Big day for Winslow senior Jaia James Wednesday with a 55-meter dash PR and a lane in the 55-meter dash at the prestigious Millrose Games.

James ran 7.21 at the Millrose Games Trials at the Armory, finishing first of 38 sprinters and earning an automatic bid for the invitational 55 at the 114th annual Millrose Games on the same track on Jan. 29.

James’ previous PR was a 7.32 in December at the Bishop Loughlin Games at Ocean Breeze. She ran 7.33 to lead all qualifiers on Wednesday evening before running away with the final.

Ashley Fulton, a sophomore at Elmont (N.Y.) High, placed second in 7.35. James’ Winslow teammate, junior Briyel Brown. ran 7.66 for sixth place after a PR 7.52 in the trials.

James and Brown both also ran on Winslow’s 1,600-meter relay team, which won the suburban 4-by-4 in 4:01.29 and also qualified for Millrose.

Her 7.21 is No. 2 in New Jersey this year behind senior Christiana Nwachuku of Kent Place School in Summit, who ran 7.19 at the Spiked Shoe Holiday Festival at the Armory last month.

James’ time is No. 5 in Winslow history and fastest in eight years, since Torie Robinson ran 6.95 at the 2014 Meet of Champions at the Bubble. It’s also No. 16 in Camden County history

6.95 … Torie Robinson, 2014
7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil, 2012
7.17 … Krystal Cantey, 2006
7.20 … Cidae’a Woods, 2013
7.22 … Janeya Hammond, 2020
7.23 … Tionna Tobias, 2019

The Winslow Township and Rancocas Valley girls both qualified Wednesday for the Suburban 1,600-meter relay at the prestigious Millrose Games.

Winslow ran 4:01.29 and R.V. 4:04.98 to lead all qualifiers at the Millrose Games Trials at the Armory in Manhattan.

They will join Ramapo (4:06.53), Suffern, N.Y. (4:08.05), Bronxville, N.Y. (4:12.35) and Lakeland/Panas, N.Y. (4:15.43) in the suburban 1,600-meter relay at the 114th annual Millrose Games at the Armory on Jan. 29.

Winslow and R.V. posted the two-fastest times in New Jersey this year.

For Winslow, junior Briyel Brown led off with a 61.4 split, followed by senior Jaia James (59.8), junior Kamryn Holness (1:00.5) and junior Janelle Marshall (59.8).

Rancocas Valley raced with senior Sanai Jenkins (1:01.3), sophomore Leah Howe (61.6), senior Jya Marshall (62.2) and junior Kasey White (60.1).

Kingsway and Willingboro locked up in a hot 800-meter relay over the weekend that resulted in the top two times in South Jersey so far this winter.

Kingsway ran 1:31.63 and Willingboro 1:31.91 to take the top two spots in the 4-by-200 at the Hispanic Games at the Armory.

Those times rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the state this year, behind Elizabeth, which ran 1:31.62 at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival late last month. In the trials, Willingboro ran 1:32.56 and Kingsway ran 1:33.19.

Junior Damon Dukes, sophomore Benny Liles Jr., junior Matthis Alexander and senior Evan Corcoran ran for Kingsway, and seniors Miles Allen, Jaylen Young and Geordan Collins and sophomore Jackson Murry ran for Willingboro.

On the MileSplit U.S. list, Kingsway is No. 18 and Boro No. 22, but it appears that there are some club teams listed ahead of them and they should be ineligible for any in-season high school lists.

Kingsway’s 1:31.63 is a school record, and it appears that the previous record was just 1:34.32 set at the Bubble last month. Before this year, the fastest Kingsway known time was a 1:35.15 in 2016 at the Group 4 state relays, also at the Bubble.

Willingboro’s school record is a 1:30.63 from 2007, and this 1:31.91 is the Chimeras’ fastest since 2012, when they ran a series of fast 4-by-8s, including a 1:30.58 at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on the same Armory track (in December of 2011).

The Cherokee girls added the 3,200-meter relay to their array of U.S. No. 1 performances Saturday morning in Virginia.

The team of senior Nikki Clifford, junior Kelsey Niglio, sophomore Kerry O’Day and freshman Megan Niglio, who all ran on Cherokee’s Meet of Champions-winning XC team this past fall, ran 9:23.85 to win the 4-by-8 at the Liberty Premier Invitational in Lynchburg.

That performance bumped Cicero North of Syracuse out of the top spot nationally on the MileSplit U.S. performance list. Cicero North ran 9:24.71 at the George Constantino Memorial P.M. Session last month ta Onondaga Community College in Syracuse.

Kelsey Niglio led off with a 2:17.79 split, O’Day ran 2:25.93 and Megan Niglio 2:23.72 to set up Clifford’s 2:16.29 anchor.

Cherokee’s time is No. 11 in South Jersey history indoors and No. 7 in Burlington County history and shattered the indoor school record of 9:37.11 Cherokee ran at Eastern’s at the Armory in 2012 with the team of Jess Wright, Alexa Chiarelli, Sarah Robbie and Megan Lacy.

Cherokee won by about 150 meters over Marvin Ridge High of Waxhaw, N.C., who ran 9:53.83 for second place.

The Cherokee girls also rank No. 1 nationally so far this indoor season in the sprint medley (4:18.22) and distance medley (12:30.94), with Clifford and Kelsey Niglio running on all three teams.

The only faster time in school history came outdoors this past spring on Cherokee’s own track. The team of Clifford, Kelsey Niglio, Meghan Carroll and Erin Jackson ran 9:20.24 in the same race the Haddonfield girls ran a U.S. No. 1 9:04.72 at the Cherokee Relays.

Here’s a look at all the South Jersey indoor sub-9:30 performances: 

9:04.66 … Lenape, 2013
9:09.71 … Lenape, 2012
9:11.94 … Lenape, 2008
9:12.91 … Haddonfield, 2021
9:19.01 … Lenape, 2011
9:19.35 … Wilson, 2002
9:21.38 … Buena, 1999
9:22.18 … Haddonfield, 2020
9:22.30 … Lenape, 2010
9:23.71 … Lenape, 2009
9:23.85 … Cherokee, 2022
9:24.68 … Seneca, 2017
9:26.65 … Kingsway, 2020
9:26.67 … Lenape, 2007
9:27.22 … Lenape, 2014
9:28.7 ….. Willingboro, 2003
9:28.90 … Haddonfield, 2019

Highland graduate Ben Woodward, a senior at Rider, PR’d at 3,000 meters Friday at Ocean Breeze.

Woodard ran 8:30.94, finishing third and less than two seconds behind winner Mohlouwa Kool Molutsi of Monroe College at the Wagner Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island.

Molutsi won the race in 8:29.07, with Bentivegna second in 8:30.59 and Woodward third. Those three ran the entire race together, and Woodard split 1:42.9 for the first 600, then 2:19.7, 2:17.0 and 2:11.3 for his last three 800s.  

Woodard came up just over a second shy of the all-time Rider top-10, a list that already has three South Jersey runners on it. Lance Hess of Bridgeton is No. 4 at 8:25.0 from 1991, Anthony Dentino from Washington Township is No. 7 with an 8:27.47 from 2013 and Dave DeJong from Shawnee is No. 8 with his 8:28.42 from 2002.

Woodard’s previous PR for 3,000 meters was 8:34.64 outdoors from a Rider-Monmouth dual meet in Lawrenceville this past May. His previous indoor 3,000 PR was 8:40.45 from the NYC Gotham Cup two years ago this month, also at Ocean Breeze.

At Highland, Woodward was the 2017 South Jersey Group 3 cross country champion and ran 4:15.62 for 1,600 meters at the 2018 Group 3 outdoor states at Central Regional in Bayville.

Rider junior Leo Zaccaria, a North Wildwood native who attended Cape May Tech and ran for Wildwood, ran a big mile PR Friday at Ocean Breeze.

Zaccaria ran 4:16.48 and placed third in the mile at the Wagner Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island, N.Y.

Zaccaria finished behind William Cuthbertson of Wagner [4:12.38] and Karim Belmahdi of Monroe College [4:15.64].

In his only previous college race, Zaccaria ran a 4:36.10 mile in Albany last February, so that was his official previous mile PR. He ran 4:29.39 for fourth place in the 1,600 meters at the state Group 1 meet at the Bubble in the winter of 2019. 

He does have an outdoor 1,500 PR of 3:56.19 from the Metro Atlantic Outdoor Championships this past May in Lawrenceville, which converts to a 4:15.09 mile. 

At least based on the his TFRRS page, this is the first indoor race he has ever run at any distance in college.

The fastest indoor milers in Rider history from South Jersey are Terrance Armstrong of Camden (4:09.11 in 1994) and Tom Long of Cinnaminson (4:13.68 in 2000).

On Friday, Zaccaria came through 400 meters in 61.6 and the 800 in 2:06.5 before closing in 64.7 and 65.5.

The Cherokee girls took over the No. 1 spot in the U.S. in the sprint medley Wednesday with a 4:18.22 at the Bubble in Toms River.

Junior Kelsey Niglio and senior Nicole Clifford from Cherokee’s Meet of Champions-winning XC team ran the two long legs for the Chiefs, whose time is their fastest in eight years, since the 2013 team ran 4;13.00 at New Balance Nationals  at the Armory.

Fayetteville-Manlius of Manlius in Onondaga County, N.Y., outside Syracuse, previously held the top spot on the MileSplit U.S. ranking at 4:19.29 at the Section 3 Mohawk Valley Team Relays at Utica (N.Y.) College last month.

Seniors Jill Strauss and Alli Cook ran the 200s for Cherokee, Niglio split 60.4 and Clifford anchored in 2:21.4.

Niglio and Clifford ran on Cherokee’s U.S.. #1 12:30.94 DMR on the same track on Dec. 29 along with freshman Megan Niglio and sophomore Kerry O’Day.

Kingsway placed second in the sprint medley Wednesday in 4:23.37, which is No. 2 in the state this year and No. 5 nationally very early in the indoor season.

Junior Nicole Lipieta, senior Sumayyah Turner, senior Jordyn Scott and junior Aubrey Pierontoni ran for Kingsway.

Washington Township sophomore Dahlia Beasley became the first South Jersey quarter-miler to dip under 60 seconds this season with a 59.43 at the Ocean Breeze Invitational.

Beasley placed third behind Christian Nwachuku of Kent Place School in Summit (58.46) and Celine-Jada Brown of Plainfield (59.39) at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center in Staten Island, N.Y.

It was only the second indoor 400 Beasley has run. During last winter’s abbreviated indoor season she ran a 1:05.5 at the Hispanic Games at the Armory. She ran within 9-100ths of a second of her overall PR of 59.34, which she set in a dual meet last spring at Eastern.

Beasley, who also a 5-4 high jumper, ranks 7th in the state in the early going in the 400. 

Her 59.34 is fastest by a Washington Township girl indoors in 10 years, since Nicole Tiernan ran 57.44 and Megan Tiernan 58.14 in the winter of 2011. It’s fastest indoors by any Gloucester County girl indoors in four years, since Aalliya Fox of Delsea ran 59.15 at the 2018 state Group 2 meet.

Monmouth freshman Keven Kevelier, a Collingswood graduate, hit an indoor triple jump PR in his first indoor college meet ever with a 46-10 1/4 in a recent season-opening meet at Ocean Breeze.

Kevelier hit 46-10 1/4 on his second jump – one of only two legal jumps he had at the Seahawk Shootout at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.

That’s the top mark in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference early this indoor season. He’s the only jumper in the conference to surpass 45 feet so far.

It’s also No. 9 on the all-time Monmouth indoor triple jump list.

Kevelier’s previous indoor PR was 45-10 from 2020 Easterns, where he was second to Highland’s Floyd Whitaker, who jumped 46-10 3/4 that day at the Armory.

His overall triple jump PR is 47-5 1/4 from the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington, where he placed fifth. Kevelier’s college PR is 47-3 from a dual meet at Rider this past April. He went on to place sixth at the Metro Atlantic Championships at Rider.

At the Seahawk Shootout, Kevelier also cleared a lifetime-best 6-4 3/4 in the high jump. His previous PR was 6-4, which he did a number of times while at Collingswood. He had a previous college HJ best of 6-1 1/4 in a meet last March at West Point. 

Kevelier is tied for the top spot in the Metro Atlantic Conference in the high jump with teammates Blake Wehr, Rickie Casazza and Derek Vander Woude as well as with Marques Merriweather of Rider.