Camden Catholic junior Billy Clewell became the second South Jersey half-miler to break two minute on Sunday.

Clewell ran 1:59.98 – more than a five-second PR – to place 10th in the open division of the 800 at the adidas Indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach.

Cumberland Regional junior Jalen Ridgeway ran 1:59.11 on the same track earlier this month.

Clewell’s previous PR was a 2:05.45 at the Bennett Center in February of 2020. 

Is 1:59.98 an indoor school record? Richie Castañeda ran 2:00.18 two years ago at the Bubble and that’s the fastest time I can find. 

Willingboro freshman Malachi James ran 7.20 to easily win the freshman 60-meter dash at the adidas Indoor Nationals Saturday in Virginia Beach.

James had run an all-time Burlington County #4 7.16 in the trials earlier Saturday in his first lifetime high school race. 

In the final, James wasn’t pushed.

Jason Truitt of Salesianum High Shool in Wilmington, Del., took second in 7.33. James’ time in the trials is No. 2 in the U.S. among freshmen this season, behind only Jelani Watkins of Klein Forest High School in Houston, who ran 6.95 at the Galleria Games in December in Birmingham, Ala.

James was also entered in the freshman 200 but scratched.

I’ve never heard of a race where the first five runners all finished in the span of 2-100ths of a second.

That’s insane. That’s almost impossible. But that’s exactly what happened today in the 60-meter hurdles race at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Here are the official results: https://tf.deltatiming.com/big-ten/2021-big-ten-indoor-championships/event/210225F018

And here’s a post on the race: https://sjtrackblog.com/2021/02/27/st-augustines-sincere-rhea-wins-first-big-ten-hurdles-title/

Check out a better video of Sincere Rhea’s finish here:

Quick double to open the season for Cherokee senior Brett Shea, who ran PRs of 2:00.77 and 4:32.37 in a tri-meet Saturday with Timber Creek and Highland at the Bennett Center.

Shea hadn’t raced since Group 4 XC sectionals, when he placed 6th and helped Cherokee win the team title. His last track race was at indoor sectionals more than a year ago.

And he hadn’t run a competitive 800 since the 2019 indoor season and had never broken 2:10 before. His 1,600 PR was 4:33.05 from last winter at a SJTCA meet at the Bennett Center.

Shea’s 800 time is 3rd-fastest by a South Jersey half-miler in the early going this winter, behind Jalen Ridgeway of Cumberland Regional [1:59.11] and Brian Eaton of Timber Creek [2:00.20]. Eaton ran the 400 and 1,600 on Saturday, winning the 400 in 53.67. 

His 1,600 is No. 2 so far among South Jersey runners, behind a 4:31.23 by Kingsway junior Kyle Rakitis last week, also at the Bubble.

Winslow’s Nylah Perry, an Iowa freshman, placed 4th in the 400 Saturday at the Big Ten Championships.

Perry ran the two-fastest races of her life the last two days at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, PR’ing in 54.43 in the trials Friday and running 54.54 in Saturdays finals.

With her 54.43, Perry moved into the No. 9 spot on the all-time Iowa indoor 400 performance list. She’s also the No. 12 freshman in the U.S.

Perry came into the meet with a PR of 55.03 from the B1G Invitational earlier this month on the same track.

At Winslow, Perry ran 55.97 as a freshman outdoors at the Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington, and her indoor PR was 56.19 when she won the Meet of Champions last March at Ocean Breeze.

Perry is teammates at Iowa with former Winslow teammate Tionna Tobias, who placed 5th in the pentathlon and 6th in the high hurdles this weekend at the Big Ten meet.

Paulsboro senior football star Bhayshul Tuten, the South Jersey Player of the Year this past fall, ran a personal-best 7.03 in the 60-meter dash Saturday at the adidas National Championships in Virginia Beach.

Tuten, who rushed for 3,768 yards and 77 touchdowns in his Paulsboro football career, was only running his third lifetime 60-meter dash.

His time is No. 2 in Gloucester County history and No. 8 in South Jersey history. A.J. Bunton of West Deptford set the Gloucester County mark of 6.87 in 2007.

Tuten’s previous lifetime best was a 7.13 at a meet on the same track earlier this month

Tuten ran 7.06 earlier Saturday in the trials.. He placed fifth in the final of the “Open Division,” just 1-10th of a second behind the winner.

His 7.03 is fastest by a South Jersey sprinter since another football star, Timber Creek’s Damiere Byrd, won the 60 at the 2011 Brooks PR meet at Dempsey Fieldhouse in Seattle in 6.70. Byrd played football at South Carolina and recently completed his fifth NFL season with a career-high 47 catches for the Patriots.

<b>ALL-TIME SOUTH JERSEY BOYS 60-METER DASH</b>

6.70 … Damiere Byrd [Timber Creek], 2011
6.83 … Jamar Ervin [Camden], 2001
6.87 … Chris Church [Millville], 2007
6.93 … A.J. Bunton [West Deptford], 2007
7.00 … Daequan Prince [Bordentown], 2008
7.01 … Michael Bolling [Willingboro], 1999
7.02 … Rob McGriff [Camden], 2006
7.03 … Gary Gordon [Willingboro], 1995
7.03 … Bhayshul Tuten [Paulsboro], 2021
7.03 … Albert Newkirk [Camden], 1996
7.04 … Thomas Hampton [Clayton], 2018
7.06 … Sherron Bullock [Camden], 2004
7.06 … Fabian Santiago [Oakcrest], 2012
7.08 … Curtis Fitzpatrick [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013

Brandon Outlaw placed 4th in the 400-meter dash Saturday at the ACC Championships at Clemson.

Outlaw, a Moorestown graduate, ran the 2nd-fastest 400 of his life, running 46.69 and finishing 5-100ths of a second behind teammate Jordan Willis.

That’s only 11-100ths of a second off his lifetime best.

Outlaw ran his personal-best of 46.58 when he played fourth in last year’s ACC meet at Notre Dame’s Loftus Center the last week of February in 2020.

That was his last 400 final until Saturday. Outlaw ran 47.16 in Friday’s trials. He was the No. 5 seed going into the final.

Outlaw’s outdoor collegiate best is 47.27 from the 2019 ACC meet in Charlottesville, where he placed 9th. He ran 46.82 to win Group 3 sectionals at Bernards in the spring of 2017 and that remains his outdoor PR. He won the 400 at the Meet of Champions that spring as well with a 47.05.

Click to access 023-2.pdf

 

Sincere Rhea won his first conference title Saturday, edging four other hurdlers in a Big Ten Championship race that saw the first five hurdlers finish within 2-100ths of a second.

Rhea, a Penn State sophomore from St. Augustine, ran a season-best 7.80 – just 4-100ths off his PR – and edged Gratt Reed of Iowa by 1-100th of a second. Two other Iowa hurdlers – Josh Braverman and Jamal Britt – ran 7.82, as did Josh Zeller of Michigan.

The 7.80 is No. 13 in NCAA Division 1 this year, although that does not include other marks made on Saturday.

Rhea, a St. Augustine graduate and native of Maurice River Township in Cumberland County, ran his previous PR of 7.76 in the trials of last year’s Big Ten Championships on the same track and ultimately placed third.

It appears from an impossible-to-navigate Penn State Track Yearbook on the school’s web site that Rhea is the first Penn State hurdler ever to win a Big Ten title indoors or outdoors. 

Rhea has yet to compete outdoors as a collegian.

 

In his first high school race, Willingboro freshman Malachi James ran 7.16 to lead all qualifiers in the freshman 60-meter dash Saturday morning at the adidas National Championships in Virginia Beach.

James ran the No. 4 time in Burlington County history. He raced within 15-100ths of a second of Michael Bolling’s Willingboro school record. The Burlington County record is 7.00, set in 2008 by Bordentown’s Daequan Prince.

James advanced to the final at 2:10 p.m.

Here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey 60-meter dash list. 

<b>ALL-TIME SOUTH JERSEY BOYS 60-METER DASH</b>
6.70 … Damiere Byrd [Timber Creek], 2011
6.83 … Jamar Ervin [Camden], 2001
6.87 … Chris Church [Millville], 2007
6.93 … A.J. Bunton [West Deptford], 2007
7.00 … Daequan Prince [Bordentown], 2008
7.01 … Michael Bolling [Willingboro], 1999
7.02 … Rob McGriff [Camden], 2006
7.03 … Gary Gordon [Willingboro], 1995
7.03 … Albert Newkirk [Camden], 1996
7.04 … Thomas Hampton [Clayton], 2018
7.06 … Sherron Bullock [Camden], 2004
7.06 … Fabian Santiago [Oakcrest], 2012
7.08 … Curtis Fitzpatrick [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
7.11 … Kashif Miller [Haddon Heights], 2014
7.13 … Cameron Dobbins [Williamstown], 2015
7.15 … Reggie Morton [Oakcrest], 2012
7.16 … Malachi James [Willingboro], 2021
7.19 … Sterling Pierce [Rancocas Valley], 2015

 

Eastern’s Jailya Ash opened her senior season Saturday morning by advancing in the high hurdles at the adidas Indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach.

In her first race in a year, Ash auto advanced to Sunday’s semifinals by placing second in her qualifying heat in 8.74. The top two hurdlers in each of five heats and the next 14-fastest advanced.

Ash’s previous PR over the 60-meter indoor Barries was an 8.82 in 2019 at the Bullis Invitational at the 168th Street Armory, and her 8.74 is tied for 6th-fastest in South Jersey history. The 55-meter distance is usually run for high school meets, and Ash has a 55 hurdles PR of 8.03, which is tied for No. 8 in South Jersey history.

This is Ash’s first meet since she won the Meet of Champions with that 8.03 last March at Ocean Breeze. Ash was 3rd in the 100 at a the 2019 outdoor Meet of Champions in 11.90. The versatile Ash, who is headed for U. Conn, also won the 2019 indoor Meet of Champions at 55 meters with a 7.06.

Ash will race in the hurdles semis at 9:40 a.m. Sunday. The final is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. Sunday.

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS 60-METER HURDLES TOP-10
8.36 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], 2006
8.50 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
8.52 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.62 … Lenaami Morton [Camden], 2017
8.64 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
8.74 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.74 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2021
8.80 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1980
8.80 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2019
8.83 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp.], 2016

EDIT: Ash just ran 7.85 to qualify for the 60-meter dash semifinals as well.