Freshman Robert McKinney from Highland and junior Jah’mere Beasley from Sterling contributed legs to Rowan’s 400-meter relay team, which ran the fastest time in the country in NCAA Division 3 Friday night.

McKinney and Beasley were joined by senior John Owens of West Windsor-Plainsboro North and sophomore Nana Agyemang of Parsippany at the Temple Invitational.

Racing at the Temple Sports Complex in North Philadelphia, Rowan ran 41.16, leading two other New Jersey schools – Bloomfield and The College of New Jersey – under 42 seconds. Bloomfield placed 3rd in 41.61 and TCNJ was 3rd in 41.98.

Rowan bumped Shenendoah of Winchester, Va., out of the top spot in the 4-by-1. Shenendoah ran 41.33 last weekend at the Battleground Relays in Fredericksburg, Va.

Owens led off for Rowan, handing off to McKinney and then Beasley, with Agyemang anchoring.

Beasley and Agyemang were joined by Camden’s Julian Pratt and Donovan Clement of Deptford on Rowan’s 4-by-100 team last year, when the Profs ran 41.01 in the trials at the NCAA Division 3 Championships before placing 7th overall in 41.22.

Agyemang also ran 10.59 and 21.53 Friday night, both huge PRs. He now ranks No. 3 in NCAA Division 3 in the 100 and No. 8 in the 200.

Beasley ran 10.82 and 21.69, and McKinney ran 10.85 and 21.85. Beasley is ranked 25th in the 100 and 13th in the 200, McKinney 33rd in the 100 and 25th in the 200.

McKinney is off to quite a start at Rowan after runing PRs of 11.06 and 22.04 at Highland, both at Group 3 sectionals last spring.

In that 400 relay, Bloomfield’s relay team included senior MarQuel Davis from Deptford, and TCNJ’s lineup included junior Andrew Lodge from Shawnee.

Another big 800 PR for Lenape graduate and Rutgers sophomore Shelby Whetstone.

Whetstone ran 2:08.02 at the Stanford Invitational, her first time under 2:10 outdoors. Her previous outdoor PR was a 2:10.55 when she won the state Group 4 title for Lenape at Franklin High in the spring of 2019. He previous outdoor Rutgers PR was a 2:12.42 from just a few weeks ago in a meet in Orlando.

Whetstone’s previous lifetime best was 2:09.77 from the Big Ten Indoor Championships in February at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Whetstone got out in 62.49 and came back in 65.54.

Her 2:08.02 is No. 5 in Rutgers outdoor track history. I wish the Rutgers web site would list details for these marks – when, where, what meet – but I looked ‘em up and included all the information I could find. It would also be nice if they updated their web site, which doesn’t include marks from after 2018.

2:06.59 … Dominique Sanon [Bridgeport (Conn.) Central], NCAA East Regional, Greensboro, N.C., May 26, 2006
2:06.91 … Jenna Sobieski [Old Bridge], Florida Relays, Gainesville, March 28, 2019
2:07.46 … Amonica Phipps [Morse, San Diego], ECAC Championships, Princeton, May 15, 2005
2:07.46 … Jennifer Heggie [Monmouth Regional], unknown, 1994
2:08.02 … Shelby Whetstone [Lenape], Stanford Invitational, Palo Alto, Calif., April 1, 2022
2:08.36 … Sarah Robbie [Cherokee], Big Ten Championships, State College, Pa., May 14, 2017
2:08.98 … Krista Dunbar [Shoreham-Wading River, Shoreham, N.Y.], unknown, 1994
2:09.85 … Elizabeth Graham [unknown], unknown, 2000

It took a few days but we finally have some Buena Relays results, and one of the highlights is a big PR javelin throw by Hammonton senior Austin Hudak.

Hudak threw 188-2 in his 2022 season opener, adding more than 12 feet to his lifetime best of 175-9, which he threw in June when he placed 4th at the Meet of Champions at South Plainfield. That was his first time over 162 feet, so he’s now PR’d over 25 feet in his last two meets (separated by 10 months).

Hudak’s throw is No. 26 in South Jersey history with the new javelin and No. 4 in Atlantic County history.

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

220-11 … Cade Antonucci [Holy Spirit], 2016
199-10 … Kobe Roberts [Mainland Reg.], 2018
196- 9 … Terrence Smith [Oakcrest], 2016
188- 2 … Austin Hudak [Hammonton], 2022
187-11 … Javier Garcia (Pleasantville), 2009
183- 5 … Kyle Wright [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2004
183- 2 … Alex Garcia [Pleasantville], 2009
182-11 … Yvanda Rigby [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2018
181- 8 … Tony DeFeo [Oakcrest], 2003
180- 8 … Pat Casey [St. Joe’s-Hammonton], 2011

Hudak’s throw is No. 2 in the state through the first weekend of action behind only Ryan Drwal of North Hunterdon, who threw 188-4 Saturday at the Summit Relays. Drwal, the Meet of Champions runner-up last year, previously had a PR of 177-1.

Jude Misko, Rutgers-Camden’s record-setting hammer thrower, PR’d Saturday at a meet in Chester, Pa.

Misko, a Cherry Hill East graduate, threw 204-1 in the invitational hammer throw competition at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University.

The event included three of the top hammer throwers in the country, including another Cherry Hill East graduate, Johnnie Jackson Jr.

Vlad Pavlenko won the event at 242-6, Jackson threw 230-6 and former Widener star Tyler Williams 229-0. Those three throws rank No. 20, No. 54 and No. 58 in the world this year and No. 1, No. 7 and No. 8 in the U.S.

Misko was the top collegiate thrower and had a very good series with 197-7 opener after a foul, then the 204-1, followed by another foul and then throws of 196-2 and 195-3.

He came in with a PR of 200-9 from a meet last spring at Franklin Field and then proceeded to average 197-5 on his four legal throws on Saturday.

Misko’s throw is No. 21 in NCAA Division 3 history and best ever by an NJAC thrower.

Misko is the defending NCAA Division 3 champ with a throw of 198-5 at last year’s national meet in Greensboro, N.C.

Jackson, 27, has a PR of 237-1 from a meet at LSU in Baton Rouge last April. He ranks No. 62 in U.S. history and placed 10th in the U.S. Olympic Trials last June in Eugene.

His 230-6 on Saturday is his 3rd-best throw ever.

The Rancocas Valley girls opened the season with a nice shuttle hurdles win in not ideal conditions Saturday at the Rebel Relays in Howell.

Sophomore Laila Bailey, senior Meet of Champions winner Anabella Chin, senior Sanai Jenkins and sophomore Naveah Lott ran 1:08.22 and won by nearly a second over host Howell, which was 2nd at 1:09.18.

RV’s time is No. 1 in the state after opening weekend, although nobody has seen the Buena Relays results yet and obviously conditions were not ideal to run the shuttles Saturday.

Rancocas Valley scored 86 points to win the Division 2 team title by 25 points over Montgomery, which finished one point ahead of Howell.

RV also won the 800-meter relay in 1:47.20 [sophomore Adrienne Austin, sophomore Leah Howe, senior Jya Marshall, junior Kasey White] and placed 3rd in the 400-meter relay in 50.74 [White, Marshall, senior Olivia Smith, Austin] and 1,600-meter relay in 4:23.91 [Howe, Bailey, Jianna Benton, Sam Mitchell]

Chin and Jenkins also went 1-2 in the intermediates, Chin in 1:07.67 and Jenkins 1:08.42.

In the field, senior Olivia Smith long jumped a PR 16-8 and senior Anaya Young long jumped 16-3 and triple jumped 32-9 ¾ and sophomore Lauren Fadairo triple jumped 32-9 in her first high school meet.

And in the field, senior Ravin Hood threw 103-4 in the discus and 35-6 ¼ in the shot and senior Faith Allen hit 32-4 ¾ and 89-2.

Cherokee graduate Jack Shea, a Northern Arizona senior, won his 5,000 race at the Stanford Invitational Friday night with an outdoor PR.

Shea won the third of five 5,000-meter races at the famed Cobb Track in Palo Alto, Calif., in 13:56.52. He edged former Oklahoma runner Liam Meirow by 6-100ths of a second to cross the line first.

Meirow went out fast and led Shea by 30 meters just 1,000 meters into the race, but Shea ran very steady and closed in 58.33 for his final lap, 2:03.98 for his final 800 and 4:21.18 over his final 1,600 to hold off Meirow – who closed in 57.38 – and secure the win.

Shea’s 400 splits after getting out in 33.04 for the first 200: 68.74,. 67.77, 67.11, 68.36, 68.57, 66.93, 67.98, 70.11, 67.09, 65.65 and 58.33.

Shea’s previous outdoor PR was a 14:08.74 in April of 2018 at the John Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif.

He ran 13:55.92 indoors at the Husky Classic in February in Seattle.

Rowan’s intermediate hurdles had quite an afternoon Saturday at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa.

Freshman Treshan Stevenson from Millville, junior John Owens from West Windsor-Plainsboro North and freshman Joe Devito from Jackson Liberty swept the first three spots in the 400IH, with all three moving into the NCAA Division 3 top 20 so far this spring.

Stevenson won the race in 54.52, Owens was just behind in 2nd in 54.69 and Devito ran 55.44 for 3rd.

Considering the chilly, breezy conditions and just how early it is in the season, those are terrific times.

Stevenson ranks 6th in NCAA Division 3, Owens 9th and Devito 19th.

In just his second college intermediate hurdles race, Stevenson broke his PR of 54.66, which he set when he placed 2nd at the state Group 4 race at Franklin last spring. Stevenson ran 55.45 in his first 400IH last month in a home meet in Glassboro.

Owens’ ran with half a second of his collegiate PR of 54.26 which he ran in 2019 at the AARTFC Championships in Cortland, N.Y., in mid-May. Owens ran as fast as 53.30 in high school when he placed 2nd at the state Group 3 meet at Northern Burlington. Rowan didn’t have an outdoor season in 2020 and Owens focused on the long jump last spring and didn’t race the intermediates, so this is the first time he’s competed in the 400IH in three years.

Devito has a collegiate PR of 54.14 from his win at last year’s NJAC meet at Ramapo. He ran 53.93 in high school when he was second in the 2019 Group 3 state meet on his home track in Jackson.

Malachi James is indeed back at Willingboro, but he did not run on the Chimeras’ winning 4-by-200 team Saturday at the Don Danser Relays at Lenape.

Even though the results say he did.

 

 

 

James did indeed transfer from Willingboro to Eastern and back to Willingboro but he’s still dealing with the injury that kept him out of the indoor season and not ready to race just yet.

Willingboro opened the season with an 800-meter relay win at the Don Danser Relays that was notable for who was in the Chimeras’ lineup.

Sophomore Malachi James, the state Group 1 champion at 100 and 200 meters last spring, is listed as running the third leg for Boro, which won the race in chilly, breezy conditions at Lenape in 1:33.00.

James transferred to Eastern over the summer and played football for Eastern this past fall. He did not compete in indoor track, and it’s unclear if he was at Eastern or Willingboro during the winter, but he’s back at Willingboro now.

As a freshman, James ran 10.76 at the Meet of Champions prelims and 21.82 at the County Open. He became the first freshman ever to place in the top eight in the M-of-C in both the 100 and 200.

According to the 4-by-2 results, seniors Miles Allen and Geordan Collins, James and senior Nam Louis Foster ran for Willingboro. We don’t know who actually ran along with Allen, Collins and Foster.

Willingboro had a terrific winter, winning the Group 1 relays and state group meet and placing 14th in the country in the 4-by-200 with a 1:30.96 at Armory Nationals. Allen, Collins, sophomore Jackson Murry and senior Jaylen Young ran on that team.

On Saturday, Young and Murry joined Allen and Collins to run 44.49 on the 4-by-1, and Allen, Collins, Chris Johnson and Murry ran 3:31.76 for a close second to Sterling in the 4-by-4. Murry and Bryon James also won the pole vault relay.

Willingboro also won the shuttle hurdles in 1:08.05 with sophomore Eric Foster, junior Xavier Toliver, sophomore Kedaar Wilson and Johnson anchoring.

Leo Zaccaria of Cape May Tech, Richie Castaneda of Camden Catholic and Gobi Thurairajah of Egg Harbor led Rider to a school record in the 6,000-meter relay Saturday.

Rider placed 4th in 15:55.52 at the Colonial Relays at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Noah Taylor of Twin Valley High in Caernarvon Township, Pa., south of Reading, was the one non-South Jersey leg on Rider’s relay team.

The split section on the official results doesn’t list any splits, but Rider’s four milers averaged 3:58.88 per leg.

The previous school record was 16:05.01 set by the team of Danniel Belay, Cinnaminson’s Tom Long, Kevin Heredia and Scott Ruskan at the 2019 Colonial Relays in Williamsburg.

Castaneda, who didn’t race indoors, also ran 3:54.10 in the open 1,500, Zaccaria ran 3:59.11 and Thurairajah ran 4:01.53.

Bordentown graduate Carson Latham, a Stockton University freshman, recorded two wins and two PRs Saturday at the College of New Jersey Invitational in Ewing.

Latham won the 100 in 10.84 after a 10.85 in the trials and won the 200 in 22.13. It was his first collegiate 100 and his second 200.

Latham’s previous PRs were and 22.15. At Bordentown, he had PRs of 11.12 and 22.65, both from last year’s Burlington County Open at Rancocas Valley. He went on to place 2nd at Group 2 sectionals and at Group 2 states in the 100.

Latham opened his outdoor season last weekend at the Stockton Invitational in Galloway Township with a 22.15 PR in the 200 and also ran on the Ospreys’ 4-by-200 and 4-by-400.

So the 100 was a PR by 28-100ths of a second and the 200 by 2-100ths of a second.

Both his 100 and 200 times are the fastest by a Stockton sprinter in at least 13 years. The TFRRS [Track and Field Results Reporting System] only goes back to 2010, and no Stockton sprinter has run as fast as 10.85 or 22.13 since.