Deptford graduate Mar’Quel Davis, a senior at Bloomfield, won the 100 at the Temple Invitational Saturday with a wind-aided but very fast PR.

Davis ran 10.45 to lead seven runners under 11 seconds at Temple. The performance was assisted by a 3.2 meters-per-second tailwind, and anything over 2.0 meters per second is considered wind-aided and not eligible for records and all-time lists.

But it can serve as a qualifier for NCAA Division 2 Nationals, and right now Davis ranks 15th in the country and No. 1 in the East Region.

The provisional 100 qualifying standard is 10.57, with 10.28 the auto qualifier.

Davis also anchored Bloomfield’s 400-meter relay team at Temple, which ran 41.61 and placed second to Rowan’s 41.16, which is No. 1 in NCAA Division 3.

Davis has a wind-legal PR of 10.51 from his win at last year’s Central Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships in Lakewood. That was actually the last open 100 he ran before Saturday.

Davis also has a 200 PR of 21.58 from a meet at Moravian College in Bethlehem last April. He won the CACC 200 in 21.72 and also had a 21.65 and 21.68 to his credit last spring. He hasn’t run an open 200 yet this spring. The NCAA D-2 200 provisional is 21.32.

This year’s CACC Championships are scheduled for May 7 back at Georgian Court in Lakewood. The Division 2 nationals are scheduled for May 26-28 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich.

Rowan junior Jah’mere Beasley from Sterling ran 10.82 in the same wind-aided section as Davis. The fastest wind-legal time of the day came from Highland’s Robert McKinney, a Rowan freshman, who won the second of three races in 10.85 with a 1.2 wind. Also in that race was Andrew Lodge of The College of New Jersey, who ran a PR 11.00. His high school PR was 11.46.

 

Shawnee graduate Amanda Demko, a College of New Jersey freshman, is off to a hot start this spring with a PR in her first open 400 of the season.

Demko only ran relays and a 200 in TCNJ’s first two meets this spring, but at the Osprey Open Saturday in Galloway Township she won the 400 over senior teammate Allison Uhl from Park Ridge in 56.99, with Uhl second in 57.30 and another TCNJ quarter-miler, junior Maria Grill if Whippany Park, 4th in 58.03.

Demko’s previous PR was a 57.46 at the Quaker Invitational last April at Franklin Field. She earned All-America honors for her leg on TCNJ’s 5th-place 1,600-meter relay team at NCAA Division 3 Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., and then ran an indoor PR 57.94 at Boston University in February and again ran on a 4-by-4 at NCAAs.

That 56.99 puts Demko in the No. 9 spot on the NCAA Division 3 performance list, and No. 1 in the NJAC. Demko, Uhl and Grill are No. 1, 2 and 4 in the conference, and TCNJ’s 4-by-4 team is No. 6 in the country with its 3:54.26 from Saturday at Stockton. Freshman Eliza Bruncaj from Hanover Park joined Grill, Uhl and Demko on the 4-by-4.

At Shawnee, Demko ran 58.54 at the 2020 indoor Meet of Champions at the Bubble.

So far this year, Edgar Rosa has only been Rowan’ 3rd-best javelin thrower.

He also happens to be the 3rd-best javelin thrower in the country.

Rosa joined a couple of his Rowan University teammates at the top of the NCAA Division 3 javelin performance list Saturday with a huge bomb in a meet at Stockton University.

Rosa, a junior from Paulsboro, actually had the two-best throws of his life Saturday at the Osprey Invitational, opening his series with a PR 210-9 and then following it up with a 212-11 on his next throw.

His previous PR was 197-3 from last year’s Fast Times Before Finals in Glassboro.

Sophomore Greg Peloso from Wayne Valley, ranked No. 1 in Division 3, won the event with a 214-9, and Rowan freshman Lane Owens from Ocean City, ranked No. 8 nationally, threw 196-5 for 3rd.

Grad student Dan McAleavey from Howell, ranked No. 2 in the country, made it a Rowan sweep of the top four spots with a 192-11 on his only legal throw. Along with decathlete Julio LeBron of Memorial of West New York, Rowan now has five of the top 24 javelin throwers in Division 3.

Ryan Gebhardt is in his first year coaching the javelin for Profs head coach Dustin Dimit. Gebhard won the 2015 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield with a throw of 206-6 for Walkill Valley and was 2017 NJAC champion for Rowan.

Here’s a look at Rowan’s javelin group with their national ranking and season best throw:

(1) Greg Peloso: 222-9
(2) Dan McAleavey: 220-2
(3) Edgar Rosa: 212-11
(8) Lane Owens: 198-3
(24) Julio LeBron: 184-4 [194-1 PR]

Rosa, who had a PR of 161-0 at Paulsboro, spent his first two years at Rowan College Gloucester County, throwing 174-10 as a freshman and 185-9 as a sophomore. He was a six-time JUCO All-America even without an indoor track program and won the javelin at the NJCAA Division 3 national championships in Utica, N.Y., in May 2019.

After sitting out the 2020 COVID season, Rosa began throwing for Rowan last spring and quickly PR’d at 191-11 and 197-3 last spring and then this past weekend took his game to a whole new level with his first two 200-foot (and 210-foot) throws.

He’s now improved over 50 feet since high school.

In the same meet, Stockton sophomore Shelton Sainvil – who had a 145-2 PR at Florence – threw a personal-best 178-5 and placed 7th. Sainvil’s previous PR was a 173-3 from last year’s Stockton Invite. Sainvil was the javelin relays partner of Olympian Curtis Thompson at Florence.

Thanks in large part to its javelin throwers, Rowan moved up from No. 2 to No. 1 in this week’s USTFCCCA NCAA Division 3 rankings. The Profs were been ranked No. 2 in the country behind Pomona-Pitzer of Claremont, Calif.

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.

Sterling graduate Sydney Coppolino shattered her 800 PR this weekend in only her third outdoor 800 since the spring of 2017.

Coppolino, a Virginia junior, ran 2:07.26 and placed 6^th in the Duke Invitational Saturday at the Morris Williams Track Stadium. She was one of three Virginia half-milers to run sub-2:08.

She actually ran in the second-to-last heat, placing second to North Carolina State’s Anna Vess, who ran 2:07.00, then she watched as her time held up for sixth place overall. She was out in 63.70 and back in 63.57.

Coppolino’s previous PR was a 2:07.96 last May at the ACC Championships in Raleigh, where she ran 2:07.96. But that was at the end of the spring season. This 2:07.26 comes early in the season with a month before the conference championships.

As a senior at Sterling, Coppolino ran 2:11.45 at the Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington and then for a variety of reasons didn’t run another outdoor 800 until last spring. She literally went nearly four years without running a competitive outdoor 800, although she did run 2:09.18 indoors at the indoor ACC meet in Blacksburg, Va., in February.

Her 2:07.26 ranks 11^th in Virginia history – 1-100^th of a second outside the all-time top-10. She’s No. 64 nationally in NCAA Division 1 and No. 8 in the ACC.

Coppolino is the second South Jersey girl under 2:10 so far this spring. Lenape graduate Shelby Whetstone, a Rutgers sophomore from Lenape, ran 2:08.02 at the Stanford Invitational.

Delsea graduate and Southern Illinois senior Elisia Lancaster added another 10 feet to her already-formidable hammer PR in a recent meet in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Lancaster threw 218-9 at the Joey Haines Invitational at Southeastern Missouri and actually posted three PRs in one competition.

That’s No. 66 in U.S. history.

Lancaster finished second to post-grad DeAnna Price, a two-time Olympian and the U.S. record holder. Price, whose PR of 263-5 is No. 2 in world history, threw 226-8. She is a Southern Illinois graduate.

Lancaster’s previous PR was her 208-5 at a meet in late March in Murray, Ky.

She had a tremendous series at Cape Girardeau, with throws of 209-7, foul, 214-8, 204-11, foul and then the 218-9 on her final attempt.

So she actually PR’d three times with the 209-7, 214-8 and 218-9.

Her average throw of 212-0 on her four legal throws was actually more than three feet beyond her previous PR.

With her 218-9, Lancaster moves up to No. 12 in NCAA Division 1 this year and No. 12 among all U.S. women.

Lancaster finished eight inches ahead of teammate Shauneice O’Neal, and the two of them moved up into the No. 5 and No. 7 spots in school history.

Lancaster’s 218-9 is the best mark by a Southern Illinois hammer thrower since Price threw 239-9 when she placed 5th at the World Championships in London in August 2016.

With her 218-9, Lancaster fell just short of the A standard of 219-9 for the 2022 U.S. National Championships in Eugene in June. She has until June 12 to hit the standard.

Next for Lancaster is the Illini Invitational in Champaign, Ill., April 22-23.

Lancaster began her college track career at Rowan College Gloucester County, where she won six NJCAA national titles. She spent one indoor season at Towson before landing in Carbondale.

Here’s a look at Lancaster’s year-by-year hammer improvement:

2018 [Rowan-Gloucester]: 154-0 [NJCAA Division 3 Nationals, Utica, N.Y.]
2019 [Rowan-Gloucester]: 182-2 [Towson (Md.) Invitational]
2020: Did not compete
2021 [Southern Illinois]: 207-11 [Rock Chalk Classic, Lawrence, Kans.]
2022 [Southern Illinois]: 218-9 [ Joey Haines Invitational, Cape Girardeau, Mo.]

Did Delsea senior Enrico Barnett just PR by 10 inches in the high jump?

A) That’s not possible.

B) It looks like he did.

Barnett won the high jump Saturday at the Deptford Spartan Relays with a 6-4 clearance.

That’s a nice jump under any circumstances. It’s No. 2 in the state this year and No. 1 in South Jersey.

But if Barnett’s MileSplit profile is correct, then this was only the second major high jump competition of Barnett’s track career. And in the first – the Delsea Crusader Field #2 last May – he cleared 5-6 and placed 6th.

Now, MileSplit doesn’t include dual meets, but they don’t miss much when it comes to weekend meets, championship meets and invitationals.

Barnett matched the best jump by a Delsea athlete in seven years, since Ameer Banks cleared 6-10 at the 2015 South Jersey Invitational at his home track at Delsea. Banks shares the school record with Josh Butler, who cleared 6-10 at Group 3 sectionals at Buena and states

If the info we have is wrong, let us know. But either way, that’s a heck of a performance by Barnett starting off his senior year.

EDIT: Did Enrico PR by 10 inches? Here’s your answer!

 

Chris Mirabelli opened the 2022 outdoor season with his biggest javelin throw in five years.

Mirabelli, a Holy Cross and Rutgers graduate, threw 246-5 to place second at the Duke Invitational at Morris Williams Stadium in Durham, N.C.

Competing for the Garden State Track Club, the 25-year-old Mirabelli finished second to two-time NCAA champ from Illinois State Tim Glover, who threw 247-03. Mirabelli and Glover both surpassed the previous facility record of 232-11, set by North Carolina’s Houston Summers at the 2016 Battle of the Blues.

Mirabelli averaged 241-6 on his four legal throws in Durham. He opened with a 241-2, then after a foul hit 246-5 on his third throw. He finished with a 235-11, another foul and a 242-9.

It’s Mirabelli’s best throw since he won the 2017 Penn Relays at Penn’s River Fields with a Rutgers school record 251-6, and it’s his 4th-best result ever below only three 2017 meets (251-6 at Penn, 250-0 at the Metropolitan Championships at Rutgers and 246-7 when he won the Big Ten Championships at Penn State).

In only his 4th meet since he finished 2019 at U.S. Nationals, Mirabelli now ranks No. 8 among U.S. men this year and 54th in the world. In 2017, he finished the year ranked No. 6 among U.S. men.

Younger brother Nick, who’s 21, ranked 19th among U.S. men in 2019 with a PR 236-6 throw in Austin. He’s a junior at Texas A&M and competed three weeks ago for the first time since 2019. He’s fully recovered after suffering a torn labrum before the 2021 season began – the same injury Chris recovered from earlier in his career.

Eastern’s Jewel Ash shattered the Charleston Southern intermediate hurdles school record Saturday for the second time this year.

Ash, a Charleston Southern sophomore, lowered her personal best and school record from 59.22 to 58.83 at the Aggie Invitational in Greensboro, N.C. She had run 59.22 at the Raleigh Relays on March 26.

Her time is No. 29 in NCAA Division 1 and it’s 8th-fastest in Big South Conference history.

Ash ran 1:01.46 at Eastern when she placed 6th in the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington. She didn’t run any 400IH races in 2020 due to the shutdown and then had a best time of 59.50 last spring in the trials of the Big South Championships in High Point. She went on to win the conference title with a slightly slower time and also placed 2nd in the high hurdles and ran on 1st-place 4-by-1 and 4-by-4 teams.

Because of the 2020 COVID shutdown, this race was only her seventh intermediate hurdles race since the end of the 2019 season.

Her time is fastest by a South Jersey alumni since 2015, when Lenape graduate Evann Thompson and Winslow’s Ste’yce McNeil both ran faster.

Thompson set a Pitt school record of 56.87 at the NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville, and McNeil, competing for Mississippi State, ran 58.38 at the Starkville (Miss.) Jeace LaCoste Invitational.

The fastest 400IH ever run a South Jersey product is Rancocas Valley graduate Tonya Lee’s 55.78 for Tennessee when she won the 1996 Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif.

Ash placed first in her race among college hurdlers. She placed second to Akala Garrett, running unattatched, who ran 57.65. Garrett was the national high school champion last year in the intermediates and runner-up in the high hurdles. 

Amirah Sharpe ran the 7th-fastest 400 in South Jersey history Saturday, and twin sister Arianna wasn’t far behind.

The Sharpes raced at the Aggie Invitational at North Carolina A&T University’s Belk Stadium in Greensboro.

Amirah ran 54.19, lowering her previous PR of 55.16 by nearly a second. She ran 55.16 last spring at the Metuchen Relays.

Sharpe’s time is No. 16 in New Jersey and No. 6 in South Jersey history and fastest in 13 years, since Michelle Brown of Seneca ran 52.91 at the 2009 Nike Outdoor Nationals on the same track in Greensboro. It’s fastest by any New Jersey girl since double Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic ran 51.87 at the 2016 Meet of Champions at Central Regional in Bayville.

If the Sharpes still attend Clayton, Sharpe’s time is No. 2 in Glouester County history and fastest in 26 years, behind only a 53.51 Dana Burnett of Williamstown ran in 1996 at Outdoor Nationals in Raleigh, N.C.

Amirah Sharpe placed 4th in a field of mainly college quarter-milers, and Arianna was 6th in 54.98.

Although the New Jersey MileSplit database hasn’t updated thee marks, Amirah’s time looks like No. 5 in the country so far this year, and Arianna would be No. 16.

Arianna Sharpe’s time is No. 14 in South Jersey history. Her previous PR was a 56.09 last month at Armory Nationals, and her outdoor PR was 56.58 from last year’s state Group 1 meet at Pennsauken, where she was second to Amirah.

Sharpe’s time also hasn’t shown up yet on the IAAF world lists, but it looks like Amirah would be No. 4 on the world Under-20 list (and No. 4 among American women), and Arianna would be No. 8.

The qualifying standard for the women’s 400 at the U.S. Under-20 Championships scheduled for June 23-25 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., is 55.20, so Amirah and Arianna are both eligible. The qualifying window, which opened on June 9 last year, closes June 12.

Results should be here, but they are still showing the heat sheets.

The Sharpe sisters – Amirah, Arianna and Ariel – competed for Paulsboro as freshman and after the 2020 outdoor season was cancelled, they competed for a club team during the 2021 indoor season, then resurfaced at Clayton, leading the Clippers to the state Group 1 title last spring.

But they have competed exclusively unattatched this spring, and it’s not clear what school they actually attend, so their times are now included in our all-time lists but without a school designation. Athletes are eligible for all our lists as long as they’re attending a South Jersey high school, whether or not they’re competing for the school’s track program.

51.87 … Sydney McLoughlin [Union Catholic], 2016
51.98 … Athing Mu [Trenton], 2019
52.46 … Olivia Baker [Columbia], 2014
52.56 … Mikele Barber [Montclair], 1998
52.91 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009
53.0h … Stephanie Saleem [Neptune], 1985
53.51 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996
53.64 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
53.66 … Giselle Harris [Shabazz], 1986
53.84 … Drexel Long [Monmouth], 1991
54.00 … English Gardner [Eastern], 2007
54.04 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1998
54.04 … Ajee’ Wilson [Neptune], 2012
54.0h … Natalie Jordan [Paterson East Side], 1984
54.19 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.19 … Amirah Sharpe [Unknown], 2022
54.20 … Emile Cowan [Columbia], 2015
54.21 … Jennifer Edobi [Union], 2014
54.1h … Donithy Jones [Montclair], 1981
54.23 … Symone O’Connor [Franklin Twp.]. 2007
54.31 … Tawana Watkins [JFK-Paterson], 2000
54.33 … Victoria Vanriel [Governor Livingston], 2019
54.34 … Tiffany Grant [Ocean Township], 2019
54.36 … Shakira Dancy [Winslow Twp.], 2018
54.41 … Dennisha Page [Woodrow Wilson], 2019
54.23 … Symone O’Connor [Franklin Twp.]. 2007
54.3h … Regina Trotter [Weequahic], 1981
54.48 … Julia Jackson [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 2021
54.51 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1998
54.62 … Audrey Wilson [Deptford], 2008
54.75 … Faleesha Dowe [Penns Grove], 2014
54.93 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2004
54.98 … Arianna Sharpe [Unknown], 2022

52.91 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009
53.51 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1996
53.64 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
53.00 … English Gardner [Eastern], 2007
54.04 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1998
54.19 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.19 … Amirah Sharpe [Unknown], 2022
54.36 … Shakira Dancy [Winslow Twp.], 2018
54.41 … Dennisha Page [Woodrow Wilson], 2019
54.51 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1998
54.62 … Audrey Wilson [Deptford], 2008
54.75 … Faleesha Dowe [Penns Grove], 2014
54.93 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2004
54.98 … Arianna Sharpe [Unknown], 2022