Delsea senior Joe Metzger recorded another shot put PR this past week with a 55-6 1/4 bomb at the Rebel Shot Series #3 at the Bubble.

Metzger’s previous PR was a 54-8 3/4 from a meet at the Bubble last month. He came into the season with a PR of 54-1 1/4 from last year at the Bubble.

Metzger’s throw is No. 1 in South Jersey this year and No. 2 in the state, behind U.S. No. 2 Cole Tucker of Colts Neck, who threw 63-3 1/4 at adidas Indoor Nationals last month in Virginia Beach.

With his 55-6 1/4, Metzger moved into the No. 9 spot on the all-time Gloucester County indoor shot put list.

63-1 ¾ … Nick Pulli [West Deptford], 2014

60-3 … Harry Dilks [Pitman], 1971

58-9 … Greg Ross [Deptford], 1976

58-8 ¾ … Bill Goldsborough [Delsea], 2018

57-11 … Kwabena Keene [Washington Twp], 2008

57-9 ½ … Rich Lewis [Williamstown], 1985

57-8 1/4 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], 2013

56-5 ¼ … Chris Pressley [Woodbury], 2003

55-6 1/4 … Joe Metzger [Delsea], 2021

55-4 ¾ … Ryan Knight [Delsea], 1996

54-4 ¾ … Sam Shinn [Kingsway], 2016

Millville graduate Kira Parsons uncorked the No. 9 javelin throw in Towson history on the very first throw of her collegiate career.

Parsons, a Towson freshman, made her collegiate debut earlier this month at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Invitational and threw 131-10 on her first attempt to place third.

It was her first meet in 21 months.

Although Towson hasn’t updated its online media guide in SIX YEARS (come on, Towson, let’s get our act together!), by taking the all-time top-10 list through 2015 – the most recent year it’s available – and going through Towson’s marks on Direct Athletics from 2016 through 2020, we were able to come up with an updated all-time Towson list, and Parsons checks in at No. 9, although she’s only six feet out of the No. 5 spot.

Parsons threw within about two feet of her PR of 134-10, set at the 2019 state Group 4 meet at Franklin High School.

All-Time Towson Javelin Top-10
157-0 … Kelly Robinson, 2006
142-3 … Alexis Appezzato, 2012
147-3 … Ashleigh Stallings, 2016
143-0 … Kayla Thorpe, 2021
137-11 … Skyler Duncan, 2017
135-6 … Tina Shriver, 1984
135-0 … Sydney Stith 2019
132-1 … Melissa Waybrant, 2004
131-10 … Kyra Parsons, 2021
125-7 … Jessica Cooke, 2013

Huge breakthrough race for Kingsway junior Kyle Rakitis Saturday at Ocean Breeze.

Rakitis, in his first competitive 1,600 since last year’s state indoor meet, ran 4:17.39, a 4 1/2-second PR, and placed second at the Ocean Breeze Invitational in Staten Island, N.Y.

Rakitis negative-split 2:09.0 and 2:08.4.

His time is No. 19 in South Jersey history and No. 8 in Gloucester County history. Here’s the all-time Gloucester County indoor sub-4:20 list:

4:13.87y … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2020
4:15.52 … Bill Dolan [Clearview], 2014
4:16.0y … Greg Stremmel [Gateway], 1974
4:16.3y … Rich Caton [Woodbury], 1979
4:16.9y … Bob Marino [Williamstown], 1974
4:17.1y … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
4:17.33y … Carmen Cavella [Washington Twp.], 2004
4:17.39 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
4:17.67y … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], 2020
<u>4:18.21y … Xavier Fraction [Washington Twp.], 2009</u>
4:19.03 … Noah Culbreath [Kingsway, 2014
4:19.40 … Justin Branco [Delsea], 2015

Rakitis’s time is No. 1 in New Jersey during this curtailed indoor season. It’s No. 29 nationally according to the MileSpliut database and No. 8 by a junior. It’s fastest by a South Jersey underclassman in 10 years, since Ocean City’s Erik Johnson ran 4:16.02 to win the 2011 Meet of Champions at the Bubble.

Rakitis lowered his PR from 4:21.91, when he placed 4th at the state Group 4 meet last February at the Bubble, to 4:17.39.

He placed second to Aidan Puffer of Manchester High in Connecticut, who ran 4:14.34. Puffer’s previous PR was 4:17.04 from the Central Connecticut Conference Championships in February of 2020 in New Haven.

Rakitis ran with the lead group of six runners through 600, but on the fourth lap he and Puffer gapped the field. Rakitis closed with 31.9, 32.6, 32.1 and 31.8.

Kingsway’s overall school record is 4:11.84, which Tom Cooke ran when he placed fifth at the 2012 Meet of Champions at Old Bridge.

Allison Colflesh’s 2:15 anchor led Haddonfield to a 9:12.91 victory in the 3,200-meter relay Saturday at the Ocean Grove Invitational on Staten Island, N.Y.

Lindsay to Payton to Olivia to Allison!

Haddonfield’s time is No. 4 in South Jersey indoor history and fastest in eight years. The only faster teams are three Lenape teams – 9:04.66 at the 2013 New Balance Invitational, 9:09.71 at  2012 Nationals and 9:11.94 at 2008 Eastern’s, all at the Armory. Haddonfield’s previous school record indoors was 9:22.18 last winter at the Varsity Classic at the Armory.

Including outdoor times, Haddonfield is now No. 6 in South Jersey history. Haddonfield has run faster three years outdoors – 9:06.30 in 2008, 9:10.32 in 2000 and 9:12.30 in 2019.

Haddonfield’s time is also No. 3 in the nation this year according to the MileSplit rankings, behind IMG Elite Academy of Bradenton, Fla. (8:56.87) and Boerne Champion of Texas (9:00.86), both at theaAdidas Indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach last month.

Lindsay Colflesh led off with a 2:18.6 split that had Haddonfield a step behind Saratoga Springs of N.Y. going into the first handoff. Payton Weiner split 2:19.0 to give Haddonfield the lead, and Olivia Stoner split 2:20 to give Allison Colflesh the stick just behind Saratoga Springs’ anchor.  

Allison Colflesh then ran the fastest split of the day to blow the race wide open. Saratoga Springs anchor Ella Kurto ran 2:19.5, but Haddonfield won by 25 meters, with Saratoga Springs second in 9:16.97.

All four Haddonfield runners are seniors. Haddonfield did not use senior Sarah Natacchia, who has run 2:15.79 but has not competed this indoor season.

Eastern’s Jailya Ash won both the 55-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles Saturday at the Ocean Breeze Invitational, and she’s now ranked No. 1 in New Jersey in both events.

Although there’s no time schedule available on the meet’s web site, it appears the races were run consecutively. At least the results were posted five minutes apart – the 55 at 12:40 p.m. and the hurdles at 12:45 p.m. Both appear to be finals, with no trials in either event.

In the 55, Ash out-leaned Logan Daley of Holy Trinity High in Hicksville, N.Y., Ash running 7.22 and Daley 7.24.

Ash has a PR of 7.06 from when she won the 2019 Meet of Champions, but during this pandemic-shortened indoor season her time is fastest in New Jersey. Jada Ellis of Manchester ran 7.27 at the Armory back in January.

In the hurdles, Ash won easily in 8.21, well ahead of second-place Ajanae Thompson of Union Catholic, who took second in 8.59.

Ash has run as fast as 8.03 when she won last year’s Meet of Champions, but obviously she ran as fast as she needed to to pull off the challenging double. She ran 8.19 earlier this year at the Bubble, the No. 1 mark in New Jersey this year.

 

Isaiah Arzu, a Rancocas Valley senior, ran a big 55-meter dash PR Monday.

Arzu ran 6.68, lowering his PR from 6.77 that he ran in a SJTCA meet last winter at the Bubble.

His performance would be No. 2 in South Jersey and No. 8 in the state this year but isn’t eligible for performance lists because it was made in a polar bear meet with Cinnaminson outdoors at Rancocas Valley.

Deptford’s John Adams is South Jersey’s top sprinter at 55 meters so far this winter with a 6.63 last month at the Bubble.

The Red Devils now have four sprinters who’ve run 6.75 or faster either indoors or outdoors. Junior Herbert Quarterman ran 6.72 last week, junior Masai Byrd ran 6.74 last month and junior David Murry ran 6.75 on Monday. All are PRs.  Murray shattered his previous PR of 6.95 from last month.

Looks like R.V. has the makings of a pretty good 400-meter relay team outdoors! 

Miekel House set the R.V. school record of 6.45 when he placed 3rd at last year’s Eastern’s at the Armory.

Eastern senior Jailya Ash ran the fastest hurdles time in the state this year in a meet against Winslow Friday at the Bubble.

Ash ran 8.19 in her first race at the 55-meter hurdles this winter. She ran 8.72 last month at adidas Indoor Nationals over the 60-meter barriers, 

Ash raced Winslow’s Shevell Higgs, who has run 8.40 and was runner-up in the 55 highs at last year’s indoor state Group 3 meet. Higgs took second in this race in 8.74.

Ash and Higgs rank No. 1 and 2 in the state this year, Ash with her 8.19 and Higgs at 8.62 from another Bubble meet two weeks ago.

Rancocas Valley junior Anabella Chin is the only other South Jersey girl to run sub-9 this year, and she did that placing second to Higgs at the Bubble last month.

The U. Conn-bound Ash has a 55 hurdles PR of 8.03 from a year ago tomorrow, when she won the Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze. That’s No. 8 in South Jersey history.

Cherry Hill East junior Dillon Page recorded a four-inch personal-best of 6-6 Friday at the Bubble.

Page, in his first meet since last year’s Meet of Champions, surpassed his PR of 6-2, which he hit four times last indoor season. His outdoor PR is 6-0 from the 2019 Group 4 sectionals.

According to MileSplit’s performance list, 6-6 is the No. 1 mark in the state this year and equals No. 15 nationally during this abbreviated indoor season.

Page’s mark equals No. 3 in Cherry Hill East history indoors. 

Uchenna Njoku cleared 6-8 at the 2009 state Group 4 meet at the Bubble, Andrew Athias hit 6-9 at the 2011 state Group 4 meet at the Bubble and Jared Athias cleared 6-6 in 2013 at the Metropolitan Invite at the Armory. Njoku also holds the outdoor record at 6-8 from Group 4 sectionals in 2009 at Egg Harbor.

Page last indoor season placed 3rd at sectionals at 6-0, 2nd at states at 6-2 and 9th in the Meet of Champions at 6-2.

Daniel Do of Absegami, Stephen Conte of Paul VI and Chris Shaw of Washington Township Helped Stockton sweep the top 5 spots in a five-team XC meet Saturday.

Do ran 17:37 and placed 3rd, Conte 17:38 for 4th and Shaw 18:01 for 5th over 5,000 meters in the Stockton Invitational in Galloway Township, and Stockton outscored second-place New Jersey City University 15-49. Rutgers Camden was third with 67 points.

Cooper Knorr of Manalapan won the race in 16:08 and Kyle Navalance from Toms River North was second in 16:56. Knorr, Navalance and Do are seniors, Conte is a junior and Shaw a sophomore.

It was Stockton’s first XC meet in 16 months and it was Conte’s first race in 2 1/2 years after missing last year’s XC season with an injury.

Rutgers Camden was led by junior Vinny Maine of Camden Catholic in 7th and sophomore Andrew Barnhardt of Audubon in 8th.

Stockton will host the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships on March 20.

Sterling graduate Jessie Klenk, a Stockton University junior, was the overall winner in a small XC meet Saturday featuring runners from five New Jersey colleges. 

Klent ran 20:37 over 5,000 meters on Stockton’s campus in Galloway Township, and freshman teammate and Eastern graduate Kierstin Clem was second at 21:13.

Stockton was the only school with five finishers. Stockton senior Jamie Wun from Moorestown, freshman Madeline Corbett from Mainland Regional and senior Melanie Ressler from Fair Lawn finished 5th, 6th and 7th overall.

Clem and Corbett were both running their first career collegiate race and their first XC race since 2019 sectionals at Delsea.

Also in the top 10 were Gloucester County College freshman Jeanine Morrow of Washington Township (8th) and Rutgers-Camden freshman Rebecca Savage from Audubon.