Leo Zaccaria ran a lifetime-best anchor split on Rider’s school-record distance medley Friday.
Zaccaria, who attended Cape May Tech and competed for Wildwood, ran 4:13.94 to anchor Rider’s DMR team at the Terrier Classic at Boston University.
Rider ran 9:51.64, which broke the school record of 9:51.98 set two years ago at the same meet on the same track.
Sophomore Tamrat Snyder of Gaithersburg, Md., led off for the Broncs with a 3:00.02 split for 1,200 meters, Jerome Boyer of Edison ran 47.19 for the 400 and Derian Stianche of Tamaqua, Pa., split 1:50.49 for 800 meters setting up Zaccaria.
When Rider set the school record two years ago, they also had a South Jersey anchor. Heredia, Boyer and Mazzie ran the first three legs, setting up Cinnaminson graduate Tom Long, who split 4:05.5 on his anchor leg.
Rider’s time is fastest in the Metro Atlantic Conference so far this year and No. 9 in all of NCAA Division.
Zaccaria is a heck of a story.
He had a PR of 4:29.39 for 1,600 meters in high school, which he ran indoors at the state Group 1 meet at the Bubble in 2019. His outdoor PR was 4:32.79 at South Jersey Group 1 sectionals at Washington Township in May of 2019, although he did run 1:57.56 at states as a senior.
He showed terrific progress last spring, running as fast as 3:58.99 for 1,500 meters, which is the equivalent of a 4:16.6 mile.
This winter, he’s already run 1:54.85 for 800 metes and 4:16.48 for the full mile along with his 4:13 anchor Friday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 