After initially being omitted when the Penn Relays high school shot put field was announced, Hammonton junior Anthony Liakhnovich now appears on the entry list for the world’s oldest and largest annual track meet.
The high school invitational fields for the 125th annual Penn Relays were initially announced on April 9, and Delsea junior was the only South Jersey thrower listed. Glassboro senior Damere Lassiter, who qualified with a 60-1 indoors, chose the discus instead of the shot put.
But the entry list now shows Liakhnovich added at the bottom as a 19th competitor. He’s one of three New Jersey throwers in the event. Joshua Huisman of St. Rose is the top seed with a 67-7 at the indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze, and he went on to place 2nd in both indoor national meets.
Liakhnovich hadn’t thrown 50 feet before the state relays indoors in January. But he threw 56-10 ¼ in a meet at Cherokee in mid-January and then opened the outdoor season with a 59-10 at the Rebel Relays in Howell on April 6 – the first Saturday of the season and the day before the qualifying window closed.
That mark should have easily gotten Liakhnovich into Penn. He added a 61-2 in a dual meet at Oakcrest on Wednesday.
Liakhnovich’s 59-10 ¼ is No. 3 in Atlantic County history, only 18 inches off the county record of 61-4 set by Egg Harbor Township’s Kofi Yamoah at the 2013 South Jersey Invitational at Buena.
The shot put is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Friday. The Penn Relays runs Thursday, April 18, through Saturday, April 20, at Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia.
All the throws at the Penn Relays are located across the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks on the grass fields alongside the Schuylkill Expressway south of South Street.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 