From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Rowan scored 19 points in the long jump and javelin on Day 1 of the NCAA Track Championships and advanced two others into the finals.

Rowan led the team scoring race by five points going into Day 2 on Friday at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Sophomore Ahmir Johnson of Wissahickon High School in Lower Gwynedd Township, Montgomery County, PR’d in the long jump with a 24-9 ¾ for 2nd place in the long jump, and sophomore Nana Agyemang from Parsippany took 5th with a 23-11 ½ jump.

Johnson – the No. 14 seed – had a huge series with consecutive jumps of 24-6, 24-9 ¾ and 24-7 ½ – all beyond his PR of 24-1 ¾ from the New Jersey Athletic Association Championships earlier this month in Ewing, where he placed 2nd to Agyemang.

This is Johnson’s 3rd All-America honor but first in the long jump. He earned All-America honors when he won the triple jump national title last spring in Greensboro, N.C., and again indoors when he placed 4th in the triple jump this past indoor season in Winston-Salem, N.C. He’s the No. 5 seed in the triple jump, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday.

Johnson missed the Rowan school record of 24-10 by just a quarter of an inch. That was set by Eastern graduate Jeffrey Tucker at the 2017 Oscar Moore Invite in Glassboro.

This is Agyemang’s 4th All-America performance. He ran on Rowan’s 7th-place team in the 400-meter relay last spring in Greensboro and this past winter ran on the 1st-place 1,600-meter relay team and took 6th in the long jump in Winston-Salem.

In the javelin, junior Greg Poloso from Wayne Valley placed 3rd with a 216-3 throw for six points and grad student Dan McAleavey from Howell was 8th at 206-10 for one point. Freshman Lance Owens from Ocean City and senior Edgar Rosa from Paulsboro didn’t medal, but both PR’d – Owens with a 203-1 and Rosa with 202-4.

Sophomore Jah’mere Beasley ran 20.91 in the 200 trials, breaking the school record and advancing to the final, scheduled for 2:50 p.m. Saturday. He’ll be the No. 5 seed in the final.

Beasley broke the school record of 21.18 that was originally set by Al Ejaz of Glassboro in 2012 and tied by Beasley last year at the Fast Times Before Finals at Rowan.

The top 11 runners in the 200 PR’d, five of them with wind-aided performances. Beasley’s 20.91 was achieved with a legal tailwind of 1.9 meters per second. Ramapo junior Cheickna Traore from Innovation High in Jersey City was the 2nd-fastest qualifier at 20.73 but broke the meet record of 20.80 set by SUNY Oneonta’s Sean Bernstein in 2012 because the fastest qualifier – J.P. Vaught of Centre College in Danville, Ky. – ran a wind-aided 20.64.

Rowan ran the 3rd-fastest qualifying time in the 1,600-meter relay, with senior John Owens of West Windsor-Plainsboro North, junior Marquise Young of Sterling, Agyemang and sophomore Amara Conte of Ferris High in Jersey City running 3:13.44. The final is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.

Also, freshman Treshan Stevenson from Millville PR’d in the intermediates at 53.78. Although he didn’t advance to the final, he was the 3rd freshman and placed 15th overall.

Going into Day 2, Rowan has 19 points, five more than 2nd-place Wisconsin-Eau Clare. Wisconsin-Platteville (11), Carroll of Wisconsin (10) and MIT of Cambridge, Mass., have 10 each.

In the women’s meet, Shawnee graduate Amanda Demko ran on The College of New Jersey’s 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams, which both advanced to the final. Demko ran the second leg on the 4-by-1, which ran K46.64, 5th-fastest qualifying time, and she anchored the 4-by-4, which ran 3:49.62, 9th-fastest. Both finals are on Saturday.

TCNJ’s previous school record in the 4-by-1 also came in the preliminary round of nationals – 17 years ago at the 2005 NCAA Division 3 championships, when the Lions won the second heat in the trials in 47.01 at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.