There were just too many impressive performances over the weekend at Meet of Champions and New Balance Nationals to write about everybody. Wish I could!
So here’s a look at 10 athletes (actually 12) whose performances you may have missed that I didn’t want to go unnoticed.
If you or your athlete had a great weekend and isn’t listed and, I’m really sorry. I do the best I can to highlight a variety of performances in various events from athletes at different schools of all sizes, and it’s just not always possible to include everybody. Please let me know of any outstanding performances I haven’t mentioned and I’ll do my best to get to them at some point.
This is a boys list. A similar girls list will be posted tomorrow morning!
Dominic Bassey, Winslow Twp.
Bassey PR’d with a 2:01.87 for 8th place in the freshman 800. That wound up No. 2 among New Jersey freshmen, behind only Arya Garg of Parsippany, who ran 2:00.93 at North 2 Group 2 sectionals at Randolph. Bassey’s previous PR was a 2:02.92 at the Olympic Conference Meet at Washington Township. Bassey also ran 53.28 for 400 meters.
A.J. Brooks, Eastern
The Monmouth-bound Brooks capped a terrific season with a 2nd-place in the 110 hurdles at the Meet of Champions. Brooks lowered his PR to 14.19, fastest by a Camden County hurdler since Winslow’s Edwin Alston ran 13.90 to win the Meet of Champions in 2015. Brooks, the state champ in the highs indoors, also long jumped 21-0 ¾ at sectionals.
Alex Constantinou, St. Augustine
Constantinou, a senior high jumper, didn’t compete very often this spring but finished strong, even though he did not compete at states. Constantinou cleared 6-4 at the Cape Atlantic League Championships at Bridgeton and then 6-3 ½ for 4th in the Rising Stars division at Nationals. His PR last year was 5-6.
Evan Corcoran, Kingsway
Corcoran never broke 11.56 or 23.34 last spring, but this is why you keep working hard and stick with it. This year, Corcoran was one of New Jersey’s top sprinters. After winning state Group 4 titles in the 100 and 200 (10.71, PR 21.62) he placed 3rd in the 100 at the Meet of Champions in 10.71 and then a day later ran a 47.91 anchor as Kingsway ran a season-best 3:25.19 (their fastest since 2013) in the 4-by-4 at New Balance Nationals. Senior Jeffrey Heineman, junior Mathias Alexander and sohpomore Benny Liles III also ran on the 4-by-4. Corcoran will join the outstanding Rowan program next year.
Rece Englehardt, Moorestown
Heck of a sophomore season for Englehardt, who also starts for Moorestown’s football and basketball teams. He finished his season by placing 7th in the triple jump at Meet of Champions with a 44-9 ¾ and then won the Rising Stars competition at New Balance with a PR 45-3 ½, a Burlington County sophomore class record. Englehardt also long jumped 22-2 ¾ and high jumped 6-0 so could be a decathlete in the making. He finished the season as the No. 1 sophomore in New Jersey in both horizontal jumps
Scott Hubbard, Audubon
Big weekend for Hubbard, who placed 3rd in the 1,600 at the Meet of Champions in 4:19.79 and then ran 1:56.52 for 12th in the Rising Stars 800 at New Balance Nationals. Hubbard leaves Audubon with PRs of 1:56.15 and 4:17.54 from his double win at the state Group 1 meet.
Jaden Johnson, Chace Pearson, Timber Creek
Terrific back-to-back performances from both Timber Creek horizontal jumpers. Johnson, who took 3rd in the Meet of Champions triple jump at 46-0 ½ and 8th at nationals with a 46-10. Johnson leaves Timber Creek No. 10 in South Jersey history in the triple jump with his 47-7 ½ to win the state Group 3 title at Pennsauken. Johnson also high jumped 6-4 and long jumped 20-2 ½ this year and even medaled in the javelin at the Camden County Championships. As for Pearson, he took 2nd in the long jump at Meet of Champions at 22-6 ¾ and 8th at Nationals with a 22-9. He graduates with PRs 23-4 ¾ in the long jump, 45-4 in the triple jump and 14.86 in the 110 highs.
Jason Nwosu, Delsea
Nwosu finished his brilliant career in style, taking 2nd at the Meet of Champions shot put with a 62-7 ¾ and then followed that up with a 63-0 for 3rd place and All-America honors at New Balance Nationals, only 2 ½ inches off his PR from his win at states. Nwosu finishes No. 6 in South Jersey history in the shot and No. 12 in the discus.
Connor Wright, Hammonton
Another one who competed at both Franklin High and Franklin Field. Wright placed 6th in the long jump at Meet of Champions at 21-7 ¾ on Saturday and then jumped 22-1 ¾ for 12th in the Rising Stars division at nationals on Sunday. Wright leaves Hammonton with school records of 22-2 ¼ and 45-1 ¾.
Premier Wynn, Pennsauken / Jamir Brown, Delran
We’ll put Wynn and Brown together since they went 1-2 in the Rising Stars intermediate hurdles at New Balance Nationals, and both had outstanding seasons. Wynn, a junior, won the 400IH in 54.43 and Brown was 2nd with a PR 54.52. At the MoC, Wynn was 3rd in the 400, and at New Balance he also anchored Pennsauken’s 8th-place 800-meter relay team, which ran 1:28.28. He finished with PRs of 47.86 from his win at Group 3 states and 54.28 from 2nd place at Meet of Champions. As for Brown, he finished as the No. 2 sophomore in New Jersey in the intermediates (by 16-100ths of a second) and No. 2 in the highs with his 14.66 from his 2nd-place finish at states. In addition to his 2nd in the Rising Stars 400IH, he placed 5th in the Rising Stars 110HH in 14.87.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 