Kylie Anicic, a Kingsway graduate now a sophomore at Edinboro (Pa.) University, recorded a huge 1,500 PR and NCAA Division 2 provisional qualifier over the weekend in North Carolina.

Anicic ran 4:30.52 at the Charlotte 49er Classic at the Irwin Belk Center. The NCAA D-2 qualifying standard is 4:32.67.

It was her first outdoor race in nearly three years.

Anicic finished second to Genevieve Schwartz of East Tennessee State, the Southern Conference mile champ, who ran 4:26.29. Schwartz, a 4:46.05 miler, closed in 65.85.

After getting out in 55.86 for the first 300 meters, Anicic split 72.77, 72.63 and 69.27 for her last three laps, so she closed in 2:21.90 for her final 800.

Anicic’s time is the equivalent of a 4:52.16 mile. Her previous 1,500 PR was 4:36.42, which she ran while attending Towson (Md.) University in April of 2019 at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton. Her mile PR is 4:58.38.

Her time is No. 3 in Edinboro history and No. 8 so far this spring season in NCAA Division 2.

Her last outdoor race was on June 21, 2019, when she ran 4:44.24 for 1,500 meters and placed 7th in the USATF Under-20 Championships in Miramar, Fla.

Anicic began her college career playing soccer at Temple before spending the 2019 indoor and outdoor seasons and 2020 indoor season at Towson. The 2020 season was wiped out because of COVID and after she transferred to Edinboro she was ineligible to compete until this past winter season.

Indoors, Anicic ran that 4:58.38 mile [No. 3 in Edinboro history], 9:43.39 for 3,000 meters [school record] and 16:48.19 for 5,000 meters [No. 3 in school history].

NCAA Division 2 nationals are scheduled for May 26-28 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich.

At Kingsway, Anicic ran 2:17.59 and 5:07.11.

Emily Hilt opened her 2022 outdoor season with a hammer throw bomb, a school record and the No. 6 throw in NCAA Division 3.

Hilt, a Rutgers Camden senior from Kingsway, threw 164-3 to win the Stockton Invitational Saturday in Galloway Township, breaking her hammer PR and previous school record of 155-1 set at the same facility at the Osprey Twilight Invitational last April.

It’s the best throw by any New Jersey Athletic Conference woman in the last 10 years. Year-by-year results on TFRRS (Track and Field Results Reporting System) only go back to 2013.

Hilt, who focused on the shot and discus at Kingsway, didn’t start throwing the hammer until last spring. Her first hammer competition was the Stockton Invitational a year ago this week.

On Saturday, Hilt also won the shot put with a 41-11 ¼ throw and was 3^rd in the discus with a 113-9.

Hilt was only eight inches off her shot put PR of 42-7 ¼, which she set last May at the Rowan Last-Chance Invitational in Glassboro. Her throw is No. 7 in Division 3 so far this spring.

Her discus PR is 119-4 from last spring’s NJAC Championships at Ramapo in Mahwah, and the school record is 121-11 set by Washington Township graduate Donna-Marie Kirk at the 2004 NJAC Championships at Stockton.

At Kingsway, Hilt threw 38-10 (and 40-8 ¾) indoors) and 127-7. She was a sectional discus champ and state medalist and sectional medalist in the shot.

Pennsville’s Zach Manorowitz set a long jump PR Saturday in his season opener with the No. 2 jump in Rider history.

Manorowitz leaped 24-8 ½ and placing 2^nd in the Rider 5-Way Meet. He fouled on five of his six attempts but PR’d on his one legal attempt with a legal 1.4 meters-per-second wind. His jump is No. 24 in NCAA Division 1 in the early going this outdoor season.

After passing twice, Fairleigh Dickinson’s Salif Mane jumped 24-11 3/4 on his final jump to win the event.

Earlier this month, Manorowitz finished his indoor season by winning the long jump at the 100^th annual IC4A Championships at Boston University with a 24-4 ½. He set his lifetime indoor-outdoor PR of 24-5 ¾ at the Armory last month when he won the Metro Atlantic Conference Championships.

He set his previous outdoor PR of 24-5 last May at the Metro Atlantic Championships at his home track in Lawrenceville.

The only jumper ahead of Manorowitz on the all-time Rider list is Pennsauken High School graduate Desmond Hamilton, who leaped 25-8 ¼ in a dual meet in 2007 and later transferred to USC.

Manorowitz is also No. 2 all-time at Rider indoors behind Hamilton West graduate Tyree Adams, who jumped 24-9 ¼ at the 2017 Metro Atlantic Conference meet at the Armory.

At Pennsville, Manorowitz had a high school PR of 21-6, which he set when he placed 3^rd at the state Group 1 meet at Franklin High School

Williamstown graduate Devin Bradham is still high jumping, and on Saturday – in only his second meet since graduating from Penn State in the spring of 2019 – cleared 6-10 ¼ at the Rider 5-Way Meet in Lawrenceville.

Bradham’s only other meet since college was at Thomas Edison Park in Edison last June, where he cleared 6-6.

Bradham’s 6-10 ¼ clearance is his best since May 25, 2019, when he cleared 7-1 at the NCAA East Preliminary Round meet in Jacksonville. It’s his highest clearance ever in his home state, a fraction higher than the 6-10 he cleared when he won the 2015 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield.

At Penn State, Bradham set his PR of 7-1 ½ at the 2019 Jim Thorpe Invitational in State College and then repeated that two weeks later at the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, where he placed 5^th.

In all, Bradham cleared 7 feet five times in college and 6-11 or better in an additional five meets.

He ranks 7^th in Penn State history and is currently ranked 24^th among U.S. men.

Bradham is currently jumps coach at Rider.

Andrew Lodge’s crazy improvement from high school to college continued Saturday when he broke 22 seconds in the 200 for the first time.

Lodge never broke 23 seconds at Shawnee.

Lodge’s time is No. 3 in TCNJ history, behind four-time All-America Eric Green from Clifford Scott High in East Orange, who ran 21.34 twice in 2002 – in the trials and the finals of the NCAA Division 3 Championships in St. Paul, Minn., where he placed 4^th (the race was won by William Paterson’s Robert Hargrove from Vineland) – and Chris Medina of Monsignor Donovan in Toms River, who ran 21.85 at TCNJ’s own Last Chance Invitational in Ewing in 2012.

It was his first outdoor race ever for TCNJ and his first outdoor 200 in nearly three years.

Lodge’s time is No. 3 in TCNJ history, behind Eric Green, who ran 21.34 in 2002, and Chris Medina, who ran 21.95 in 2012.

That 21.93 is also No. 18 in NCAA Division 3 in the early going this year and No. 1 among NJAC sprinters.

At Shawnee, Lodge ran 24.29 as a freshman in 2016, 23.51 as a sophomore, 24.04 as a junior and PR’d with a 23.09 for 12th place in 2019 at the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea. He did run 50.88 in the 400, good for 2nd place in the County Open at Rancocas Valley behind Cinnaminson’s John Meekins.

At TCNJ, Lodge ran 22.83 indoors as a freshman in 2020 in a meet in Boston and also PR’d at 400 meters with a 50.18 at the same meet.

This past indoor season, he had a breakthrough in the 400, setting an indoor school record of 48.89 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze, taking 2nd behind Rowan’s Amara Conte, who ran 48.45, but he didn’t run the 200 at the conference meet (although he did lead off TCNJ’s 3rd-place 4-by-4).

He did lower his 200 PR to 22.46 in Boston, but he only ran the open 200 twice.

But this weekend he PR’d by more than half a second in his first outdoor 200 since the 2019 Olympic Conference Championships at Washington Township, where he placed 3rd in 23.19.

Delsea graduate Elisia Lancaster, a senior at Southern Illinois, opened her 2022 outdoor season with a PR in the hammer throw in a meet in Murray, Ky.

Lancaster threw 208-5 at the Margaret Simmons Invitational at Hamilton Field about a half mile from the Murray State University campus. Her previous PR was a 207-11 from last April at the Rock Chalk Classic in Lawrence, Kans.

Post-graduate Deanna Price, the American record holder, a two-time Olympic finalist and the 2019 world champion, won the event with a throw of 237-6.

Southern Illinois teammates Shauniece O’Neal and Lancaster placed 2nd and 3rd, O’Neal with a throw of 214-3 and Lancaster with her 208-5. They are the top two marks in Southern Illinois history and they rank No. 6 and No. 12 in NCAA Division 1 so far this spring.

Lancaster, who placed 10th at the NCAA Championships in Birmington two weeks ago in the weight throw, now ranks No. 12 among U.S. women.

Jewel Ash shattered her own Charleston Southern 400-meter intermediate hurdles school record Saturday, leading three South Jersey girls among the top seven finishers at the Raleigh Relays.

Ash, an Eastern graduate, won the event at North Carolina State’s Paul Derr Track in 59.22, breaking her own school record of 59.50 set last year when she won the event at the Big South Championships in High Point, N.C.

Two other South Jersey runners ran collegiate bests in the race. Princeton freshman Arianna Smith of Pennsville placed 4th in 1:00.51 and Penn freshman Aliya Garozzo from Paul VI ran 1:01.43 for 7th.

Ash’s time is No. 11 in NCAA Division 1 so far this year. This was her first intermediate hurdles race since her 59.50 in May.

These three women are no strangers. They’ve been racing against each other for years. At the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington, Smith won the intermediates, Garozzo was 4th and Ash was 6th as a junior.

On Saturday, Garozzo raced in the 1st of six 400IH sections, Smith in the 3rd and Ash in the final race.

Smith and Garozzo moved into the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the 2022 Ivy League list. Smith’s time is No. 8 in Princeton history, and Garozzo’s time is No. 7 in Penn history.

 

Curtis Thompson uncorked one of the biggest throws of his life Friday in Austin.

Thompson, an Olympian and two-time U.S. javelin champion, threw 263-11 at the 94th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike Myers Stadium on the University of Texas campus.

The Florence High School graduate won the event by 5 ½ feet over Olympic Trials finalist Zach Holland of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., who threw a personal-best 258-6.

Thompson’s 263-10 is Thompson’s 6th-farthest throw ever and just eight feet and one inch off his lifetime best of 271-11, which he threw at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Thompson and Holland are now No. 1 and No. 2 in the U.S. this year. Thompson is No. 10 in the world, and Holland is No. 16. The meet produced four of the top 27 throws in the world this year.

Thompson opened his series Friday in Austin with a 255-3 and a foul. Holland took the lead with his 258-6 on his 3rd throw and 19-year-old Baylor freshman Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi of Nigeria threw a PR 257-3 on his 5th throw to bump Thompson into 3rd place.

Thompson hit 253-7 219-1 and 239-1 on his 3rd, 4th and 5th attempts before securing the win on his final throw. Nnamdi’s throw is No. 2 in Nigerian history, behind only a 266-0 by Pius Bazighe at Athens Tsiklitiria in 1999.

Here’s a look at Thompson’s eight lifetime 260-foot throws:
271-11… Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 4, 2016
271-7 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 21, 2021
267-2 … USATF Throws Fest, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 22, 2021
265-10 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 17, 2021
265-10 … Florida State Relays, Mike Long Track, Tallahassee, Fla., March 25, 2016
263-10 … 94th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Mike A. Myers Stadium, Austin, Texas, March 25, 2022
260-11 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 30, 2016
260-1 … NACAC Under-23, San Salvador, Estadio Jorge “Mágico” González, June 17, 2016

Cinnaminson graduate Mike Ungvarsky ran a big steeplechase PR Friday in Raleigh, N.C.

Ungvarsky, a Duke junior, ran 8:53.10 and placed 11th out of 53 runners in the 3,000 steeple at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State’s Paul Derr Stadium. He was 3rd in his section.

His previous steeple PR was 9:02.04 from the 2019 Penn Relays. He didn’t race outdoors in the spring of 2020 or 2021, and his entire 2019 outdoor season consisted of a few relay legs and four steeples.

Ungvarsky’s time is No. 5 in Duke history. After getting out in 38 seconds for the first 200, he split 71.33, 71.12, 69.68, 69.40, 71.83, 72.02 and 69.74.

Ungvarsky never ran a steeplechase until he arrived at Duke. This was his first steeple in almost three years, since he ran 9:15.11 at the 2019 ACC Championships in Charlottesville, Va., in May of 2019.

Who’s the last South Jersey runner to go sub-9 in the steeplechase? 

Great question and I have no idea what the answer is. If you know of any, please let me know in the comment’s section! 

In the first outdoor 400 of her collegiate career, Eastern graduate Jewel Ash broke the Charleston Southern school record Friday afternoon.

Ash ran 54.04 at the Raleigh Relays, breaking the school record of 54.39 set by Dionne Gibson at the 2008 Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.

It’s Ash’s second school record at Charleston Southern. She ran 59.50 in the intermediates last spring in the prelims at the Big South Conference Championships in High Point, N.C.

Ash broke her 400 PR of 55.37, which she ran this past indoor season at the Big South Conference Indoor Championships at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she placed 2nd to North Carolina A&T’s Delecia McDuffie.

Ash ran her 54.04 in the 10th of 12 sections, and her time held up for 2nd overall even after the two “fast” sections. McDuffie was the only quarter-miler to bump Ash with her 53.46 in the final race.

Ash’s time is No. 15 in NCAA Division 1 so far this spring.

Ash is also No. 6 in school history in the 100 hurdles at 14.14 and No. 2 in the indoor 400 with her 55.37. She’s run 14.14 twice, including into a 1.2 meters-per-second wind last weekend in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The women’s 400-meter hurdles is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday. The official meet timing site does not yet have a start list for the event, but based on her flat 400 time you would think Ash’s 400IH PR is in jeopardy in good conditions.

In the same event Friday, Cherry Hill East graduate Maya Drayton, a Georgetown junior, ran 56.70. Drayton and Ash were briefly teammates at Cherry Hill East in 2017.