A few minutes after Cherokee’s Ethan Wechsler became the 4th-fastest South Jersey runner ever at 10,000 meters, Mainland Regional’s Kevin Antczak became 5th-fastest.
Running in the 3rd section of the 10,000-meter run at the Raleigh Relays – about 20 minutes after Wechsler finished his race on the same track – Antczak ran 29:33.01.
Two South Jersey runners had never previously run under 29:35 in the same decade. Two just did it on the same track within 20 minutes of each other.
And as many South Jersey alums ran 29:35 or faster in the space of half an hour as did in the previous 40 years.
Antczak, a junior at North Carolina State, had never raced at 10,000 meters. He has PRs of 8:04.87 for 3,000 meters and 14:08.24 for 5,000 meters.
But racing in a loaded field on his home track – 24 finishers in his race along broke 29 minutes and 89 runners in all broke 30 minutes – Antczak averaged 14:46 for two 5,000s. The splits once again are a disaster – he’s listed as covering the last 400 meters of the race in 16 minutes, 46.96 seconds – but Antczak averaged about 70.9 seconds per lap for 25 laps on the Paul Derr Track at North Carolina State
All-Time South Jersey 10,000-Meter Run List
29:16.01 … Kevin O’Donnell [Camden Catholic], April 13, 2013, Lewisburg, Pa.
29:17.04 … Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], April 23, 1992, Philadelphia
29:20.80 … Paul Friedman [Moorestown], June 2, 1980, Philadelphia
29:22.69 … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], March 24, 2023, Raleigh, N.C.
29:33.01 … Kevin Antczak [Mainland Regional], March 24, 2023, Raleigh, N.C.
29:35.97 … Andy Arnold [Bishop Eustace], May 16, 2014, West Lafayette, Ind.
29:53.85 … Keith Krieger [Cherokee], March 25, 2005, Palo Alto, Calif.
30:16.81 … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], May 7, 2022, Lawrenceville, N.J.
30:17.4h … Jack Kruse [Cherry Hill East], 1980 ???
30:22.55 … Ben Woodward [Highland], May 8, 2021, Lawrenceville
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 