Huge hurdles PR for Kingsway graduate Autumn DeMary over the weekend.
DeMary, a senior at Bloomfield, won the 100-meter hurdles at the Lions Invitational in Ewing in 14.38, finishing more than a second ahead of the field in poor conditions but with legal wind at 1.2.
After not recording a collegiate victory until April, DeMary has won three of her last four races and finished 2nd in the other one.
Her previous PR was a 14.55 last spring in the prelims of a meet in Glassboro, but that was wind-aided. Her wind-legal PR before this weekend was 14.59, which she ran twice last spring in consecutive meets in Baltimore and Lakewood.
DeMary’s high school PR was 14.67 in the prelims of the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington. She won Tri-County and Gloucester County titles before graduating.
Her first year of outdoor track at Bloomfield was 2021 and she had a best time of 15.17, and she lowered that to 14.55 last year.
No all-time lists or school records – or pretty much anything remotely useful – on Bloomfield’s web site – they don’t even mention Bloomfield going to the TCNJ Invitational (but they do have a preview of the 2021 CACC softball tournament). But presumably the school record in the hurdles is the 13.74 run by Rancocas Valley graduate Jasmine Staten in Baltimore last April. Staten, one of the best hurdlers, sprinters and long jumpers in South Jersey history while attending Lenape, only ran for Bloomfield one year. She ran one race for Holy Family early this indoor season and hasn’t run since, but she’s still on Holy Family’s roster so hopefully she’s back on the track soon.
As for DeMary, she’s ranked No. 1 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference by nearly a second over Shanell Pusey of Holy Family, who has run 15.24. She’s also ranked 6th in the 200 at 26.39.
The CACC Championships are scheduled for this weekend at Georgian Court in Lakewood. The women’s hurdles trials are Friday and the finals Saturday.
DeMary placed 2nd in the hurdles at the 2021 CACC Championships behind teammate TeSeanna Harris – who attended C.A. Morgan Village Academy of Camden and competed for Camden High – and 3rd last year behind Staten and Harris in a 1-2-3 South Jersey sweep.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 