From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Haddonfield teammates George Andrus and Seth Clevenger and Delsea’s Andrew Littlehales all broke into the all-time South Jersey top-5 in the 3,200 Saturday at the Meet of Champions.

http://milesplit.live/meets/437567/events/13/F/M

Andrus placed 3rd in 9:08.09 and Clevenger was 4th in 9:08.89. Those times rank No. 3 and No. 5 in South Jersey history. Andrus’s 9:08.09 is the 3rd-fastest 3rd-place team in the meet’s 53-year history, and Clevenger’s 9:08.89 is the 2nd-fastest 4th-place time ever.

Littlehales ran 9:12.05, which is the 4th-fastest 5th-place time ever and equals No. 10 in South Jersey history. The race produced three of the 10-fastest times in South Jersey history.

Marco Langon of Bridgewater-Raritan and Jackson Barna of Ridge went 1-2 in the race in 8:48.28 and 8:51.94, the No. 2 and 3 times in the U.S. this year and the two-fastest times in New Jersey indoor history.

Here are the 10-fastest 3,200 times in Meet of Champions history by South Jersey runners. As you can see, six of the top 10 come from the last two races – 2020 at Ocean Breeze and Saturday at the Bubble.

8:58.81 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2010 [1]
9:00.27 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2020 [3]
9:08.09 … George Andrus [Haddonfield], 2022 [3]
9:08.42 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], 2020 [5]
9:08.89 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2022 [4]
9:10.4h … Ken Medlin [Haddon Twp.], 1970 [1]
9:11.7h … Mike Butynes, [Sterling], 1970 [2]
9:11.9h … Johnny Englehardt [Willingboro], 1976 [5]
9:12.05 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea], 2022 [5]
9:12.20 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2020 [7]

✓ Andrus had a previous PR of 9:18.89 from Group 2 sectionals last month, where he placed 2nd to Clevenger. He’s never run an outdoor 3,200.

✓  Clevenger’s previous PR was 9:17.39 from states last weekend at the Bubble, where he was 2nd to Littlehales. That’s where Littlehales ran his prior PR of 9:13.20.

✓  Littlehales has now lowered the Gloucester County record twice in eight days. The previous record was 9:13.93 set by Williamstown’s Paul Szulewski at the 2011 Meet of Champions. Littlehales’ time is tied for the No. 10 spot on the all-time S.J. list with Willingboro’s Johnny Englehardt, who ran 9:15.1 for two miles at the 1976 meet at Jadwin. That converts to a hand-timed 9:11.9, which converts to a 9:12.04 for fat timing, and I’m not going to put him 1-100th of a second ahead of Littlehales when his time has already been converted twice.

✓  Triton’s Dennis Fortuna also PR’d in the race, placing 13th in 9:18.19. His previous indoor PR was a 9:21.36 en route time at the New Balance Games at the Armory in January, where he ran 9:24.66 for the full two miles.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey list:
8:58.81 ….. Jonathan Vitez [Haddonfield], 2010
9:00.27 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2020
9:08.09 … George Andrus [Haddonfield, 2022
9:08.42 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], 2020
9:08.89 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2022
9:10.4y ….. Ken Medlin [Haddon Twp.], 1970
9:11.1y ..… Mike Butynes [Sterling], 1970
9:11.2y ..… Mike Elder [Haddon Twp.], 1974
9:11.86y … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2002
9:12.05 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea], 2022
9:11.9y ….. Johnny Englehardt [Willingboro], 1976
9:12.20 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2020
9:13.33 ….. Michael Rankin [Paul VI], 2010
9:13.93 ….. Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:14.31 ….. Jimmy Daniels [Sterling], 2013
9:14.70 … Martin Riddell [Haddonfield], 2020
9:15.8y ….. Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1978
9:15.76 … Kevin Pumphrey [Highland], 1986
9:16.09 ….. Aaron Groff [Cherry Hill East], 2016
9:16.7y … Jim Smith [Haddonfield], 1980
9:17.52 ….. Lou Corgliano [Hammonton], 2013
9:17.55 ….. Greg Hughes [Mainland Reg.], 2004
9:17.71 ….. Dave Forward [Shawnee], 2009
9:18.19 … Dennis Fortuna [Triton], 2022
9:18.59 … Kevin Antczak [Mainland Reg.], 2019

And here’s the all-time Meet of Champions performance list. (You’ve got to run sub-9:13 to break into the top 50!!!)
8:48.28 … Marco Langon [Bridgewater-Raritan], 2022 [1]
8:51.94 … Jackson Barna [Ridge], 2022 [2]
8:54.22 … Liam Murphy, Allentown, 2019 [1]
8:54.45 … Devin Hart, Point Pleasant Boro, 2019 [2]
8:58.16 …….. Murphy, 2020 [1]
8:58.19 … Jack Jennings [Mendham], 2020 [2]
8:58.81 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], 2010 [1]
8:59.77 … Brian Leung, West Windsor South, 2008 [1]
9:00.27 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2020 [3]
9:00.95 … Jeramy Elkaim [Livingston]. 2010 [2]
9:01.86 … Doug Smith [Gill St. Bernard’], 2008 [2]
9:02.00 … Tom O’Neill [Middletown North], 2013 [1]
9:03.58 … Craig Forys [Colts Neck], 2007 [1]
9:04.7h … Chris Inman [Essex Catholic], 1973 [1]
9:04.8h … Tim Conheeney [Paramus Catholic], 1973 [2]
9:05.6h .. Vince Cartier, [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 1971 [1]
9:06.2h … Chris Hallinan [Bernards], 1974 [1]
9:06.11 …….. Hart, 2018 [1]
9:06.58 … Mohamed Khadraoui [Paterson Kennedy], 2004 [1]
9:06.86 … Jackson Braddock [Southern Regional], 2020 [4]
9:07.17 … Tyler Udland [Millburn], 2010 [3]
9:08.09 … George Andrus [Haddonfield], 2022 [3]
9:08.32 … Jordan Brannan [Colts Neck], 2017 [1]
9:08.42 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], 2020 [5]
9:08.55 … Sean Poherence [Morris Hills], 2009 [1]
9:08.7h … Carlos Bazo [Essex Catholic], 1972 [1]
9:08.89 … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2022 [4]
9:09.54 … Vidhur Polam [South Brunswick], 2020 [6]
9:10.0h … Ed Taylor, [Edison], 1976 [1]
9:10.09 … Alex Roth [Princeton], 2017 [2]
9:10.27 … Chris Pannone [Hunterdon Central], 2004 [2]
9:10.4h … Ken Medlin [Haddon Twp.], 1970 [1]
9:10.69 … Tim Ball [Piscataway], 2012 [1]
9:10.8h … Chris Hallinan [Bernards], 1976 [2]
9:10.9h … Royce Flippin [Princeton], 1976 [3]
9:11.39 …….. Smith, 2007 [2]
9:11.55 … Matt Valeriani [Southern Regional], 2010 [4]
9:11.5h … Brian Penn [Watchung Hills], 1975 [1]
9:11.69 … Joe Kotran [Toms River North], 2010 [5]
9:11.7h … Mike Butynes, [Sterling], 1970 [2]
9:11.9h … J.J. Clark [Columbia], 1982 [1]
9:11.9h … Jerry Young [Franklin], 1976 [4]
9:11.9h … Johnny Englehardt [Willingboro], 1976 [5]
9:12.05 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea], 2022 [5]
9:12.20 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], 2020 [7]
9:12.5h … John Kiernan [Sayreville], 1982 [2]
9:12.5h … Bill Mahon [Bergen Catholic], 1970 [3]
9:12.70 … Blaise Ferro [Christian Brothers], 2014 [1]
9:12.73 … Avery Keith [Westfield], 2022 [6]
9:12.7h … Dave Thomson [Dover], 1979 [1]
9:12.96 …….. Ferro, 2015 [1]
9:13.03 … Jim Rosa [West Windsor-Plainsboro North], 2010 [6]
9:13.2h … Dave Lamm [Morris Catholic], 1975 [2]
9:13.30 … Joe Rosa [West Windsor North], 2009 [2]
9:13.33 … Mike Rankin [Paul VI], 2010 [7]
9:13.58 … Mike O’Dowd [Colts Neck], 2010 [8]
9:13.66 … William Hare [Princeton], 2017 [3]
9:13.71 … Tom Rooney [Christian Brothers], 2013 [2]
9:13.93 … Paul Szulewski [Washington Twp.], 2010 [9]
9:13.9h … Richie Gordon [Morristown] ,1970 [4]