Ajani Dwyer ran 6.65 and 20.66 Friday to advance to the 60-meter-dash and 200-meter dash finals at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis.
Dwyer, a Penn State freshman from Washington Township, is 5th-fastest into the 60-meter dash finals but just 3-100ths of a second out of 1st. His 200 qualifier was 1-100th-of-a-second off his lifetime-best 20.65 from last month at the Ott Center and 4th-fastest in the trials.
The 60 final is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the 200 final at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fall Creek Pavillion at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds.
Some other highlights from Friday’s various conference meets:
√ Sincere Rhea from St. Augustine, a senior at Texas Tech, ran within 5-100ths of a second of his PR of 7.64 and placed 2nd in his heat to advance automatically to the 60-meter hurdles final on Sunday at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock.
√ La Salle sophomore Helene Usher from Haddonfield ran 16:47.35 for 3rd in the Atlantic 10 5,000-meter run.
√ Austin Gabay from Cinnaminson, a senior at Butler, recorded an auto qualifier into the mile final at the Big East Championships in Chicago. Gabay ran 4:08.71.
√ Rutgers freshman Eric Foster from Willingboro PR’d with an 8.08 in the hurdles trials at the Big Ten meet. That’s No. 8 in Rutgers history.
√ Haddonfield graduate Allison Colflesh, a junior at Richmond, ran a PR 2:15.60 and advanced to the 800 final at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Virginia Beach.
√ Washington Township graduate Jayden Greene and Timber Creek’s Josh Thaler, both seniors at St. Joe’s, advanced to the A-10 800 final, Greene with a 1:55.71 large-Q and Thaler with a 1:53.83 small-Q.
√ UConn junior Jaia James of Winslow Township matched her PR of 7.55 from earlier this month and posted the 3rd-fastest time in the 60 trials at the Big East meet and came back and ran a PR 24.39 to advance in the 200.
√ Kingsway’s Kyle Rakitis, a Rutgers sophomore, ran 4:11.62 in the Big Ten mile trials, about half a second off his PR.
√ Cherry Hill East graduate Alexis Tepper, a UMBC sophomore, PR’d at 4:57.08 for 5th place in the mile at the America East meet at Boston University. That’s No. 5 in school history. She also led off the 2nd-place 4-by-8, which ran 9:12.63 and anchored the 5th-place DMR, which ran 11:51.22
√ Eastern graduate A.J. Brooks, a Monmouth junior, PR’d in the long jump for 4th at the Coastal Athletic Association meet in Virginia Beach and ran 8.14 – within 2-100ths of his hurdles PR – for 6th in the 60-meter highs.
√ Monmouth senior Meredith Updike from Cinnaminson ran a hurdles PR of 8.79 for 4th in the CAA meet.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 