Williamstown senior Ciara Demarest did her usual thing Wednesday at the Delsea Crusader Field Meet, , winning the shot at 42-2 and the discus with a 128-4.
Demarest is No. 3 in New Jersey in the shot with her 44-8 at the Tri-County Championships and No. 5 in the discus with that 128-4.
But this time we’re going to write about the girl who finished second to Demarest in both throws.
Clayton junior Maylisa Bluford.
Bluford threw two huge PRs of her own Wednesday night, improving her shot PR from 38-5 ½ just a week earlier at the Tri-County meet to 41-7 ½ and her discus from 124-10 at the South Jersey Elite earlier this month to 127-4.
Bluford is now the No. 2 underclassman in New Jersey in both the shot and discus behind Layla Giordano of Old Tappan, who is the No. 6 junior nationally at 156-3 in the disc and No. 10 in the shot at 45-6.
Bluford is also top-ranked state-wide in Group 1. No other girl in Group 1 has thrown more than 37-10 ¾ or 116-7.
Her 41-7 ½ is No. 11 in Gloucester County history – a quarter of an inch out of the top-10 – and her 127-4 is No. 15 in Gloucester County history. Lists are below.
Along the way, Bluford broke the 43-year-old Clayton school record in the shot set of 40-0 ¾ in 1980 by Emma Painter, who went on to become an NCAA Division 3 javelin champion for Glassboro State, now Rowan. Bluford also holds the Clayton discus record, but it looks like that was previously held by Allison Reuter, who threw 123-10 at the 2015 state Group 1 meet at Egg Harbor.
She’s the top Gloucester County junior in the shot in 13 years – since Delsea’s Janiece Rose threw 42-4 ½ at the 2010 Rowan Open.
She’s also the top South Jersey Group 1 thrower in the shot since Schalick’s Zyra Thomas – the 2018 national indoor champ – threw 45-0 ½ in 2018
Bluford threw 38-3 ¾ indoors when she placed 3rd at Easterns at the Armory, and she also won South Jersey Group 1 and placed 2nd in state Group 1.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 