Burlington City senior Malachi James shredded meet records in the 100 and 200 at the Burlington County Open Saturday and ran the 6th-fastest 100 in state history.
The meet records going in were 10.71 in the 100 shared by Holy Cross’s James Townsend in 2003 and Northern’s Samuel Thomas last year and a hand-timed 21.2 by Rob Gary of Lenape in the 200 in 1998 and 21.82 fat time by James as a Willingboro freshman in 2021.
James first broke the 100 record in the trials, when he ran 10.47, and then he ran a lifetime-best 10.39 in the final. His previous PR was 10.40 at the USATF New York Youth Challenge Series Opener at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in Manhattan last month. That broke the county record of 10.45 set by Townsend when he won the 2003 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.
After the 100, James ran 21.47 in the 200 final, winning by half a second over Rancocas Valley’s Julian Coppage-Seepersaud, who ran a PR of 21.99, fastest time this year by a New Jersey sophomore. James PR’d at 21.13 in New York last month.
James is the first county champ from Burlington City in 16 years, since Chris Barnes won the 110-meter hurdles in 2008. He’s Burlington’s first double winner in meet history. He was named Track MVP after his record-setting double.
With Washington Township’s Ajani Dwyer [10.38, 21.22], Southern Regional junior Cole Isaac Cramer [10.39, 21.18] and James [10.39, 21.13], this is the first time in history New Jersey has had three sprinters at 10.40 or faster and also at 21.22 or faster. They rank 6th, 7th and 7th in state history in the 100 and 8th, 12th and 13th in state history in the 200.
If all goes well, those three will meet in the 100 and 200 finals at the Meet of Champions on June 12 at Pennsauken.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 