Rowan’s Nevaeh Lorjuste, a sophomore from Triton, ran one of the fastest 400s in NCAA Division 3 Sunday in winnng the NJAC title at Ramapo University in Mahwah.
She also teamed up with a couple other South Jersey middle-distance runners to help Rowan run top-10 national times in two relays.
Lorjuste ran 55.46 to win the New Jersey Athletic Conference 400 title by more than a second over 2nd-place Maria Grill of The College of New Jersey, who ran 56.50.
Lorjuste’s time is No. 6 in NCAA Division 3 and is almost certain to qualify her for the NCAA Division 3 Championships in …..
Her previous PR was a 56.77 when she placed 3rd in last year’s NJAC meet in Ewing. She lowered that to 56.60 when she led the qualifiers in Saturday’s trials before her breakthrough race in the final.
Her time is fastest by a Rowan woman in seven years, since Pemberton graduate Shailah Willoiams set the school record of 54.74 in her final college meet, when she placed 3rd at the 2016 NCAA Division 3 Championships in Waverly, Iowa.
At Triton, Lorjuste won South Jersey Group 3 sectionals at Delsea as a senior in a high school PR 56.98 and placed 2nd at states in 57.21 and 4th in the Meet of Champions with a 57.07. She was also a state champ in the 200.
As a freshman at Rowan, she ran 59.10 indoors 57.18 outdoors then reached NCAAs indoors in Albuquerque this past winter and ran an indoor lifetime best 58.06.
In the 4-by-4, Rowan ran 3:50.31, No. 9 in NCAA Division 3. Kat Pederson of Hillsborough, sophomore Molly Lodge of Woodstown and sophomore Jasmine Broadway of Burlington Township anchored in 55.09.
In the 4-by-1, the Profs ran 46.76, No. 7 in NCAA Division 3. Lorjuste, Broadway and Lodge were joined by anchor Promise Fadahunsi from Monroe Township High. That’s only 20-100ths of a second off the school record of 46.56 set when the Profs placed 3rd at the the 2016 NCAA Division 3 Championships in Waverly, Iowa. Williams was joined by Ebonique Jones from William Penn, Aspen McMillan of South Brunswick and Lexus Matos of Camden Catholic on that team.
Broadway also won the 200 and set a school record of 24.33 in the trials, placed 6th in the 100 in 12.30 after a PR 12.21 in the trials and also ran on the 4-by-1.
Lodge also ran a PR 1:02.01 for 2nd in the intermediates, placed 5th in the 100 with a 12.22 after a PR 12.14 in the trials and took 5th in the 200 in 25.19.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 