Delsea’s shot put army was out in force Thursday night, with four throwers – all underclassmen – throwing at least 51 feet and all four PR’ing at the South Jersey Elite at their home facility.
As far as I can tell, Delsea is the first South Jersey school with four 50-footers in the same year, much less the same meet. Much less all underclassmen!
Their 20 measured throws combined averaged 51-1 ½. And 17 of their 20 throws went 50 feet or farther.
Sophomore Jonathan Harris, a 1st-year throw, PR’d by over two feet at 55-2. He had just PR’d at 53- ½ at Woodbury and never threw over 50 feet outdoors until two weeks ago. He’s the No. 2 sophomore in the state and the top soph in South Jersey in 13 years – since Pleasantville’s Dontaye Rivera threw 56-11 at 2010 states at Egg Harbor. Harris also had throws of 53-38 ½, 51-2 ¾, 50-4 ½ and 54-7 ¼ before finishing with his 55-2.
Junior Greg Masso came into Thursday with a PR of 54-8 from an indoor meet at Cherokee in January and an outdoor PR of 54-6 ½ from Fast Times at Cherokee last month. He threw 55-0 on his final attempt for 2nd place after throws of 51-4 ¾, 52-4, 51-1 ½ and 53-1 ¼.
Junior Tyler Habersham-Agbemenu took 5th with a PR 51-7 ¾, just over his lifetime best of 51-6 from Easterns. His previous outdoor PR was 51-3 ½ at Woodbury. He had four total throws over 50 feet, with a 50-7 ¾, 51-4 ¼ and 50-1 before his PR on his final attempt.
Phelan, also a junior, placed 7th with a 51-1 ¼. He had thrown 50-9 at Cherokee indoors in February and had a previous outdoor PR of 50-0. Phelan also had a 51-0 and a 50-5 ½ for the three-best throws of his life in his series.
Others over 50 feet: Cinnaminson senior Malicah Etienne (54-2 ¾), Rancocas Valley senior Devon Brooks (PR 54-0), Egg Harbor junior Mike Simeon (51-3) and Glassboro junior Damere Lassiter (50-1 ½).
Delsea’s quartet now ranks 7th, 9th, 18th and 21st in New Jersey, and 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th in South Jersey.
Among underclassmen, they’re No. 3, No. 4, No. 10 and No. 13 in the state.
and No. 1, 2, 4 and 6 in South Jersey, with Lassiter 3rd [54-2 ½] and Simeon 5th [51-3 ¾].
So Delsea has four underclassmen who’ve thrown 51 feet and every other South Jersey school combined has two.
Delsea’s school record is 61-6 set at the 2013 Tri-County Conference Championships at Delsea by Josh Awotunde, who placed 3rd at the World Championships last year with an all-time world No. 18 73-1 ½ with the 16-pound ball.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 