Delsea graduate Josh Awotunde threw a historic PR of 72-2 in the shot put Saturday in Italy, moving him up from 19th to 15th in U.S. history.

Awotunde, competing for Shore Athletic Conference, became the 15th U.S. thrower in history to reach 22 meters at the 2021 Meeting Città di Padova 2021, which is a World Athletics continental tour bronze level series event. Padova is about 25 miles west of Venice.

https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results/7155954/result

His throw is No. 30 in world history.

Awotunde won the event over Italian Zane Weir, who threw 70-11 1/2 for second place.

Awotunde’s previous PR was 71-7 3/4 when he placed fifth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., in June. His best throw coming into this year was 69-3 3/4 in April of 2019 in Los Angeles.

His 72-2 would have placed fourth in the Olympic Games in Tokyo last month.

Awotunde’s throw ranks him 6th in the world this year behind five 2021 Olympians, including four finalists.

Full series info for Awotunde was not listed on the World Athletics’ results page. Still working on that!

Highland graduate Ben Woodward, a junior at Rider, placed 7th Saturday in the Temple Invitational. He was Rider’s first finisher.

Woodard covered the 8,000-meter course at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia in 27:19, finishing just 17 seconds behind overall winner Christian Fitch of Temple.

“Woodward and the young guys really stepped up today,” Rider coach Bob Hamer said on Rider’s web site. “I’m really excited for Ben. He ran a really solid race today and we will work on building on this performance.”

Also racing for Rider were freshman Dakota Oyuela from Burlington Township, who placed 18th in 18:23 in his collegiate debut; Richie Castaneda of Camden Catholic, 21st in 28:35; and sophomore Gobi Thurairajah of Egg Harbor Township, 25th in 29:05.

Temple scored a perfect 15 points and Rider was second with 52 points.

In the women’s race, Sydney Watts of Chestnut Hill College, a freshman from Kingsway, opened her collegiate career by placing 14th in 25:55 over 6,000 meters.

Cinnaminson graduate Mike Ungvarsky ran 18:17 over 6,000 meters and placed sixth out of more than 100 runners Friday night at the Friday Night Lights Elon Opener at Elon (N.C.) University.

Ungvarsky finished 22 seconds behind overall winner Athanas Kioko of Campbell College. He was Duke’s fifth runner.

Duke outscored East Carolina 20-75 to win the team title.

In the women’s race, Lenape graduate Alexa Woltjen, a senior at North Carolina Wilmington and a transfer from Maryland, ran 15:09 over 4,000 meters to place 37th. 

Monmouth freshman Allie Pierontoni of Kingsway placed 8th Friday afternoon in the season-opening Lehigh Invitational.

Pierontoni ran 22:11 over Lehigh’s 6,000-meter course in Bethlehem (and briefly in Lower Saucon Township). 

She was Monmouth’s third runner, behind overall winner Sammi Ragenklint [21:33] and Mackenzie Jones [22:02].

Monmouth and Princeton both finished with 50 points. Instead of using a 6th-runner tiebreaker [which Princeton would have won], head-to-head matchups were used, and Monmouth won that 3-2. 

Shawnee graduate Kara Bonner, a senior at Lehigh, placed 16th in 22:20, finishing nine seconds behind Pierontoni. Bonner was Lehigh’s fourth runner, helping the Mountainhawks finish a close third with 57 points.

Also racing were Lenape grad and Rutgers sophomore Shelby Whetstone [66th in 25:08] and Ocean City grad Mickey Baker [68th in 25:31].

Lehigh’s Connor Melko opened his junior cross country season Friday with a 5th-place finish in a field of 130 at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem.

Melko covered the 6,000-meter course in 18:18, which is 4:54 pace on the hilly, winding, twisting course on Lehigh’s South campus, which is also partially in Lower Saucon Township.

Melko, a Bishop Eustace graduate, was Lehigh’s No. 1 runner on the short version of the Mountainhawks’ home course, which has twice hosted the NCAA Championships.

Lehigh scored 58 points, finishing second to Princeton, which won with 20 points.

Also under 19 minutes was Lower Cape May Regional graduate Will Berger, a junior at Rutgers. He placed 30th in 18:57.

Two Monmouth freshmen from South Jersey opened their careers in this race. Pitman’s Sebastien Reed placed 54th in 19:36 and Cherokee’s Nico Grilli followed eight seconds and four spots back.

Liam Duffy of Haddon Township, a junior at nearby Moravian, placed 65th in 19:55.