Rowan senior Marquis Young from Sterling blazed the 14th-fastest hurdles time in NCAA Division 3 history Sunday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships in Galloway Township.
Young was one of six Rowan winners from South Jersey who helped the Profs win their 9th consecutive NJAC Championship and 22nd overall since the inception of the conference in 1984.
Young led a 1-2-3-4 Rowan sweep with a lifetime-best 14.01 with a legal 0.8 meters-per-second tailwind. His previous best was a 14.27 in a meet at Widener University in Chester, Pa., in March.
That 14.01 is the fastest wind-legal time this year in Division 3. Dontre Sinegal of McMurry University of Abilene, Texas, ran 13.87 at the David Noble Relays in San Angelo, Texas, last month, but his performance was aided by an unallowed 3.3 meters-per-second tailwind. Sinegal’s best legal time this year is 14.10 in March in a meet at Seguin, Texas.
Young’s time, achieved in cold and rainy conditions, ties the 2nd-fastest in Rowan history. Garry Moore ran a then-meet-record 13.90 in the qualifying rounds at 1982 NCAA Division 3 Nationals in Naperville, Ill. That stood as the meet record until Shannon Flowers of Lincoln (Pa.) ran 13.86 in 1993 in Berea, Ohio, and went on to win the final in 13.99 after winning the 1981 final in 13.96 in Cleveland.
Stanley Moore ran 14.01 to win the 1983 NCAA Division 3 title, also in Naperville. Both Garry and Stanley Moore ran for Overbrook.
For the Profs, Jason Agyemang [14.17], Kwaku Nkrymah of Teaneck [14.18] and Willingboro’s Anaias Hughes [14.50] ran 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Michael Lawrence was 6th [14.97]. All five Rowan hurdlers PR’d in the race.
On the 2024 NCAA Division 3 list – which for some reason includes wind-aided marks – Young is 2nd, Agyemang is 5th and Nkrumah 6th.
Young also placed 2nd in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the NJAC Championships in 53.58.
Rowan scored 368 points and beat 2nd-place The College of New Jersey by 222 points. The Profs were ranked 8th in the most recent USTFCCCA rankings, which were compiled before the conference meet.
Other Rowan winners from South Jersey: Sophomore Scott Hubbard from Audubon won the 1,500 [3:55.68], junior Joshua Cason from Camden County Technical Schools Gloucester Township campus won the 5,000 [14:58.38], junior Matthew Conway from Haddon Township won the 10,000 [31:07.51], Nicholas Razze from Pitman won the 400-meter hurdles [53.51] and junior Caleb Clevenger from Haddonfield was 1st in the 3,000 steeplechase [9:43.91].
The Profs won the 400-meter relay in 41.17 with freshman Eli Hendricks of Penns Grove, Bridgeton’s Shamar Love and Highland’s Robert McKinney in the lineup and the 1,600-meter relay in 3:19.07 with Razze and Sterling’s Jarquil Young in the lineup.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 