From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Saturday was a very good day for South Jersey athletes at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton’s Weaver Stadium.

There’s way too much here to break up into separate posts, so we’ll try to wrap it all up in one post. If I’m missing anybody from South Jersey who performed well at Princeton lemme know in the comment section!

Here’s a glance at some of the most impressive performances:

➤ St. Joe’s grad student Matt Coffey from Camden Catholic PR’d at 5,000 meters with a 14:23.35, dropping his PR from 14:27.93 in Boston in February. That moves him up to No. 22 on the all-time South Jersey 5,000-meter performance list. Kingsway’s Tom Cooke, racing post-collegiately, ran 14:34.72. Looks like his PR might be 14:20.39 from an indoor meet in Boston in 2021. St. Joe’s junior Josh Forrest from Collingswood ran a PR 14:44.18.

➤ Freshman Bryce Tucker from Pennsauken won the 400-meter hurdles in 52.28, a collegiate PR and No. 11 in Rutgers history, and freshman Lathan Brown of Deptford was 3rd in 53.64. The Rutgers all-time 400IH list now includes five South Jersey runners among the top 11: Delsea’s Aaron Younger is No. 2 with his 50.65 at 2010 NCAA Regionals in Greensboro, N.C.; Rancocas Valley’s Micah Wood is No. 7 at 51.42 in Orlando last weekend; Lenape’s Steve Swern is No. 8 with a 51.68 at 2010 IC4As in Princeton; Delran’s Harran Williams No. 10 with 52.19 from 2002 IC4As at Princeton; and Tucker is 11th.

➤ Williamstown’s Ciara Demarest threw a collegiate PR of 43-3 and placed 4th in the shot put. Her previous college PR was a 43-1 ¾ at the Armory in February. Demarest had one superior meet in high school with a 44-8 at the 2023 Tri-County Championships at Delsea, but her 43-3 is No. 10 in Rutgers history. Teyana Ames from Atlantic County Tech in Hamilton Township was 5th with a 42-8 ¼. She’s No. 8 in Rutgers history at 45-9 ¼. The top South Jersey woman on that Rutgers all-time shot put list is ‘Sylvia Galarza of Millville, who threw 49-2 ¼ at the 2007 Penn Relays.

➤ Rider senior Zach Manorowitz from Pennsville won the long jump with a 24-3 ½ on one of only two legal jumps. The jump was slightly wind-aided at 2.3, but it was his best jump since last April, when he hit 25-0 ¾ with legal wind in a home meet. Manorowitz jumped 22-11 ¾ on his only wind-legal jump Saturday. He’s No. 2 in Rider history behind school-record holder Desmond Hamilton of Pennsauken, who jumped 25-8 ¼ in a meet at Princeton in 2007 before transferring to USC.

➤ Briyel Brown, a freshman from Winslow Township, anchored St. Joe’s 2nd-place 400-meter relay team, which ran 47.78. Rider was 3rd in 47.71 with Egg Harbor Township’s Mariah Stephens on the 3rd leg.

➤ Pennsauken graduate Jade Pope placed 2nd in the 400 in 55.39. That’s just off her lifetime-best 54.93, which she ran in a meet in Louisville in April 2022 as a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago. Pope also placed 5th in the 200 in 25.13, also a PR (she ran 25.16 at the same meet in Louisville).

➤ Timber Creek graduate Alyssa Condell, racing for the Philadelphia Runner Track Club, ran a near-PR 4:38.79 in the 1,500 meters. She ran 4:38.45 at Princeton in 2019 while competing for Penn.

➤ Kingsway graduate Kyle Rakitis, a Rutgers freshman, ran a 1,500 PR of 3:52.98, closing in 59.38, and placed 6th, although he won his section of the race. Rakitis ran a full-mile 4:13.55 in Boston last month, but the 3:52.98 converts to about a 4:11.62.

➤ Colton Johnson of Paul VI and Gobi Thurairajah from Egg Harbor Township ran PRs of 3:54.14 and 3:54.50 in the 1,500. Johnson is a St. Joe’s junior and Thurairajah a Rider senior. Johnson’s previous best was a 3:58.32 in a meet at Princeton last April. Thurairajah’s previous PR was 3:56.65 a year ago today in Williamsburg, Va.

➤ Fordham junior Skylar Harris from Paul VI ran a PR 12.27 and finished 3rd in the 100. According two TFRRS it was her first collegiate 100. She’s been mainly a long jumper at Fordham and has a PR of 18-4 1/4 from a meet at Stockton. She had an 18-5 1/4 last spring at the Atlantic 10 Championships at Amherst, Mass., that was slightly wind-aided at 2.2. Harris also ran a PR 25.68 in the 200. She didn’t long jump, but opened with a 17-4 3/4 at Rider in terrible conditions last weekend.

➤ Also: Mariah Stephens [Egg Harbor, Rider] ran 14.38 in the hurdles and R.V.’s Anabella Chin [Rancocas Valley, Rutgers] ran 14.75. Stephens also long jumped 39-1 ¾ … Dillon Page [Cherry Hill East, Rutgers] placed 3rd in the high jump at 6-4 ¾ … Mike Mazero [Paul VI, Cornell] ran the 2nd leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team [3:15.25] … Brady Shute [Pitman, Cornell] ran 1:51.61 in the 800 … Noah Kriesman [Cherry Hill East, Rutgers] cleared 15-7 in the pole vault … Jenovia Logan [Sterling, Rutgers] cleared 5-6 in the high jump