Rowan senior Joshua Cason from Sicklerville ran a huge 5,000 PR Friday evening at Widener University in Chester.
Cason lowered his PR from 14:54.78 in a meet last April on the same track to 14:30.66 and won the 5,000 at the Danny Curran Invitational.
That’s the fastest 5,000 time by an New Jersey Athletic Conference runner since at least 2013, which is as far back as the TFRRS data base goes. The NJAC web site lists conference results going back to 2004 and nobody has run close to 14:30 during that span.
No splits on the awful “Pioneer Timing” web site, but Cason topped TCNJ’s Brandon Chen by 12 meters. Chen was 2nd in 14:33.15.
Rowan does not have an all-time top-10 list on its web site, but Cason’s time appears to be the fastest by a Rowan runner over 5,000 meters in at least 20 years.
There could be others but the only faster times I found are the school-record 14:13.46 by Oakcrest’s Ron Deckert when he won the 1984 NCAA Division 3 title at Carleton College’s Laird Stadium in Northfield, Minn., and a 14:22.88 by Cherry Hill East’s Jack Kruse when he placed 3rd in 1979 D-3 Nationals at George Finney Stadium at Baldwin-Wallace in Berea, Ohio.
Cason, who attended Camden County Vo-Tech, is a three-time NJAC champion, having won the conference 3,000 indoors in 2024 at Ocean Breeze and 2025 at the Ott Center and the conference XC title this past fall at the Green Lane Fields in Ewing. Cason was a three-time NJAC All-America for Camden County College before Rowan. He also played golf at CCC.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 