Duke junior Austin Gabay from Cinnaminson became the 5th South Jersey runner to dip under 14 minutes in the 5,000 Thursday evening at the Raleigh Relays.
Gabay ran 13:58.84 and closed in 62.82 to lock up his sub-14 performance.
That’s nearly a 20-second PR for Gabay, who ran 14:17.98 last April at a meet at Azusa, Calif. That was actually his last track 5,000. He ran 14:20.48 last year at the Raleigh Relays and those are his only collegiate 5,000s.
The only other South Jersey runners to go sub-14 are Cherokee’s Jack Shea [13:44.57 in 2022], Eastern’s Karl Savage [13:48.61 in 2003], Cinnaminson’s Jon Anderson [13:58.23 in 2009] and Rancocas Valley’s Mark Strucko [13:58.30 in 1984]. The full all-time South Jersey top-10 is below.
From 1,000 meters to 4,600 meters, Gabay ran all his laps between 1:06.81 and 1:08.36, with only one lap under 1:07 and only one lap over 1:08. He needed a 63.97 final lap to get under 14 and beat that by over a second.
I tried to cobble together an all-time Duke top-10 list and this is what I came up with. Might be missing one or two guys but who knows. Maybe not.
Duke Sub-14 List (may not be totally complete)
13:42.50 … C.J. Ambrosio, 2022
13:48.90 … Robbie Perkins, 1975
13:50.22 … Domenick DeMatteo, 2012
13:52.30i … Sam Rivera, 2022
13:52.41 … Brian Alf, 1981
13:54.43 … Chris Theodore, 2022
13:54.76 … Shaun Thompson, 2016
13:58.84 … Austin Gabay, 2024
13:58.87 … Josh Lund, 2011
13:59.02 … James Kostelnik, 2013
All-Time South Jersey 5,000-Meter List
13:44.57 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], April 29, 2022, Palo Alto, Calif.
13:48.61 …Karl Savage [Eastern], April 17, 2003, Walnut, Calif.
13:58.23 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], April 23, 2009, Philadelphia
13:58.30 … Mark Strucko [Rancocas Valley], April 8, 1984, Austin, Texas
13:58.84 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], March 28, 2024 Raleigh, N.C.
14:03.52 … Kevin McDonnell [Camden Catholic], April 5, 2013, Williamsburg
14:06.23 … Sam Gerstenbacher [Schalick], April 29, 2022, Philadelphia
14:09.10 … Andy Arnold [Bishop Eustace], April 4, 2014, San Francisco
14:09.37 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], March 30, 2012, Raleigh, N.C.
14:12.0h … Mike Elder [Haddon Twp.], 1977
14:13.72 … Miles Schoedler [Ocean City], April 5, 2013, Williamsburg, Va.
14:15.73 … Conor Melko [Bishop Eustace], May 15, 2021, Springfield, Mass.
14:15.94 … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], April 29, 2022, Philadelphia
14:16.10 … John Richardson [Ocean City], April, 2008, Palo Alto, Calif.
14:17.77 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], April 6, 2007, Durham, N.C.
14:17.99 … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], May 7, 2006, Storrs, Ct.
14:18.28 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], Feb. 23, 2023, Louisville, Ky.
14:19.97 … Joe Halin [Cherokee], N.C. State, 2005
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 
Ron Deckert of Glassboro State and Absegami won the 1984 Division 3 National Championship 5k in Northfield, Minn with a time of 14:12.00.
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Thanks, I’ll add it to the list. I know Ron and Don used to switch places in a lot of races depending how they were feeling and nobody ever really knew who ran what. Unfortunately. Rowan’s track web site is a disgrace so it’s almost impossible to get any info on Glassboro State or Rowan runners before 2009. And they had some really good ones.
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Mat Brill of Sterling (same year as Brian Gallagher) ran 14:10.3 in1996 (also a 29:46 10k)
All-Time Outdoor Top 10 – North Central College Athletics (northcentralcardinals.com)
Gallagher ran 14:00.03 in 1998 at Raleigh Relays
Mar 29, 1998, page 35 – The Philadelphia Inquirer at Newspapers.com
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Wow, great name … thanks much! Updating now!
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