Kingsway grad Kyle Rakitis, a Rutgers freshman, ran a 4:05.38 anchor and the Scarlet Knights smashed a 44-year-old school record in the Penn Relays distance medley Friday.
Rutgers ran 9:43.66 and placed 4th in the DMR, behind Buffalo [9:43.14], Maryland [9:43.43] and Penn State [9:43.45].
Gavin Richards from North Hunterdon High School in Annandaale led off with a 2:58.59 leg for 1,200 meters, Gabriel Rodriguez of Union High split 48.55 on the 400 and Christopher Hill from Franklin High ran 1:51.15 on the 800 to set up Rakitis.
Rakitis, a transfer from Virginia, was coming off a PR 3:47 PR for 1,500 meters, 7th-fastest in Rutgers history.
The previous Rutgers DMR record was 9:46.7 set at the 1979 Rutgers Relays in Piscataway. The Rutgers record book does not list the runners on that team.
St. Joe’s placed 7th in 9:48.35 with 9:48.35, not far from the Hawks’ school record of 9:43.65 set in 2015. Anchor Camden Catholic anchor Matt Coffey split 4:07.37.
Rider ran 10:01.94 for 9th place with Camden Catholic graduate Richie Castaneda leading off in 3:04.17 and Egg Harbor grad Gobi Thurairajah splitting 1:54.98 for the 800 leg.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 