With track season finally over, we’ll catch our breath and spend the next couple weeks taking a look at some top South Jersey athletes who fell through the cracks this year that we didn’t have a chance to write about.
TODAY: Bishop Eustace junior Shawn Brady.
It was truly the Year of the Discus in South Jersey, with eight weight guys surpassing 160 feet (and another 10 inches away).
Six of the top 10 throwers in the state this past year were from South Jersey, and the eight 160-foot throwers is the most South Jersey has produced since 2014, when there were nine. Five of the eight – including Brady – made it onto the all-time South Jersey top-5.
Brady had a very consistent junior year. After PR’ing with 140-9 last year, he hit 150 feet for the first time in his season opener at the Don Danser Relays [152-0], improved to 156-5 at the South Jersey Elite, 158-9 winning the Camden County Championships, then surpassed 160 feet for the first time at the Olympic Conference meet, which he won at 166-6.
Brady won the state Parochial B meet with a 163-4, joining Rich DiGiovanni [154-2 in 1991 and 150-11 in 1992], Mike Harte [143-0 in 1996] and Montel Johnson [149-6 in 2017] as Eustace’s 4th state discus champion since 1986.
Then it was off to the Meet of Champions, where Brady placed 6th with another PR 169-1. He was 3rd among underclassmen, behind two juniors – Bergen Catholic’s Ben Shue, 2nd at 190-8, and Glassboro’s Damere Lassiter , 4th at 171-7. And he was the No. 3 South Jersey placer, behind Lassiter and Rancocas Valley senior Devon Brooks, who was 5th at 169-9.
Brady also became the first Eustace thrower – shot, disc, jav – to ever place in the top six at a Meet of Champions since the meet’s inception in 1969.
Brady also placed 2nd in the state Parochial B meet in the shot put with a PR 50-2, which made him the No. 8 underclassman in South Jersey this past spring and the No. 2 overall Parochial B returner, behind only Meet of Champs winner Joshua Huisman, who hit 64-7 ¾ and was the No. 4 junior in the country, according to the MileSplit national database. It was Huisman that Brady topped in the state meet in the discus by more than 10 feet.
Here’s what the loaded South Jersey top 10 from 2023 looks like:
184-8 … *Damere Lassiter [Glassboro]
183-4 … Janier Armstead [Penns Grove]
177-4 … Malicah Etienne [Cinnaminson]
170-5 … Devon Brooks [Rancocas Valley]
169-1 … *Shawn Brady [Bishop Eustace]
166-6 … Luke Maxwell [Delsea]
160-11 … *Gabriel Wilson [Absegami]
160-1 … Keishon Patterson [Williamstown]
159-2 … Micah Walker [Oakcrest]
158-0 … Chris Griffin [Egg Harbor Twp.]
Lassiter, Brady and Wilson are the No. 1, 2 and 4 rising seniors in the state.
Meanwhile, Absegami’s Gabriel Wilkins – with his 160-11 at the state Group 3 meet – is the top returner in the state in Group 3 and the No. 5 overall returner for 2024, behind Shue, Lassiter, Brady and Huisman.
Here’s the all-time South Jersey discus top-50, with five new additions from this spring:
216-11 … Ron Dayne [Overbrook], 1996
199- 6 … Braheme Days Jr. [Bridgeton], 2013
197- 0 … James Plummer [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
192- 5 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], 2013
191-11 … Franklin Simms [St. Augustine], 2022
189- 7 … Ray Wilks [Bridgeton], 1995
185-11 … John Mooers [Middle Twp.], 2015
185-10 … Russ Willett [Penns Grove], 1985
185- 7 … Matt Huckabee [Timber Creek], 2010
185- 6 … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson], 2018
185- 5 … Ken Manahan [Deptford], 1976
184-8 … Damere Lassiter [Glasboro], 2023
184- 4 … Adam Hunt [Collingswood], 2017
183-9 … Jason Nwosu [Delsea], 2022
183-4 … Janier Armstead [Penns Grove], 2023
181-10 … Jason Winrow [Cumberland Reg.], 1989
180- 3 … Howard Clark [Pennsauken], 1998
179-11 … Nick Pulli [West Deptford], 2014
179-11 … Will Cioffi [Pitman], 2013
178- 0 … Jim Stites [Millville], 1970
177-4 … Malicah Etienne [Cinnaminson], 2023
174- 9 … John Ridinger [West Deptford], 1982
173-10 … Mark Rifkin [Cherry Hill West], 1978
175- 7 … John Clark [Pennsville], 2007
174-11 … Rich Lewis [Williamstown], 1985
174-11 … Cade Berardelli [Delsea], 2022
174- 6 … Josh Dillard [Lindenwold], 2005
174- 4 … Dennis Norman [Cherokee], 1997
174- 3 … Alex Lewis [Delran], 2000
173- 6 … Ryan Knight [Delsea], 1996
173- 3 … Jake Nwosu [Delsea], 2019
173- 2 … Darren Wan [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2016
172- 1 … Derek Frazier [Williamstown], 1978
171-10 … Steve Muse [Kennedy], 1984
171- 6 … Rashaun Graves [Willingboro], 2013
171- 4 … Jon Kalnas [Paulsboro], 1998
170-10 … John McNeil [Kennedy], 1976
170-5 … Devon Brooks [Rancocas Valley], 2023
170- 4 … Kurtis Johnson [Burlington Twp.], 1987
170- 0 … Anthony Robertson [Penns Grove], 2014
169-10 … Julian Giovinetti [Haddon Twp.], 2016
169- 8 … Ell Ash [Willingboro], 2004
169- 7 … Chuck Spinner [Willingboro], 1979
169 – 2 … Greg Hardy [Willingboro], 1988
169- 1 … Cade Antonucci [Holy Spirit], 2017
169-1 … Shawn Brady [Bishop Eustace], 2023
169- 0 … Brian Glenn [Eastern], 1968
168- 9 … John Purvis [Winslow Twp.], 2019
168- 3 … Tom VonReichbauer [Moorestown], 2000
168- 3 … Nate Karl [Hammonton], 2019
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 