From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Monmouth’s Jalen Jones, a junior from Burlington Township, won his second conference 400 title Sunday at the MAAC meet at the Armory.

Jones ran 48.59 in the second race of the two-section final, edging Rider’s Jerome Boyer, who ran 48.87 in the first section.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 400 title is Jones’ third. He won the 400 indoors at the Armory in 2020 in 48.38, then won the outdoor title last spring at Rider in 48.28.

In the same race, Monmouth freshman Matt Martino of Paul VI ran a personal-best 49.01 for 3rd place. He was the top freshman in the race. Martino’s  previous best indoors was a 49.93 at Ocean Breeze last month. He ran 49.89 last spring in a meet at Monmouth. Martino had PRs of 50.41 outdoors and 50.82 indoors at Paul VI.  

Kingsway’s Stone Caraccio, a freshman at Monmouth, ran 1:52.08 for 3^rd in the 800 after a 1:52.02 in Friday’s trials. He closed in 27.74, moving up two spots on the final lap.

Caraccio came back to contribute a 1:53.07 third leg on Monmouth’s record-setting 3,200-meter relay team, which ran 7:36.98, breaking the meet record of 7:41.79 set in 2018 by the Monmouth team of Dylan Capwell, Rafferty, Marco and Cabral. Joining Caraccio were Tennessee Tremain, James Hoffman and Louis DiLaurenzio.

Rider also ran under the old record, taking second in 7:39.14. Cape May Tech graduate Leo Zaccaria, who competed for Wildwood in high school, ran the third leg for Rider, splitting 1:55.12. Nathan Armstrong, Kevin Heredia and Tamrat Snyder also ran for Rider.

Pitman graduate Sebastien Reed, another Monmouth freshman, ran 8:22.31 for 3^rd in the 3,000, and Highland’s Ben Woodward, a Rider senior was just behind in 8:32.19. On Saturday, Woodward anchored Rider’s 2^nd-place DMR with a 4:12.78. Rider ran 10:06.47. Egg Harbor’s Gobi Thurairajah ran the 800 leg in 1:58.05.

Collingswood’s Keven Kevelier, who won the high jump on Saturday with a PR 6-8 ¾ and was 4^th in the long jump, placed 4^th in the triple jump with a 46-8 ¾ on his second jump. He only had two legal jumps and hit 46-7 ¼ on the other.