Rowan made the trip down to Alabama a successful one with the fastest time in the country in NCAA Division 3 in the 1,600-meter relay.
The Profs – with Sterling High graduates on two of the legs – ran 3:12.77 at the War Eagle Invitational at Auburn University Saturday not only recording the fastest time this year in Division 3 but winning the race and finishing ahead of several Division 1 programs, including Indiana State, Harvard and Georgia Tech.
Splits are not listed unfortunately in the official results, but junior Marquise Young led off for Rowan and his high school teammate Jah’mere Beasley ran the third leg. Sophomores Nana Agyemang from Parsippany and Amara Conte from Ferris High in Jersey City also raced for the Profs, with Conte anchoring.
Conte is the only one of those four who ran last May when Rowan won the NCAA Division 3 national title in the 4-by-4 in 3:11.81.
Rowan set its school record of 3:10.56 in Iowa in 2012 with Jayce Maxwell of Monsignor Donovan in Toms River, Taylor Purdue of Highland Lakes, Ali Ejaz from Glassboro High and Absegami’s Demetrius Rooks.
Rowan is already No. 4 in NCAA Division in the 400-meter relay with John Owens from West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Highland’s Robert McKinney, Beasley and Agyemang. They ran 41.16 last week at the Temple Invitational.
The Profs ran 41.69 in the 4-by-1 Saturday with that same lineup and placed 6th in a field of Division 1 schools.
Also at Auburn, Beasley ran a season-best 10.79 in the 100 with a legal wind, Conte ran a PR 47.89 in the 400 [No. 7 in Division 3], Washington Township’s Jake Kolodzej ran a season-best 1:52.85 in the 800 [No. 19 in D-3], Young ran a wind-legal PR of 14.70 in the 110 highs [No. 13 in D-3] and Joe DeVito [Jackson Liberty] ran 55.20 in the 400IH [No. 30].
Click here to see the full list of ranked Rowan athletes.
Rowan is ranked No. 1 nationally in NCAA Division 3 by the USTFCCCA [United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 