With Kingsway’s Evan Corcoran leading off and Sterling’s Jah’mere Beasley anchoring, Rowan on Saturday afternoon ran the 2nd-fastest 800-meter relay in the world this year and the fastest in NCAA Division 3 history.

Corcoran, Amare Conte of Snyder High in Jersey City, Nana Agyemang of Parsippany and Beasley ran 1:25.86 at the Armory, breaking the Division 3 record of 1:26.33 set in 2006 by a New Jersey City College team that included Winslow’s Anthony Miles.

From all available resources, it appears to be the No. 15 time in U.S. history and makes Rowan the No. 11 performer all-time.

This is the second Division 3 record Rowan has set this year. Agyemang, Beasley, Sterling’s Marquise Young and Conte ran 3:10.09 last month to break the 1,600-meter relay record set in 2004 by Lincoln.

On Saturday, at the AARTFC Championships, Corcoran and Conte got the baton around the track in 42.85 – the official splits don’t break up the first two legs – and Agyemang split 21.70 to set up Beasley, who anchored in 21.31.

Rowan led four schools under 1:29 in a very fast race, with SUNY Geneseo 2nd in 1:28.59.

Rowan broke the meet record of 1:27.45 that they set last year with the lineup of Robert McKinney, Ageymang, Conte and Beasley.

Rowan is now responsible for five of the six all-time sub-1:28 times in NCAA Division 3 history, including that 1:27.45 last year and the 1:25.86 and 1:26.43 this year.

According to the World Athletics rankings, Rowan’s time is 2nd this year in the world only to LG Stadtwerke München, a German team that ran 1:25.43 at Helmut-Körnig-Halle in Dortmund last month.

Rowan’s 1:25.86 would rank 8th in NCAA Division 1 history, behind only performances by Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Charleston Southern and South Carolina. It’s faster than the Division 2 record of 1:25.98 set in 1985 by Abiline Christian.

Only one D-3 school has run faster outdoors – Dubuque of Iowa ran 1:25.74 this past April in the Drake Relays.

Rowan’s time is also fastest by any college 4-by-2 in any division since Mississippi State ran 1:25.20 at the Armory in 2016 and the fastest by any U.S. 4-by-4 since the Bullis School – a private high school in Potomac, Md.  – set the national high school record of 1:25.60 at the Virginia Showcase in Lynchburg in 2019.

Here’s my best effort at an all-time U.S. list. Unfortunately, nobody keeps U.S. indoor records because USATF is a joke!

1:22.71 … National Team, March 3, 1991
1:23.79 …… National Team, Feb. 13, 1993
1:24.31 …… National Team, Feb. 13, 1994
1:24.91 … Pitt, University Park, Nov. 11, 2014
1:25.05 … Rutgers, Jan 13, 2007
1:25.18 … Arkansas,. Feb. 2, 1985
1:25.20 … Mississippi State, New York, Feb. 6, 2016
1:25.24 …… Pitt, Feb. 8, 2014
1:25.47 … Charleston Southern, Feb. 6, 2010
1:25.52 … Penn State, University Park, Jan. 5, 2013
1:25.56 …… National Team, New York, Feb. 4, 2017
1:25.60 … Bullis School, Lynchburg, Va., Jan. 19, 2019
1:25.67 … St. Augustine’s, University Park, Jan. 25, 2013
1:25.81 … South Carolina, New York, Feb. 2, 2013
1:25.86 … Rowan, New York, March 6, 2023

Hot 800 Saturday and a near school record for St. John’s junior Nia Holden, a graduate of Highland and transfer from American.

Holden ran 2:10.46 in the ECAC Trials in Boston, advancing to Sunday’s final.

Racing in the 4th and final heat, Holden needed to run faster than 2:10.74 to qualify for the final, so she needed a PR just to advance, and she came up huge with a nearly one-second lifetime best.

She was out fast in 31.21 and 64.11 and after a 33.43 she closed in 32.91.

Holden’s time is No. 2 in St. John’s history and fastest since Stephanie Van Pelt set the school record of 2:09.43 at the 2016 Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.

Holden spent her first three years at American University in Washington, D.C, where she ran 2:14.43 indoors and 2:14.76 outdoors. She ran XC this past fall for American, but two months after her last cross country race for the Eagles, she resurfaced at St. John’s, located in Jamaic, Queens.

It didn’t take her long to enjoy a breakthrough at St. John’s with a 2:11.90 at the Armory in January in her first 800 for the Red Storm. She lowered her PR to 2:11.03 at Boston University last month and then ran 2:11.06 at the Big East Championships two weeks ago in Chicago.

The women’s 800 final at the ECAC Championships is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. Sunday, and Holden will line up in Lane 4.

Here’s a look at the updated St. John’s all-time indoor 800 list:
2:09.43 … Stephanie Van Pelt, 2016
2:10.44 … Nia Holden, 2023
2:10.73 … Chandel Marion, 1990
2:10.82 … Olive Smart, 1998
2:11.42 … Marion Irwink, 1989
2:11.99 … Theresa Jaeger, 1980
2:12.06 … Marlow Shulz, 2015
2:12.57 … Veronica Thompson, 2014
2:13.09 … Dina Carpena, 1992
2:13.54 … Jasmine Barreto, 2006

Holden ran 2:18.00 indoors and 2:14.96 outdoors at Highland.

Washington Township grad Jayden Greene, a St. Joe’s sophomore, lowered his 800 PR for the 3rd time this winter Saturday at the IC4A Championships at Boston University.

Green ran 1:51.10, the 4th-fastest qualifying time for Sunday’s final and will go into the final as the No. 6 seed as the 2nd-fastest non-auto qualifier. Green, racing in the 4th of four heats, finished behind Drake Prince of Yale, who ran 1:50.03.

Greene was out fast, in 26.22 for the first 200, and came through 400 in 53.58 and 600 in 1:21.73 before closing in 29.32.

The 800 final is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

His previous PR of 1:51.81 came in a meet at Boston University last month. Before January, his lifetime best was a 1:54.10 outdoors in Williamsburg, Va., and his indoor PR was 1:55.51 last February at the Atlatnic 10 Championships in Fairfax, Va.

Sadly, St. Joe’s is one of the few Division 1 schools in the country that doesn’t have an all-time top-10 on its web site. There is a “media guide” with an all-time roster in case you wanted to know that someone named “Donnelly” ran track for the Hawks in 1926.

Click to access MTXC_Record_Book.pdf

But if you’re like me and want to know where Greene’s 1:51.10 ranks in St. Joe’s history, I got nothing.

We just know the school record is 1:50.39 set by Bob Jackson in 1994, so Green is only 71-100ths of a second from that.

I did check back on old TFRRS performance lists, which reveals that Greene’s 1:51.10 is fastest by a St. Joe’s half-miler since at least 2009, which is far back as available records go.

The indoor IC4A Championships date back to 1921. IC4A stands for Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America.

Delsea did something at Easterns this week that had never been done, at least as far back as the last 50 years.

Junior Greg Masso, sophomore Jonathan Harris and junior Tyler Habersham-Agbermenu all placed in the top six, the first time in at least half a century that three boys from the same high school placed in the top six in any event at Easterns.

And you don’t want to know how long it took me to look that up!

At the 88th annual Easterns Wednesday night at the Armory, Masso threw 53-11 ½ for 3rd, Harris 52-0 for 5th and Habersham-Agbermenu 51-6 for 6th.

There are no full results available anywhere before 1972, so it’s possible it happened at some point. The meet was first held (under a different name) in 1934. But I don’t think schools were allowed to enter more than two athletes per event back in those days.

The closest instance I could find came in 1999, when Danye Brown and Dwight Ruff of Camden went 1-2 in the 55-meter hurdles, and Wilson’s Jeff Young was 3rd. So that was a 1-2-3 sweep by the Camden district.

Masso leads South Jersey at 54-8 from the Cherokee Throw Down #2 in January. He’s No. 7 seed in the Meet of Champions on Sunday

Harris’s 52-0 was not only a PR but his first time over 50 feet. Not to mention his first time over 49, 48 and 47 feet. His previous PR was a 46-8 at the Bubble in January. Harris, a 1st-time thrower this winter, is now the No. 3 sophomore in the state and No. 1 in South Jersey. His throw is best by a S.J. sophomore indoors since Bridgeton’s Braheme Days Jr. threw 55-6 ½ in 2011 and the best by a Gloucester County sophomore since Kwabena Keene of Washington Township had a 53-2 in 2007.

Habersham-Agbermenu s 51-6 was also a PR and also his first time over 50 feet. He’s also a 1st-year thrower and had a previous PR of 49-4 ¼ at sectionals last month at the Bubble.

Harris and Habersham-Agbermenu won’t be in action at the Meet of Champions, but another Delsea 50-footer – Jake Phelan – will be. He earned a wild-card after placing 7th at the state Group 3 meet. Phelan has a PR of 50-9 ½ from the Cherokee Thrown Down #3.

Incredibly, Delsea is the only school with two 50-footers this winter – and they have four.

Technically, Bergen Catholic has two – Justin King has thrown 52-9 and Ben Shue 55-10 ¼. But Shue – who threw 60-9 and 198-5 last spring – is competing unattached this winter and only competed in one meet.

Buena graduate Maria Muzzarelli, a sophomore at Widener, won the 60-meter dash by 4-100ths of a second Saturday at the AARTFC Championships at the Armory.

Muzzarelli, the Middle Atlantic Conference champion, ran 7.77 and edged Vassar’s Traci Francis, who was second in 7.81. The first four finishers are ran within 7-100ths of a second of each other.

The AARTFC is the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Conference.

Muzzarelli broke the school record at 60 meters last week with her 7.68 at the conference meet in Reading. The previous record was set by teammate Jayla Gore, who ran 7.81 last month at the Armory. Gore was third Saturday in 7.83.

Muzzarelli had PRs of 7.50 for 55 meters and 12.77 for 100 meters. She was 2020 Group 1 sectional champ in the 55 and placed 4th at states.

Muzzarelli ranks 17th in NCAA Division 3 with today as the deadline for qualifying for nationals. The top 20 performers in each event are invited to nationals, which will be held next weekend in Birmingham.

The 55th annual Meet of Champions starts at 10 a.m. Sunday at Ocean Breeze, and if this meet is like the previous Meet of Champions held on a real track – the 2020 MoC was also held at Ocean Breeze – it should be a heck of a meet with tremendous performances all over the place.

If you can’t make it to Staten Island, these links will help you enjoy the annual highlight of the indoor season.

The boys meet started in 1969 and the girls meet in 1979. Both have been held every year since, other than 2021. The meet was held at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym through 2006 and moved to the Bubble – the Bennett Center – in Toms River in 2007. It was held at the Bubble from 2007 through 2019 and again last year. For the sake of the athletes and fans, hopefully it remains at Ocean Breeze until New Jersey finds a way to build a suitable venue for a championship indoor track meet.

(It was brought to my attention that the Order of Events listed in the NJSIAA’s own official meet program is incorrect.  How does the NJSIAA get something that important incorrect in its own official program? Good question. I’ve replaced the official and incorrect Order of Events with the correct one from MileSplit.)

Meet of Champions Link Dump
Live Results
Order of Events
Corrected Order of Events
All-Time Meet of Champions winners
NJSIAA MoC Program (with 29 pages of ads deleted)
Meet of Champions All-Time Boys Performance List
Meet of Champions All-Time Girls Performance List  
“Showcase Events” Entries
Boys Performance List
Girls Performance List 
Previous Results (1997-2022)
Previous Results (1969-1996)
MileSplit live video link (subscription needed)

 

Turns out Isabelle Deal is more than just a terrific javelin thrower.

The Washington Township graduate, now an Ursinus senior, broke her own school record in the shot put Friday at the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Championships at the Armory.

Deal, a senior, placed second with a throw of 42-6 ¾ on her final attempt of the competition. She was sitting in 5th place through five rounds before her clutch final-throw bomb.

Deal broke her own school record of 42-5 ¾, which she set last month at a meet at her home facility in Collegeville.

Stockton senior Shahyan Abraham of Orange won the event with a 42-7, moving up from 7th to 1st on her fifth throw. That’s only 8 1/4 inches off the school record of 43-5 1/4 set in 2005 by Cherokee’s Jessica Caccamo.

Deal’s series started out modestly with throws of 40-2 ¼, 41-2 ½ and 41-8 ½ in the trials and then a 39-9 ¼ and 40-8 ¾ on her first two attempts in the finals.

The AARTFC Championships are a last-chance qualifier for the NCAA Division 3 Championships next weekend in Birmingham, Ala. The qualifying deadline is Saturday.

Deal has always been an elite javelin thrower, and the only similarity between the javelin and shot put is that they’re both throws.

But Deal hasn’t been content to simply throw the javelin outdoors and sit around and do nothing indoors, and she’s gradually become a very good shot putter as well.

She had high school PRs of 36-0 indoors and 37-8 outdoor and then surpassed 40 feet once her freshman year at Ursinus – she threw 40-9 at an indoor meet in Winchester, Va. – and once more her junior year – she threw 40-1 ½ outdoors last spring at Gwynedd-Mercy.

But this winter, she’s been over 40 feet in all nine meets, including her PR and school record Friday. She placed second in the shot (and sixth in the weight throw) at the Cenennial Conference Championships last weekend in Lancaster, and her weight throw PR of 45-6 ¼ is only five inches off the school record. She’s not listed among the entrants in the weight throw on Saturday.

As for the javelin, Deal has a PR of 144-10 – also the school record – from a meet last spring in Princeton and earned All-America honors for the second time with a 6th-place finish at Division 3 nationals at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. She placed 8th in 2021 with a 135-1 in Greensboro.

Bridgeton graduate Shamar Love shattered the Rowan University school record in the 60-meter dash Friday at the AARTFC Championships at the Armory.

Love ran 6.85 in the AARTFC trials, breaking the record of 6.87 set last year by Nana Agyemang at last year’s New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship at Ocean Breeze.

Love advanced to the final at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. He’s the 3rd-fastest qualifier, behind Ithaca’s Jalen Loneard-Osbourn (6.78) and Elizabethtown’s Myron Holland (6.81).

Love’s previous PR was a 6.92 for 2nd place in this year’s NJAC meet at Ocean Breeze behind Ramapo’s Cheickna Traore, the NCAA Division 3 runner-up in the 200 last spring.

From 2020 through 2022, Love played football and ran track at Westminster University in New Wilmington, Pa., near the Ohio border in western Pennsylvania. He was an NCAA Division 3 All-America as anchor of Westminster’s 7th-place 400-meter relay team at the NCAA Division 3 Championships at SPIRE Institute at Geneva, Ohio.

His 6.85 ranks 22nd this year in NCAA Division 3. The top 20 performers qualify for nationals, and the cut-off is Saturday. Going into the final weekend of qualifying, the 20th-best mark was 6.84.

At Bridgeton, Love had PRs of 6.74 for 55 meters and 24.63 for the 200 indoors and 11.15 and 23.21 outdoors. He ran on Bridgeton’s 400-meter relay team that set a Cumberland County record of 42.05 at the 2018 state Group 3 meet at Central Regional in Bayville. Basil Williams, Revell Williams and Taz’Mire Burton were also on that team, which ranked No. 5 in the state.

The NCAA Division 3 Championships are scheduled for March 10-11 at the Birmingham (Ala.) CrossPlex.

Masai Byrd of Rancocas Valley, a Rowan freshman, also qualified for the 60 final. He ran 6.94 in the trials, the 7th-fastest qualifying time. His previous PR was a 7.01 in his first collegiate meet back in December at Ocean Breeze.

Bordentown graduate Carson Lathom, a Stockton freshman, just missed reaching Sunday’s 60 final with a PR 7.01 in the trials. He had run 7.04 at a meet in Haverford in January.

In the final, Love will be in the middle of the track in Lane 4, and Byrd will be in Lane 2.

Deptford senior Lathan Brown and Winslow sophomore Dominic Bassey recorded the two-fastest 800s by South Jersey runners at the 88th annual Easterns Wednesday night at the Armory.

Brown placed 3rd in 1:56.42 and Bassey was a half step behind him in 4th with a 1:56.66. Steven Hergenrother of Ridgefield High in Connecticut won the race in 1:54.25, and Patrick Mulryan of Chaminade in Mineola, N.Y., was 2nd in 1:55.49.

Brown has run slightly faster outdoors – 1:56.19 this past May at Haddonfield Distance Night – but his previous indoor PR was 1:56.51 from a meet last month at Ocean Breeze.

Brown is one of the most versatile athletes in the state. He’s fast enough to run the 200 in 22.51 but has range up to 800 meters. He’s run the 55-meter hurdles in 8.06, and his strongest event is probably the 400-meter intermediates, which he’s run in 55.22, won sectionals last spring and placed 3rd at states. He’s the 9th-fastest returner in the state in 2023.

Bassey’s improvement has been incredible. He ran 2:03.61 indoors last year, then 2:01.87 last spring, which made him the No. 2 freshman in the state.

But he had a huge breakthrough 1:57.63 at Ocean Breeze three weeks ago – finishing just behind Brown and Bryce Tucker in a hot 1-2-3 South Jersey finish.

But his 1:56.66 makes him the top sophomore in New Jersey this year – by nearly two seconds – and the No. 6 sophomore in the country according to the MileSplit national database.

He’s also the fastest South Jersey sophomore indoors since Haddonfield’s Derek Gess ran 1:55.93 at Easterns in 2019.

Brown will run the 400 at the Meet of Champions – he’s the No. 3 seed at 49.69 – and Bassey is in the 800. The 55th annual indoor M-of-C starts at 10 a.m. Sunday at Ocean Breeze.

Here’s where Brown and Bassey line up so far on the all-time South Jersey indoor list:
1:51.52 … Jacob Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:51.72 … Isaac Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:51.80 … Derrell Manhertz [Kingsway], 2013
1:52.46 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], 2020
1:53.51 … Alan Laws [Pleasantville], 2007
1:53.68 … Ishmael Muhammad [Oakcrest], 2013
1:54.53 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2020
1:54.80 … Marvin Lewis [Willingboro], 2001
1:54.81 … Bill Dolan [Clearview], 2013
1:54.82 … Xavier Fraction [Washington Twp.], 2009
1:55.00 … Steve Butenewicz [Delsea], 2011
1:55.14 … Shannon Sherrer [Vineland], 2002
1:55.14 … Zach McBride [Lenape], 2002
1:55.16 … Joe Lewis [Pleasantville], 1998
1:55.16 … Tivo Rivera [Kingsway], 2009
1:55.19 … Isaiah Curbelo [Rancocas Valley], 2016
1:55.19 … Jayden Greene [Washington Twp.], 2020
1:55.42 … Kevin Cianfarino [West Deptford], 2014
1:55.3h … Tony Uzdavines [Williamstown], 1976
1:55.77 … Carmen Cavella [Washington Twp.], 2004
1:55.84 … Matt Poskus [Cinnaminson], 2007
1:55.92 … Bryce Tucker [Pennsauken], 2020
1:55.93 … Derek Gess [Haddonfield], 2017
1:56.02 … Dave Sitzer [Cherokee], 1999
1:56.07 … Stephen Marrone [Washington Twp.], 2010
1:56.13 … Joe Lewis [Pleasantville], 1998
1:56.2h … Roger Lawyer [Willingboro], 1988
1:56.37 … Ian Waterhouse [Rancocas Valley], 2004
1:56.42 … Lathan Brown [Deptford], 2023
1:56.43 … Holland Sherrer [Cumberland Reg.], 2011
1:56.43 … Eric Barnes [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2017
1:56.46 … Jalen Jones [Burlington Twp.], 2017
1:56.49 … Greg Pelose [Haddonfield], 2016
1:56.50 … Brian Laskowski [Bishop Eustace], 2008
1:56.52 … Rob Novak [Bordentown], 2005
1:56.4h … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2005
1:56.60 … Andrew Rivielo [Eastern], 2003
1:56.66 … Dominic Bassey [Winslow Twp.], 2023
1:56.69 … Sean Watson [Willingboro], 1995
1:56.71 … Wayne Riley [Willingboro], 1997
1:56.73 … Dan Galeano [Absegami], 2010
1:56.77 … Larry Ramirez [Pleasantville], 2010
1:56.87 … Billy Clewell [Camden Catholic], 2022
1:56.93 … Mark Weems [Washington Twp.], 1999

Sianni Wynn became the second South Jersey girl to record a double-win at the 88th annual Easterns Wednesday night at the Armory.

Wynn, a Pennsauken freshman, PR’d in both the 55-meter dash and the 400. She won the 55 in 7.04, which is No. 11 in South Jersey history, and then came back and won the 400 in 56.10, which is No. 10 in South Jersey history.

Wynn is the first girl in meet history – which goes back to 1980 – to double the 55 and 400 (or 55 and 300, which was run until 1995).

The only other South Jersey girl to win two individual events at Easterns is Winslow’s Ste’cye McNeil, who won the 200 in 24.65 and hurdles in 7.89 in 2012.

Both marks are South Jersey freshman records. The 7.04 tied English Gardner’s mark set at the 2007 Easterns at the Armory, and the 56.10 broke Gardner’s freshman record of 56.29, set two days earlier at the Meet of Champions at the Bubble.

On the MileSplit U.S. national list, Wynn is the No. 1 freshman at 7.04 and No. 4 in the 400 with her 56.10.

For more on the 55, click here.

In the 400, Wynn ran away from the field in the final heat, finishing a whopping eight meters in front of Gina Certo of Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest, who ran 57.29. Chairely Bido of Snyder in Jersey City actually wound up 2nd with a 57.23 out of the 4th section.

That 56.10 is fastest by a South Jersey girl in six years, since Rancocas Valley’s Aliyah Taylor ran 55.21 at Easterns and fastest by a Camden County quarter-miler since Gardner’s hand-timed 55.4 in 2008.

Wynn wasn’t the only South Jersey runner doing damage in the Easterns 400.

Eastern senior Kadence Dumas placed 4th in 56.64 – that’s just 2-100ths of a second off her PR from sectionals – and Absegami senior Hannah Ross PR’d in 58.28 for 6th place out of an unseeded heat. Her previous indoor PR was 58.44 at Group 4 states last month at the Bubble.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-57 list:

54.24 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.91 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
55.16 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
55.19 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2008
55.21 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
55.4h … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
55.6h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016
56.10 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 2023
56.19 … Nylah Perry [Winslow], 2020
56.21 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1997
56.34 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
56.44 … Avionne Sloan [Camden], 2006
56.62 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
56.65 … Britney Kott [Millville], 2009
56.76 … Simone Thomas [Willingboro], 2003
56.78 … Ajae Alvarez-Tyler [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2018
56.85 … Emily Duffey [Lenape], 2012
56.85 … Nylah Perry [Winslow], 2020
56.88 … Marcene Jack [Mainland Reg.], 2004
56.90 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1999
56.98 … Jade Pope [Pennsauken], 2020

Wynn’s time is 4th-fastest ever by a South Jersey girl at Easterns, behind only Oakcrest’s Nijgia Snapp [54.91 in 2008], Willingboro’s Okechi Ogbuokiri in 2003 [55.14] and Seneca’s Michelle Brown in 2010 [55.74].

She’s also the fifth South Jersey girl to win an Easterns 400 title:

2003 … Okechi Ogbuokiri (Willingboro, N.J.) 55.14
2008 … Nijgia Snapp (Oakcrest, N.J.) 54.91
2017 … Aliyah Taylor (Rancocas Valley, N.J.) 55.21
2018 … Ajae Alvarez (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.) 56.78
2023 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 56.10