anchor gave Cherokee the No. 2 time in the state this spring, behind Ridge’s 7:49.25 in a meet in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in March.

(If you want to be a stickler for the rules, Ridge’s performance came before the official start of the 2021 outdoor season as measured by the NJSIAA, so you can make the case that it shouldn’t count on a 2021 performance list. We accept all times, regardless of when they were recorded or what the NJSIAA thinks.)

Nico Grilli led off with a 2:03.55, followed by freshman Nick Kuenkel with a 2:00.68 and sophomore Patrick Ditmars’ 2:00.47 to set up Shea.

With second place about 200 meters behind, Cherokee ran unpressed but still ran sub-8 outdoors for the seventh season overall but the first time since 2012, when the Chiefs ran 7:53.30 at the Penn Relays trials and 7:49.85 in the Championship of America race with the team of Colin Merrigan, Ross Staudt, Drew Viscidy and Shawn Wilson.

Here’s the all-time Burlington County sub-8 list: 

7:40.98 … Willingboro, 1983
7:44.25 … Willingboro, 2003
7:47.9h … Willingboro, 1982
7:48.70 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
7:49.34 … Cherokee, 2000
7:49.85 … Cherokee, 2012
7:49.9h … Willingboro, 1978
7:52.53 … Willingboro, 2002
7:52.60 … Cherokee, 2011
7:52.66 … Cherokee, 1998
7:52.7h … Willingboro, 1978
7:52.90 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
7:53.44 … Shawnee, 1991
7:55.63 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
7:55.67 … Rancocas Valley, 2014
7:56.30 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
7:56.4h … Shawnee, 1985
7:58.17 … Seneca, 2013
7:59.17 … Cherokee, 2021
7:59.3h … Cherokee, 1999
7:59.24 … Cherokee, 2000
7:59.87 … Willingboro, 1995
7:59.96 … Cinnaminson, 2019

Kristin Siegle shattered her own Rider school record in the 800 at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships on Sunday in Lawrenceville.

Siegle, a graduate of Buena and now a Rider grad student, ran 2:09.83, breaking her record of 2:10.83 that she set last month on the same track.

Before that race, Rider’s school record was 2:11.24, set in 2016 by Steph Welte.

Siegle had an 800 PR of 2:17.90 until the 2019 outdoor season, when she ran 2:13.90 in an indoor meet at Ocean Breeze. Thanks to the pandemic, she didn’t race another 800 for 22 months, when she ran the 2:10.83.

Siegle, who also set the Rider 1,500 record this spring at 4:25.33, would have been a huge favorite to win the 1,500 at the MAAC Championships but elected instead to try the the more competitive 800, and she wound up finishing a step behind Monmouth’s Katie Locker, a freshman from Elizabethtown, Pa., who ran a huge PR of her own at 2:09.54.

But Siegle, who hails from Estelle Manor, has now lowered the school record in the 800 by nearly 1 1/2 seconds and the school record in the 1,500 by nearly 3 1/2 seconds. Siegle broke that one twice, with a 4:28.75 at Monmouth last month and then her 4:25.33 at Franklin Field a week later.

Siegle also ran a 2:11.65 leg on Rider’s 3rd-place 3,200-meter relay team, which ran 9:22.95

Siegle will have another opportunity to race either the 800 or 1,500 at the ECAC Championships at American International College in Centerville, Mass., next weekend.

At Buena, Siegle had PRs of 2:20.03 for 800 meters and 5:15.98 for 1,600 meters.

Cherokee graduate Jessica Woodard uncorked the second-best shot put throw of her life and her best in three years Sunday and recorded an Olympic-qualifying mark along the way.

Woodard threw 60-9 1/2 to place fifth in a field of Olympic hopefuls at the USATF Golden Games at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.

Woodard moved into the No. 13 spot on the 2021 IAAF world list and her throw is No. 6 this year among U.S. women.

The Olympic qualifying standard is 60-8 1/4. That means if she finishes in the top three at next month’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., she’ll earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Woodard got off five legal throws, including two over 60 feet and one just a few inches shy of 60 feet.

She opened with a 56-1 3/4 then hit her 60-9 1/2 on her second throw. After a foul, she closed with 57-8 1/4, 59-7 and 60-7 1/4.

She averaged 58-11 1/2 on her five legal throws. 

Woodard ranks 25th in U.S. history with her PR of 61-3 1/2 from 2018

Jalen Jones picked up a first place and a second place and two PRs Sunday at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Championships in Lawrenceville.

Jones, a Monmouth University sophomore from Burlington Township, won the 400 in 48.28 and placed second in the 200 after a PR 21.72 in the trials.

In the 400, Jones smashed his lifetime best of 48.37 that he set in his last open race, at the Monmouth Spring Invitational in West Long Branch last month. His best 400 before that was a 48.38 indoors at the Armory when he won the 400 at the 2020 indoor MAAC Championships. 

Jones finished nearly half a second ahead of second-place Jadyn Tabois of Iona, who was second in 48.73.

Jones advanced to the 400 finals with a 49.25, which was the second-fastest qualifying time in the trials. Rider’s James Green, who led qualifiers with a 49.10, finished third in 49.23. 

Monmouth has only had three previous conference champs in the 400 – Ben Boyd in the Northeast Conference in 2012 (49.22) and Malcolm Chavis in 2017 (49.57) and Nadale Buntin (now at Rutgers) in 2019 (48.78) in the MAAC.

Jones led the 200 qualifiers with a huge PR 21.72 in Saturday’s trials. His previous PR was a 21.96 from two weeks ago at Fast Times Before Finals at Rowan University and before that 22.21 in a meet at West Point, N.Y., in March. Before this spring, his 200 PR was 22.24 indoors from a meet at Ocean Breeze in February of 2020.

Jones’ 400 time is No. 8 in school history. His 200 time in the trials is 3-100ths of a second out of the top-10, so most likely it’s No. 11.

Jones also ran a 48.87 second leg on Monmouth’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, which won in 3:15.52.

Jones was more of a 400-800 runner in high school. He only ran the 200 sporadically, PR’ing at 22.81. But he ran 1:55.99 in the 800 at 2017 Group 3 sectionals at Northern Burlington along with a 48.84 at 2018 Group 3 states at Central Regional in Bayville.

He’s only run one 800 in college and ran 1:55.50 indoors at Monmouth in February of 2020.

Monmouth outscored second-place Rider 295 1/2-217 1/2 to win the team title. It was the Hawks’ seventh team title in a row.

Delsea’s Josh Awotunde joined the 70-foot club with a massive shot put bomb of 71-1 1/2 at the USATF Golden Games Sunday.

That’s No. 6 in the world this year  and No. 4 among Americans and puts the four-time South Carolina All-America squarely in the picture to make the U.S. Olympic team, which will be decided at the Olympic Trials next month in Eugene.

His throw is No. 26 in U.S. history and and No. 58 world history.

Awotunde placed second at the USATF Golden Games at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif., behind only American Darrell Hill, who threw a season-best 73-3 1/2, not far off his PR of 73-7 1/2 from a meet in 2017 Boudewijnstadion, Belgium.

Awotunde’s previous overall best was a 69-11 3/4, which he hit indoors in College Station, Texas, in 2018. His previous outdoor best was a 69-3 3/4 in Los Angeles in April of 2019. That’s No. 27 in U.S. indoor history.

Awotunde broke the New Jersey alumni record of 70-4 1/2 set by Dorian Scott of Seton Hall Prep in 2008 in Tallahassee.

He broke his own South Jersey alumni record.

Awotunde opened with a 66-10 and then improved to 68-1 3/4 on his second throw and then PR’d at 69-10 3/4 on his third throw.

He threw 64-11 1/4 and 68-8 3/4 on his fourth and fifth throws before the 71-footer on his final attempt.

He averaged 68-3 1/4 on his six legal throws.

Rancocas Valley’s Micah Wood of Monmouth led a 1-3-4 South Jersey finish at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 400-meter hurdles Sunday afternoon.

Wood won the race in a PR 52.91, Willingboro graduate Jayaire King of St. Peter’s in Jersey City was third in 54.01 and Monmouth’s Daniel Fenton of Millville was fourth in 54.26.

Wood, a freshman, broke his PR of 53.14 set two weeks ago in a meet at Rowan University in Glassboro. Before that he lowered his PR from a 55.49 in high school to 53.78 in a meet at Lafayette in March and then 53.71 in a meet at Monmouth last month.

His time is No. 8 in Monmouth history and only 33-100ths of a second off the school’s freshman record of 52.58 set by Chris Rutherford at the 2009 Northeast Conference Championships in West Long Branch.

Wood is the first Monmouth runner from South Jersey to win a conference title in the intermediates since Shawnee graduate Jim Angermeier ran 53.86 to win the Northeast Conference 400IH in 1997.

Wood’s PR of 55.49 at Rancocas Valley came from the 2019 state Group 4 meet at Franklin High School, where he placed fifth.

King shattered his PR of 54.72 that he ran for Willingboro in the spring of 2019 at the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea. His collegiate best was a 54.77 from a meet in Newark in March.

Strangely, the St. Peter’s web site men’s track and field records page does not list a record for the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, so no idea whether King holds it or if not how close he is.

Fenton ran 54.26, just off his PR of 54.04 from a meet at Rider last month. His best time at Millville was 55.17.

In Saturday’s qualifying heats, Wood led all qualifiers at 54.53, Fenton ran 55.50 and King 55.94.

She pole vaulted, ran the 800, threw the javelin, ran the hurdles and even competed in a couple heptathlons.

One thing Jessie Klenk never did until this year was run the mile (or its metric equivalent).

Now, just a few months after her first college mile attempt resulted in a 5:42 and a 29th-place finish in a meet at Ocean Breeze, Klenk is a conference champion.

Klenk, a Stockton University junior from Sterling, won the New Jersey Athletic Conference 1,500 title Saturday on her home track in Galloway Township in 5:00.71, thanks to a 71-second final lap.

She won the conference title less than four months after her first collegiate 1,500 or mile and only six weeks after her first outdoor 1,500 or mile.

At Sterling, Klenk was Camden County champion in the pole vault, Woodbury Relays medalist in the javelin and a sectional medalist at 800 meters. 

She did run some occasional 1,600s – her PR was a 5:44.58 that got her 18th place at the 2018 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township, 35 seconds behind winner and teammate Madison Coppolino.

Just goes to show you that persistence and determination pay off. Everyone improves at their own rate, and Klenk stuck with track, found her best event and is now a conference champion.

KIenk also ran a personal-best 2:24.46 to place third in the 800 for Stockton, which finished second to The College of New Jersey.

Klenk’s brother Max, a Stockton freshman, placed third in the NJAC decathlon Wednesday and Thursday with 4,458 points. 

Shawnee graduate Amanda Demko, a College of New Jersey freshman, won the 400-meter dash at the NJAC Championships Saturday at Stockton University in Galloway Township.

Demko ran 57.91, leading a 1-2-3-4 TCNJ sweep, good for 29 team points in one event.  Sophomore Megan Gasnick was second in 58.47.

Demko ran just off her PR of 57.46, which she set last month in a meet at Franklin Field in West Philadelphia.

TCNJ won its first team title since 2014 with 309 1/2 points. 

Unfortunately, TCNJ does not have a list of all-time conference champions on its web site (or much of anything else). So can’t tell you the last TCNJ woman to win a conference title in the 400.

But winning a conference title as a true freshman is quite an accomplishment for Demko, who also placed fourth in the 200.

Bordentown graduate Genesis Walker, now a sophomore at Rider, ran a lifetime best in the 100 and a collegiate best in the 200 Saturday at the MAAC Championships in Lawrenceville.

Walker ran 12.29 in the 100 trials and 25.40 in the 200 trials, qualifying for both finals on Sunday. Her 12.29 led all qualifiers in the 100. Her 25.40 was 4th-fastest among 200 qualifiers. There was no wind information listed for either race on the official results.

Walker moves into the No. 6 spot in Rider history in the 100 and the No. 8 spot in the 200.

Walker’s previous collegiate PRs were 12.44 in the 100 and 25.51 in the 200. She ran the 12.44 at the 2019 Rider Invitational on the same track and the 25.51 at the 2019 Metro Atlantic Athletic Championships in West Long Branch.

Her previous lifetime best in the 100 was a 12.30 at the South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Delsea in May of 2018. Her high school 200 best was a 25.29 the same weekend, when she won the sectional title. 

The 100 final is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. Sunday at Rider and the 200 at 2:15 p.m.

Missed this one but Olympic shot put hopefuly Josh Awotunde, a Delsea graduate, uncorked the second-biggest throw of his life late last month in a meet in Columbia, S.C.

Awotunde threw 68-2 3/4, second outdoors only to his 69-3 3/4 from April of 2019 in Los Angeles. He currently ranks No. 16 in the world according to the IAAF international performance list and No. 6 among Americans. 

One of the problems with track in the U.S. is tracking down post-graduate results. The USATF is a disgrace when it comes to results and performance lists (and pretty much everything else), so you have to rely on the IAAF lists, which don’t give much meet information. So all we know is that Awotunde’s 68-2 3/4 came in Columbia, S.C., but no idea what meet he did it at or who he was competing against.

The 25-year-old Awotunde, a four-time All-America during his years at South Carolina, ranks No. 41 in U.S. history with his 69-3 3/4 (and No. 131 in world history). 

He’s also thrown 69-11 3/4 indoors, No. 27 on the all-time U.S. indoor list.