A week after running the fastest 4-by-400 in NCAA Division 3 history, the mighty Rowan sprint collective continued its attack on the record book with the fastest 4-by-200 in Division 3 history.
Sterling’s Jah’mere Beasley and Marquise Young ran legs on Rowan’s 1,600-meter relay that ran 3:10.09 in Boston last week.
On Monday, Beasley was joined by sophomore Nana Agyemang of Parsippany, freshman Evan Corcoran from Kingsway and Amara Conte of Ferris High in Jersey City for the 4-by-200 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze, and that quartet ran 1:26.43, shattering the Division 3 record of 1:27.45 set last March by Highland’s Robert McKinney, Agyemang, Conte and Beasley at the AARTFC Championships at the Golisano Training Center at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.
Rowan won the race by 25 meters over 2nd-place The College of New Jersey, which ran 1:29.29.
According to the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America), which tracks these things, Rowan now has the four-fastest indoor 4-by-200 time in NCAA Division 3 history as well as No. 6:
1:26.43 … Rowan, 2023, NJAC, Ocean Breeze
1:27.45 … Rowan, 2022, AARTFC, Boston University
1:27.69 … Rowan, 2019, NJAC, Ocean Breeze
1:27.88 … Rowan, 2022, NJAC, Ocean Breeze
1:28.10 … Mount Union, 2023, All-Ohio, Wittenberg
1:28.27 … 2018, NJAC, Ocean Breeze
All splits aren’t available, but Conte – who earlier won the 400 in 48.15 – anchored in 21.32.
Rowan’s time is No. 3 in the world, according to the World Athletics web site and No. 1 among U.S. relay teams, bumping a 1:27.12 by Garden State Track Club at Millrose last week at the Armory with Rikkoi Braithwaite, Jabari Michael James Bias and Je’von Hutchinson.
Rowan won the team title 223 ½-169 ½ over The College of New Jersey. There’s nothing on the Rowan web site that might help me figure out how many conference titles the Profs have won. In fact, there’s nothing even mentioning the meet.
Rowan is ranked 10th in NCAA Division 3.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 