From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Some 17 runners, jumpers and throwers will represent South Jersey at the 126th Penn Relays later this month at Franklin Field.

You can find the complete schedule here: https://pennrelaysonline.com/results/schedule.aspx

And click here for the full high school fields: https://pennrelays.com/news/2022/4/12/penn-relays-announces-high-school-mile-3k-field-event-entries.aspx

The 4-by-8 and DMR fields, which have an extra week of qualifying time, will be announced next week.

The Penn Relays, cancelled in both 2020 and 2021, is scheduled to return April 28-30.

BOYS MILE
Kingsway senior Kyle Rakitis is the 10th seed with his indoor PR of 4:12.79 when he placed second at Ocean Breeze Nationals in March, No. 3 in South Jersey indoor history. His overall is 4:10.09 for a full mile, but that was achieved at Outdoor Nationals last summer (before the Penn qualifying window for everything other than discus and javelin). Top seed is Gary Martin of Archbihop Wood in Warminster, who ran 4:02.34 last month at Armory Nationals – fastest ever in a high school-only race.

BOYS 3,000
The Haddonfield duo of junior George Andrus and senior Seth Clevenger qualified by running 8:33.09 and 8:33.89 equivalents over 3,200 meter at the Meet of Champions. Triton’s Dennis Fortuna also made the cut and is the 27th and final seed with his 8:43.19, converted from a 9:24.66 converion.

BOYS HIGH JUMP
Cherry Hill East senior Dillon Page cleared 6-6 at the Group 4 indoor state meet to punch his ticket to Franklin Field. He placed 2nd there to Damarion Potts of South Brunswick, the No. 1 seed with a 6-9.

BOYS LONG JUMP
Lumberton resident Greg Foster, a senior at Lawrenceville School, is No. 1 seed with his 24-5 ½, No. 2 in state history indoors behind Carl Lewis. South Jersey has another top-10 seed in senior Chace Pearson of Timber Creek, who hit 23-3 when he won the indoor Meet of Champions at the Bubble. Senior Connor Wright of Hammonton, who jumped a PR 22-0 ½ at the Meet of Champions, also made the field as the No. 15 seed.

BOYS TRIPLE JUMP
Senior Jaden Johnson, the other half of Timber Creek’s outstanding horizontal jumping duo, is No. 9 seed in the triple jump with his 46-11 ¾ monster jump that earned him 4th place at Ocean Breeze Nationals last month.

BOYS POLE VAULT
Cherry Hill East senior Noah Kriesman is No. 10 seed based on his 15-0 clearance at the Bubble back in late December.

BOYS SHOT PUT
Delsea senior Jason Nwosu and Willingboro senior C.J. Johnson are headed to Penn, Nwosu as the No. 5 seed with his 62-0 ½ to win the state Group 3 meet. Johnson threw over 55 feet three times this winter with a PR of 55-11 ¼ at a Cherokee Throwdown in January.

BOYS JAVELIN
Senior Austin Hudak joins Peretti representing the Hammonton throws team. Hudak threw 188-2 in the season-opening Jim Camburn Relays at Buena. He ranks No. 2 so far in New Jersey and No. 20 nationally.

GIRLS 3,000
Northern Burlington freshman Liliah Gordon will represent South Jersey in the 3K. Gordon qualified with a 10:01.90 converted from her 10:49.55 full two-mile at Ocean Breeze Nationals. The fastest Burlington County girl ever at Penn is Megan Lacy of Cherokee, who ran 9:44.72 in 2012.

GIRLS HIGH JUMP
Sophomores Alanna Woolfolk of Clayton and Dahlia Beasley of Washington Township made the 18-girl field. Woolfolk cleared 5-6 twice indoors at the Bubble when she won the state Group 1 and Meet of Champions titles. Beasley qualified with a couple indoor 5-4’s but has already cleared 5-6 this spring at last weekend’s Husky Relays in Matawan. But she goes in seeded at 5-4 becaue that clearance came after the qualifying window had closed for individual events.

GIRLS SHOT PUT
Williamstown junior Ciara Demarest PR’d with her 40-5 to win the Group 4 sectionals at the Bubble in February, earning the No. 15 seed at Penn. She’ll be throwing at the River Fields adjacent to the Schuylkill Expressway just southeast of Franklin Field.

GIRLS DISCUS
Hammonton junior Emma Peretti made the field with her 120-5 last spring at the Atlantic County Championships at Buena. The only events athletes can qualify for from last spring are events that aren’t contested indoors.

GIRLS JAVELIN
Millville junior Leah Howard snagged a spot at Penn with her 123-3 last June when she won the South Jersey Group 4 meet, and Audubon senior Aysiah Maldonado got in just under the wire with a 112-3 at the season-opening Don Danser Relays the weekend of the field event cutoff. Maldonado didn’t throw last year but has a PR of 122-10 from 2019 Meet of Champions, where she placed 10th as a freshman.