We’ve spoken a lot about records over the past few days and how damanging the absence of a wind gauge can be to sprinters and hurdlers trying to break them.
Jim Lambert of MileSplit wrote a good piece about how the absence of a wind gauge at Pennsauken at sectionals negated several records and how the NJSIAA plans to respond belatedly.
In any case, one of the many races impacted negatively by the absence of a functioning wind gauge was the boys Group 4 200, where Ajani Dwyer won the race in 20.86, which would have been the fastest wind-legal time in state history if there had been a wind gauge and the tailwind was measured at 2.0 meters per second or less.
You may not have noticed who placed 3rd in that race behind Dwyer and Southern Regional junior Cole Isaac Cramer, but it was Rancocas Valley sophomore Thomas Howard Jr., who ran 21.36.
Is that a state sophomore record? It’s a complicated question.
It does appear to be the fastest FAT 200 ever recorded by a New Jersey sophomore. But without a legal wind reading it can’t be considered a state sophomore record.
The fastest legit FAT 200 by a sophomore that I was able to find before this weekend was a 21.41 by the late Mario Heslop of Franklin Township, when he won 2017 Group 4 states at Egg Harbor Township. There was no wind reading in that race, either.
Najee Glass of St. Peter’s Prep was credited with a hand-timed 21.1 at the 2010 Hudson County Championships at Secaucus. Why was anybody still running a meet in 2010 without FAT timing? No idea, but Glass’s fastest FAT 200 that year was a 21.88 at the state Parochial A meet at Egg Harbor. He never ran under 21.48 FAT the rest of his high school career, althoug he did go onto win Armory Nationals at 400 meters with a 46.57 in 2012. He ran as fast as 21.05 as a junior at Florida in a meet in Gainesville in April 2014.
Timber Creek’s Jamaad Muse is credited on MileSplit with a 21.24 at the 2012 Group 3 sectionals at Egg Harbor, but the timing in that whole race was messed up – all six medalists ran about half a second faster than they ever ran before or after, and there was clearly some sort of timing irregularity and we don’t recognize times from that race.
Egg Harbor’s T.J. Johnson is credited on MileSplit with a 21.30 at the 2008 Cape Atlantic Championships at Atlantic City, but that whole meet was actually hand-timed. Johnson’s fastest FAT 200 as a sophomore was a 21.79 at the Meet of Champions at South Plainfield
The fastest legit FAT 200 in New Jersey history by a sophomore with a legal wind reading appears to be a 21.42 by Snyder’s Zamir Thomas at 2009 Greensboro Nationals.
Wind gauge or not, Howard’s 21.36 is very fast. It’s 2nd-fastest in Burlington County history, behind only Malachi James’ 21.13 at the USATF New York Youth Challenge Series Opener in New York in April. That’s the only 200 James has run this year with a wind gauage – there was a legal 1.6 MpS tailwind at Icahn Stadium. And Howard’s time is 6th-fastest in South Jersey history regardless of wind reading.
What’s the fastest FAT time by a South Jersey sprinter with legal wind? It’s probably Dennis Mitchell’s 21.06 at the 1984 Keebler Prep Invitational in Elk Grove, Ill., but there’s no indication in any of the results or stories from that meet whether there actually was a wind gauge. I’m guessing even in 1984 there was a wind gauge at a meet like that, but still working on that.
The fastest 200 by a South Jersey runner that definitely had a legal wind is a 21.07 by Paul VI’s Antonio Tarantino at 2018 Greensboro Nationals. And the fastest wind-legal 200 by a South Jersey soph is Muse’s 21.59 with a 1.7 at the 2012 Meet of Champions at Old Bridge.
Whatever the details, R.V. has an impressive stable of young sprinters. Sophomore Julian Coppage-Seepersaud has run 10.84, 21.99 and 48.22 this spring and qualified for states in the 200 and 400, soph Xavier Bancroft has run 11.02, 22.03 and 50.69 and will race in the 200 at states, junior David Smith has run 10.77 and 22.40 and races at states in the 100 and Howard has run 50.54 in addition to his 21.36. R.V. has run 42.00 and 3:22.71 with all underclassmen.
And the best news of all is that there will be a wind gauge this weekend at states.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 