With four runners from South Jersey, Rowan’s 400-meter relay team is one of the fastest in NCAA Division 3 and is closing in on a 20-year-old school record.
Sophomore Shamar Love of Bridgeton, freshman Evan Corcoran of Kingsway, sophomore Jah’mere Beasley of Sterling and freshman Masai Byrd of Rancocas Valley ran 41.14 at the recent Danny Curren Invitational at Widener University in Chester, finishing 2nd to a post-graduate club team that ran 41.04.
Rowan backed that up with a 41.35 at its own Oscar Moore Invitational in Glassboro this past weekend with the same lineup in cold, windy conditions. Princeton won that race in 40.56, with Lumberton’s Greg Foster leading off.
Rowan’s 41.14 is No. 6 in NCAA Division 3 so far this year but only 23-100ths of a second off No. 1 University of Redlands (Calif.), which ran 40.91 this past weekend at a meet in Claremont, Calif.
Also in the top 5 are Greenville (Ill.) with 41.01; Ohio Northern of Ada, Ohio (41.05); and Claremont-Mudds-Scripps of Claremont, Calif. (41.08).
Rowan’s school record of 40.82 was set in 2003 by a team including Ed Fortune from Queens, N.Y., Millville’s Matt Davis, Highland’s Jorge Santiago and Camden’s Tyree Jackson, when the Profs placed 3rd at the NCAA Division 3 meet at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
Interestingly, Love has run on a faster 4-by-1 than Rowan’s school record. He anchored Westminster College’s 40.80 in the prelims at NCAA Division 3 nationals last spring in Geneva, Ohio. Westminster, from New Wilmington, Pa., just across the Ohio border from Youngstown. Westminster went on to place 7th in the final, earning Love All-America honors.
The Profs are scheduled to race this weekend at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 