As the entry deadline passed at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, six South Jersey athletes were accepted into the USATF Under-20 Championships next month in Eugene.
Kingsway’s Ryan Allen, Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger, Millville’s Bryanna Craig, Ocean City’s Sophia Curtis, Lumberton’s Greg Foster and Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker are all scheduled to compete at Hayward Field from July 7-9.
The meet is open to athletes who don’t turn 20 before midnight on Dec. 31, 2023, so mostly college freshmen but a healthy slate of high school athletes as well.
Here’s a closer look at the South Jersey contingent heading to Oregon:
✔️ Ryan Allen: Allen, a Kingsway graduate, just finished his freshman year at Cornell, is entered in the 10,000-meter walk. He’s listed with a PR of 49:53.14, and although that mark for some reason isn’t listed among the World Athletics leaders, he’s the No. 1 junior in the U.S. in the 5,000 walk with his 22:38.48 at the Penn Relays. The 10,000-meter walk is scheduled for 11:46 a.m. EST Saturday, July 8.
✔️ Seth Clevenger: Former Haddonfield star recently completed his freshman year at Iowa State. He’s entered in both the 5,000 and 10,000 with a 3:48.23 in the 1,500 and a 14:24.57 in the 5,000. Neither mark shows up on the World Athletics U.S. Under-20 list, probably because World Athletics doesn’t have Clevenger’s birthday. Clevenger ran 3:48.23 at a meet last month in Ames and ran his 14:24.57 at a meet in Azusa, Calif., in April. The 1,500 first round is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EST Friday, July 7, with the final at 6:12 p.m. EST Sunday, July 9. The 5,000 final is scheduled for 7:24 p.m. Sunday, July 9.
✔️ Bryanna Craig: Craig scored a lifetime-best 5,460 points in her last heptathlon, at the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind. (won by Winslow graduate Tionna Tobias), which makes her the No. 4 American and No. 21 Under-20 in the world. She appears to be the No. 2 seed behind JaiCieonna Gero-Holt of Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, Wash., who scored a sophomore-record 5,481 at Eugene Nationals last week. Gero-Holt finished 13 points ahead of Craig at last year’s Under-20 Championships in Eugene, and they both made the U.S. team that competed at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Columbia. The two-day heptathlon begins with the 100-meter hurdles at 2 p.m. EST Friday, July 7, and concludes with the 800-meter run at 4:01 p.m. EST on Saturday, July 8.
✔️ Sophia Curtis: Curtis had a historic junior year at Ocean City running 1:00.42 in the 400-meter hurdles and triple jumping 41-3 ¼, and it looks like she plans to contest both in Eugene. Looks like she’s No. 9 seed in the triple jump and No. 8 in the 400IH – as a rising high school senior. The triple jump is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST Friday. The 400 hurdles first round is scheduled for 6:04 p.m. EST Saturday, July 8, with the final at 6:38 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 9.
✔️ Greg Foster: After finishing his freshman year at Princeton, Foster heads to Eugene to compete in both horizontal jumps. Foster is the top seed in the long jump with his 26-1 ¾ from outdoor Heps at Franklin Field and 51-0 ½ from last year’s West Philly Nationals (the qualifying window opened June 8, and the triple jump was June 17). Based on the entries, Foster appears to be the top seed in both jumps. Triple jump final is 6:05 p.m. EST Friday. Long jump final is 3:10 p.m. EST Saturday.
✔️ Bryce Tucker: Thanks to his 50.96 to win his 3rd straight Meet of Champions title, Tucker is the No. 1 seed by 1-100th of a second over Yan Vazquez of UCLA, who ran 50.97 in the trials of the NCAA Western Preliminaries. Tucker is the No. 14 Under-20 in the world. First round is 6:24 p.m. EST Saturday and the final is 6:46 p.m. EST Sunday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 