They’re at it again.
We just got finished writing about Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger and George Andrus, who both broke 4:19 in the 1,600 at sectionals when Clevenger and Andrus lined up for the 3,200 and both broke 9:19.
Clevenger finished off the distance double by winning the 3,200 in 9:18.41, with Andrus just behind in 9:18.89. Delsea’s Andrew Littlehales once again wasn’t far off the pace, taking 3rd in 9:20.63.
Those times are No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 in South Jersey this year and No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 in New Jersey.
Clevenger and Andrus moved up to No. 4 and 5 on the all-time Haddonfield indoor list and No. 21 and 23 in South Jersey history. All three ran under the meet record of 9:22.73 set by Sterling’s Jimmy Daniels in 2013.
For Clevenger, the 9:18.41 breaks an indoor PR of 9:22.47 from Ocean Breeze earlier this month and is an indoor-outdoor lifetime PR as well. Andrus’s PR was 9:22.96 from the same meet, and he’s never run outdoor track so doesn’t have an outdoor 3,200 PR.
Before Friday, only six runners had broken 4:19 and 9:19 indoors in South Jersey history. And now two Haddonfield runners did it in the same race.
The six others are Gateway’s Mike Mantini [4:17.81, 9:15.8 in 1978], Haddonfield’s Jim Smith [4:15.2, 9:16.7 in 1980], Cherokee’s Marc Pelerin [4:13.68, 9:11.86 in 2002], Shawnee’s David Forward [4:16.71, 9:17.71 in 2009], Cherokee’s Ethan Wechsler [4:18.70 in 2019, 9:12.20 in 2020] and Cinnaminson’s Austin Gabay [4:18.80, 9:00.27 in 2020].
As for Littlehales, he ran 4:20 and 9:20 and got a 3rd and a 4th out of it, which is nuts. His previous 3,200 PR was 9:28.66 at the Bubble last month. His lifetime best was an outdoor 9:27.05 at states last spring at Franklin.
Littlehales’ 9:20.63 is No. 4 in Gloucester County history and broke the school record of 9:24.71 set in 2012 by Nick Costello at Group 3 stats at the Bubble.
Here’s the all-time Gloucester County indoor 3,200 top-10
9:13.93 ….. Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:15.8y ….. Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
9:20.45 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
9:20.63 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea], 2022
9:22.0y … Willie Marino [Williamstown], 1976
9:23.34 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2011
9:23.0y … Joe Siedlecki [Williamstown], 1973
9:24.71 … Nick Costello [Delsea], 2012
9:26.02 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2020
9:27.16 … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], 2020
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 