Mainland senior Camryn Dirkes popped a major triple jump PR Thursday night at the Eagle Relays.

Competing at Central Regional in Bayville, Dirkes jumped 37-9, the No. 6 mark in Atlantic County history and No. 21 in South Jersey history.

Dirkes’ previous PR was 35-8 ¾ from the Cape-Atlantic Conference Championships in Bridgeton in 2019, her freshman year, where she placed second to South Jersey record holder Claudine Smith of Atlantic City.

Here’s a look at the all-time Atlantic County top-10:

42-2 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2018
39-2 ¼ … Mariah Hubbard [Absegami Reg.], 2016
38-8 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], 2001
38-6 … Monet Gist [Atlantic City], 2013
38-4 … Mariah Stephens [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2021
37-9 … Camryn Dirkes [Mainland Reg.], 2022
37-7 ¼ … Alex Romanelli [Absegami], 2009
37-7 ¼ … Kyla Edwards [Oakcrest], 2018
37-2 …… Shamyra Brown [Oakcrest], 2006
36-10 ¼ … Neyshka Garcia Perez [Absegami], 2017

MileSplit is having issues with its ranking system, but it appears that Dirkes’ mark is No. 2 in the state so far this spring. Faith Bethea of Snyder jumped 38-3 ¼ at the Pirate Relays in Pearl River, N.Y., opening weekend.

Once the rain stopped, the fast times started.

The Cherokee Night of 3200s is the first chance every spring for distance runners from South Jersey, North Jersey and Philly to run fast in good conditions, and this year’s edition didn’t disappoint.

The Haddonfield duo of junior George Andrus [9:12.32] and senior Seth Clevenger [9:12.99] picked up where they left off indoors, taking the top two spots in the boys race Thursday evening. Both ran sub-9:09 indoors and will race the 3,000 at Penn later this month. And both closed fast Thursday night, Andrus in 62.65 and Clevenger in 63.63.

But Woodbury sophomore Peyton Shute was only 15 meters behind the Haddonfield duo with a massive PR of 9:15.76 for 3rd.

Shute lowered his 3,200 PR believe it or not from 9:34.80, which he ran indoors at the Bubble in January, to the No. 6 time in Gloucester County history. His previous outdoor PR was 9:44.80, when he placed 5th at the state Group 1 meet at Pennsauken as a freshman last spring.

Shute was out in 4:40.91 [2:21.14, 2:19.87] and came back in 4:34.87, which is only five seconds off his outdoor 1,600 PR.

Despite the huge PR, running fast isn’t new to Shute, who lowered his Holmdel County Park time to 16:08 with a top-20 finish at the XC Meet of Champions.

Shute’s time is fastest by a New Jersey 10th-grader since Devin Hart of Point Pleasant Borough won the 2017 state Group 2 meet 4:09.49 at Northern Burlington. It’s No. 16 among all U.S. sophomores so far this spring, according to the MileSplit national database.

It’s also fastest by a South Jersey sophomore in 14 years, since Shawnee’s David Forward ran 9:10.28 at the 2008 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield. Shute broke the Woodbury school record of 9:20.99 set in June by older brother Brady Shute when he won the state Group 1 title at Pennsauken

All-time Gloucester County sub-9:20 list
9:01.9y … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1979
9:06.2y … Greg Stremmel [Gateway], 1974
9:11.88 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:14.31 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2011
9:14.93 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
9:15.76 … Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 2022
9:16.39 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2019
9:19.19 … Nick Costello [Delsea], 2012

Lots more from the Cherokee Night of 3200s coming later today!

Nicole Clifford ran a monster 3,200 PR Thursday night on her home track at Cherokee.

Clifford, a Cherokee senior, won the girls division of the Cherokee Night of 3200s in 10:46.71, the No. 5 time in Burlington County history and fastest in nine years.

Clifford had a previous PR of 10:55.58 from a meet at the Bubble in January. She also ran 4:53.85 this past indoor season.

Her time is fastest in New Jersey so far this outdoor season and No. 2 in Cherokee history, behind only Megan Lacy’s 10:22.02 in 2012.

Clifford ran her 800s in 2:43.81, 2:42.55, 2:40.39 and 2:39.99 and finished 15 meters ahead of second-place Lindsay Hausman of Kent Place School in Summit, who ran 10:49.40.

The meet was run as 13 combined boys and girls races seeded together. There were over 250 runners in all.

Here are the too-10 South Jersey girls with their overall place in the girls race:

10:46.71 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 1st
11:13.91 … Audrey Naticchia [Haddonfield], 4th
11:17.16 … Megan Niglio [Cherokee], 5th
11:20.10 … Kelsey Niglio [Cherokee], 7th
11:23.77 … Kiley Walsh [Cherry Hill East], 8th
11:23.86 … Helene Usher [Haddonfield], 9th
11:26.53 … Kerry O’Day [Cherokee], 11th
11:28.02 … Jess Goode [Haddonfield], 12th
11:31.34 … Ava Thomas [Haddonfield], 13th
11:34.80 … Macie McCracken [Wildwood], 16th

Here’s the full all-time South Jersey sub-11:50 outdoor 3,200 list:
10:12.8h ….. Michelle Rowen [Washington Twp.], 1983
10:19.31 … Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 2009
10:22.02 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2012
10:27.44 … Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 2017
10:28.6h….. Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2001
10:29.28 … Rachel Vick [Kingsway], 2017
10:30.57 … Dina Iacone [Washington Twp.], 2012
10:32.4h….. Mindy Rowand [Sterling], 1985
10:33.22 … Holly Bischof [Bishop Eustace], 2012
10:33.25 … Megan Venables [Highland], 2011
10:33.85 … Sarah Naticchia [Haddonfield], 2021
10:34.79 … Theresa Cattuna [Cherry Hill East], 2007
10:35.59 … Amanda Goetschius [Delsea], 2007
10:37.47 … Meghan McGlinchey [West Depford], 2009
10:37.53 … Vanessa Wright [Haddonfield], 2005
10:39.15 … Devon Grisbaum [Ocean City], 2015
10:40.24 … Katie Van Horn [Triton], 2005
10:40.95 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:42.22 … Jenn Rawls [Highland], 2009
10:43.3h….. Deanna Germano [Shawnee], 1985
10:43.48 … Sarah Naticchia [Haddonfield], 2021
10:43.50 … Alyssa Condell [Timber Creek], 2017
10:44.23 … Brittany Sedberry [Ocean City], 2004
10:45.12 … Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 2014
10:45.40 … Julianna Catania [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2016
10:45.73 … Meghan Hughes [Moorestown], 2002
10:46.38 … Madison Coppolino [Sterling], 2018
10:46.71 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022

All-Time Burlington County Sub-11 List
10:22.02 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2012
10:40.95 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:43.3h….. Deanna Germano [Shawnee], 1985
10:45.73 … Meghan Hughes [Moorestown], 2002
10:46.71 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022
10:54.16 … Lisa Burkholder [Cherokee], 2004
10:55.92 … Isabella Turner [Shawnee], 2020
10:56.34 … Brianna Rodgers [Moorestown], 2005
10:56.3h … Colleen Sunderland [Northern Burlington], 1995
10:57.52 … Mara Schiffbauer [Seneca], 2014
10:57.97 … Megan Quimby [Lenape], 2015

Cherry Hill East junior Alexis Tepper got her outdoor season started out the right way with an outdoor PR and a win in the 800 at the Lenape Invitational.

Tepper ran 2:23.50, winning the 800 by 12 meters over Mainland sophomore Gillian Lovett, who ran 2:25.79. She’s No. 1 in South Jersey in the early going and No. 6 on the state 800 list through two weekends.

Indoors, Tepper set an East school record of 2:19.12 at the Bubble in February, which ranked her No. 4 in South Jersey during the winter. But she raced the 1,600 at sectionals, and that 2:19.12 was her only indoor 800 and her last 800 until Saturday, when she ran away from the field at Lenape.

Her previous outdoor PR? She actually didn’t have one. Other than dual meets presumably, this was her first 800 on a 400-meter track.

But Tepper had a strong cross country season, placing 3rd at Group 4 sectionals at DREAM Park for the 2nd-place Cougars, 20th at states at Holmdel, where East placed 5th, then running 19:41 at Holmdel at the Meet of Champions, where the Cougars recorded a top-10 finish as South Jersey’s No. 3 team behind Cherokee and Haddonfield.

She ran 5:18.72 indoors in addition to her 2:19.12 setting her up for a big spring season.

Lovett, meanwhile, also PR’d. Her previous outdoor best was a 2:31.51 as a freshman at Group 3 sectionals last spring, and she ran 2:25.95 indoors at sectionals in February.

Three other girls broke 2:30, and all set PRs as well – Cinnaminson sophomore Anna Marino [3rd in 2:26.79], Egg Harbor soph Taylor Rooney [4th in 2:28.43] and Cinnaminson junior Stephanie Renouf [5th in 2:28.87].

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.]