From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Delsea graduate Jason Nwosu continues to climb the William & Mary all-time discus list.

Nwosu, a sophomore, threw a lifetime-best 163-5 Friday at the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C. He had just set his PR of 161-4 a week earlier in Charlottesville, Va.

That 163-5 makes Nwosu the No. 8 performer in school history.

Nwosu missed advancing to the final and getting three more throws by 15 inches. He hit the 163-5 on his 1^stthrow and then threw 162-9 on his 2^nd, so he had the two-best throws of his life to open the competition. He fouled on his 3^rd attempt.

Nwosu also threw 55-3 3/4 and placed 6th in the shot put. He hit 55-7 on his 1st attempt before fouling on his next five. He threw his PR of 57-11 1/2 in Williamsburg earlier this month, which is No. 3 in school history.

William & Mary will not be coming to the Penn Relays this week, unfortunately, opting instead for the Virginia High Performance meet in Charlottesville next Sunday.

The discus is one of the very few events that South Jersey hasn’t excelled at with the 4.4-pound international implement.

It looks like Nwosu’s 163-5 is the best throw by a Gloucester County high school alum since Josh Awotunde, also Delsea graduate, threw 191-11 at the 2017 Penn Relays. Awotunde, the 2022 World Championship shot put silver medalist, last threw the discus at the 2018 Penn Relays.

South Jersey has only had six 180-foot throwers, as far as I can tell from my research. If you know of any others, please let me know in the comment section!

205-4… Mike Mielke [Holy Spirit], May 4, 1996
201-6 … Steve Muse [Kennedy], July 2, 1993, Edinburgh, Great Britain
197-10 … Russ Willett [Penns Grove], March 17, 1990, Nassau, Bahamas
191-11 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], April 29, 2017, Philadelphia
185-2 … John Mooers [Mainland Reg.], April 25, 2019, Philadelphia
181-8 … Adam Hunt [Collingswood], March 18, 2022, Orlando, Fla.