From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

We posted the high school qualifiers – distance relays here and individuals here – but today we’ll take a look at 25 collegians and post-collegians who are scheduled to compete at Penn this week.

I didn’t include relay legs in this list – there are just too many of them! – but we’re focusing on the South Jersey runners, throwers and jumpers who made the cutoff for individual events

This isn’t meant to be a complete list. The reality of a project like this is that there are some South Jersey athletes competing in college we don’t know about yet. If you see someone missing who is competing in an individual event, please let me know in the comment section!

For the complete schedule and live results once the meet begins, click here.

The 125th annual Penn Relays gets underway at 9 a.m. Thursday and Friday at Franklin Field on the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia. Activity on Saturday starts at 7 a.m.

Ryan Allen: Kingsway graduate, now competing for Shore Athletic Club, is entered in the Olympic Development 5,000-meter Racewalk Elite, scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Allen has a 5,000 PR of 22:38.48 from last year’s Penn Relays.

Tey’ana Ames, Ciara Demarest: The versatile Ames, a Rutgers freshman from Atlantic County Tech, has high jumped 5-7 and long jumped 16-6 ½, but she’ll throw the shot at Penn. She’s got a PR of 45-9 ¾ from an indoor meet at Boston, No. 8 in Rutgers indoor history. Demarest, a Rutgers freshman from Williamstown, has thrown 43-3 this spring. They throw at noon Friday.

Jailya Ash: A junior from Eastern, Ash returns home to race in the 100-meter hurdles. Ash PR’d at 13.29 in her last hurdles race, late last month on her home track in Storrs. That’s No. 1 this year in the Big East and a UConn school record. Hurdles trials are 3:35 p.m. Friday on the backstretch.

Jah’Mere Beasley: Sterling grad, a Rutgers junior, qualified in the 100-meter dash. Beasley has a PR of 10.55 from last year’s NJAC Championships in Mahwah as a Rowan sophomore. He has run 10.45 this spring but it was wind-aided.
Lathan Brown, Bryce Tucker, Micah Wood, Premier Wynn: Four South Jersey intermediate hurdlers – three of them freshmen, three of them from Rutgers – will race at 5:45 p.m. Thursday. Wood, a Rutgers grad student, PR’d with a 51.42 last month in Orlando, No. 7 in Rutgers history and No. 3 this year in the Big Ten. Tucker ran 51.46 last weekend in Columbia, No. 8 in Rutgers history, and Brown ran 52.16 in Tampa earlier this month, No. 10 in Rutgers history. Wynn ran 52.29 in a home meet for Norfolk State, No. 2 this year in the MEAC.

Mike Carfagno: Stockton senior from Egg Harbor Township is entered in the men’s shot put at 3 p.m. Friday. He PR’d with a 49-4 ¼ for 3rd place at the indoor NJAC meet at Ocean Breeze.

Anabella Chin, Molly Lodge: Lodge, a Rowan junior, from Woodstown has a 1:02.01 intermediate hurdles PR to her credit from last year’s NJAC meet in Mahwah and came close to that with a 1:02.32 this past weekend at Widener. She’s No. 6 in NCAA Division 3 this year. Chin, a sophomore from Rancocas Valley, has a 1:02.21 PR from earlier this month in Tampa. The intermediate hurdles are slated for 5:25 p.m. Thursday.

Alyssa Condell: Former Timber Creek and Penn distance runner races in the Olympic Development 5,000, scheduled for 8:50 p.m. Friday. Condell has a PR of 16:29.45 from earlier this month at Princeton. That’s No. 10 in South Jersey alumni history.

Thomas Cooke: Cooke, a Kingsway graduate who ran briefly for Felician University but has blossomed as a post-grad, will race the Olympic Development 5,000 at 9:15 p.m. Friday. Cooke hasn’t run many track 5,000s but his PR is 14:20.39 from December 2021 indoors in Boston.

Isaiah Davenport, Skyler Salay: Davenport, a Holy Family freshman from Pleasantville, cleared a PR 6-8 ¼ indoors and will compete in the high jump Championship at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Salay, a Holy Family junior from Burlington Township, is in the college division high jump at noon Friday. He’s jumped 6-6 ¾.

Malicah Etienne: Cinnaminson grad is a freshman at Georgian Court in Lakewood and already the school record holder in the discus with his 169-5 earlier this month in Shippensburg, Pa. The men’s college discus is scheduled for noon Friday. He’s also entered in the shot, which is at 3 p.m. Friday. He threw 53-9 ¼ at Ocean Breeze in February.

Dennis Fortuna: Triton grad, a sophomore at Penn, races the college 5,000 at 8:55 p.m. Thursday. Fortuna has a 5,000 PR of 14:32.72 from two weeks ago at Princeton.

Skylar Harris: Fordham senior from Paul VI and Clementon qualified for Penn in the long jump and takes a PR of 18-4 ¼ to Franklin Field. Harris jumps at noon Friday.

Jaden Johnson: Timber Creek grad, now a sophomore at East Stroudsburg, will compete in the triple jump at 4 p.m. Friday. Johnson PR’d with a 48-1 ¾ indoors in January in a meet in Boston. He hit 47-5 earlier this month in a meet at Millersville. That’s No. 2 in the PSAC this spring.

Noah Kriesman: The greatest pole vaulter in South Jersey history, Kriesman cleared 17-3 ½ in Columbia, S.C., last weekend. Because that performance came after seeding for Penn, the Rutgers freshman and Cherry Hill East graduate compete in the college division at 4 p.m. Friday.

Zach Manorowitz: Rider senior Manorowitz is in the championship division of the long jump, scheduled for noon Saturday. Manorowitz, a Pennsville graduate, jumped at NCAAs last spring. He has a lifetime-best of 25-0 ¾ from last year’s Rider Invitational. He jumped 24-4 ½ last weekend in a home meet in Lawrenceville. That’s No. 1 this year in the MAAC.

Alexis Marini: A Woodstown grad and Rutgers-Camden senior, Marini just PR’d in the hammer at 168-0 this past weekend in Chester. That’s No. 28 this year in NCAA Division 3. Marini, who never threw the hammer until she arrived at Rutgers-Camden, throws at noon Thursday.

Kevin McDonnell: Former Camden Catholic runner races the Olympic Development 5,000 at 9:15 p.m. Friday. McDonnell, who ran for St. Joe’s/Penn, has a 5,000 PR of 14:03.52 in Williamsburg, Va., in 2013, but he ran 14:06.33 two weeks ago in Durham, N.C.

Emma Peretti: Yale freshman from Hammonton PR’d in the shot earlier this month in a home meet in New Haven with a 43-7. Women’s shot put is scheduled for noon Friday.

Lucciano Pizarro: Cherokee graduate now at Penn State throws the shot in the championship division at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Pizarro threw his PR of 65-0 ¾ last May in Bloomington, Ind. He has a 62-4 to his credit this spring.

Michaela Pomatto: Egg Harbor graduate, a Stockton junior, will throw the discus at Penn. She PR’d this past weekend with a big school-record 149-4 in a meet in Chester, Pa. She throws at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Martin Riddell: Former Haddonfield runner, a Yale junior, races the 5,000 at 8:55 p.m. Thursday. Ridell ran 14:27.85 indoors in Boston.

Claudine Smith: Atlantic City graduate triple jumps at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Smith has a collegiate best of 41-10 from a meet at the Armory this past February. That’s a Rutgers indoor school record and the No. 2 mark in South Jersey history, behind a 43-3 ¼ by Winslow’s Cidaea’ Woods in Knoxville in 2018.

Naseem Smith, Anthony Vazquez: Both Syracuse hurdlers are entered in the college race scheduled for 3:55 p.m. Friday. Smith, a junior from Deptford, has a PR of 14.02 from last year’s ACC Championships in Raleigh but just ran 14.04 this past weekend in Albany. Vasquez, a senior from Egg Harbor Township, has a PR of 14.17 from last weekend in Albany. A 3rd Syracuse hurdler from South Jersey, Isaiah Lewis from Winslow, just PR’d at 14.18 this past weekend, also in Albany, but isn’t entered at Penn. Also entered are Kwaku Nkrumah and Jason Agyemang of Rowan. Nkrumah, from Teaneck, ran 7.93 indoor for the 60-meter hurdles, a Rowan school record and the No. 9 time in NCAA Division 3 history. He has an outdoor PR of 14.26 and Agyemang, a multiple Division 3 All-America from North Plainfield, has run 14.40.

Mariah Stephens: Egg Harbor Township’s Stephens, a Rider junior, qualified in the triple jump, which will be held at 4 p.m. Friday. She hit her PR of 39-10 last spring at Rider and just jumped 39-5 two weeks ago at Duke. Stephens so far this year is No. 1 in the MAAC in the triple jump, No. 1 in the MAAC in the 100-meter hurdles [13.97], No. 2 in the long jump [18-7 ¾] and No. 3 in the 100 (12.29).