In her first lifetime 10,000, Haddonfield’s Helene Usher ran the 8th-fastest time on record by a South Jersey runner.

Usher, a sophomore at La Salle, made her debut over 10,000 meters late Friday night at the Raleigh Relays and placed 10th in 34:13.65.

Usher had just run 16:30.14 indoors for 5,000 meters in Boston last month and then placed 3rd in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

But on Friday on a warm evening at Frank Derr Stadium, she came through 5,000 meters in about 17:10 and closed in 17:03.

Her time is No. 2 in the A-10 so far this year, behind Fordham senior and A-10 indoor 5,000 champion Katarina Birimac, who ran 33:59.59 in the same race.

On the all-time South Jersey list, is 2nd-fastest from Haddonfield, behind only Marielle Hall, who ran 31:05.71 when she placed 8th at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Hall never ran a track 10,000 when she was at Texas.

In a different section of the 10,000, Kingsway and Edinboro graduate Kylie Anicic ran 34:08.45. She ran 33:25.55 last year in the same meet.

All-Time South Jersey 10,000 Performance List
31:05.71 … Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], Sept. 28, 2019, Doha, Qatar
31:35.63 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley], Dec. 5, 2020, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
33:07.10 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], May 28, 2021, Portland, Ore.
33:15.95 … Meghan McGlinchey [West Deptford], April 4, 2014, Palo Alto, Calif.
33:23.12 … Amanda Goetschius [Delsea], March 26, 2010, Palo Alto, Calif.
33:25.55 … Kylie Anicic [Kingsway], March 29, 2024, Raleigh, N.C.
33:27.41 … Laura Mason [Northern Burlington], April 27, 1995, Philadelphia
34:13.65 … Helene Usher [Haddonfield], March 28, 2025, Raleigh, N.C.
34:27.85 … Jenna Darcy [Shawnee], March 31, 2006, Palo Alto, Calif.
34:30.63 … Kylie Anicic [Kingsway], March 23, 2023, Raleigh, N.C.
34:34.91 … Katie Van Horn [Triton], March 20, 2007, Palo Alto, Calif.

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.

Curtis Thompson opened his 2025 season with the No. 1 javelin throw in the world this year.

Thompson, a 2014 Florence graduate, threw a lifetime-best 287-11 at the Texas Relays Friday afternoon at Mike Myers Stadium in Austin.

That bumps Sumedha Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka out of the No. 1 spot on the World Athletics list. Ranasinghe threw 281-5 earlier this month at Mahinda Rajapaksha Stadium in Diyagama, Sri Lanka.

Thompson’s previous best was a 287-9 at American JavFest in East Stroudsburg, Pa., in July 2022.

His 287-11 is No. 3 in U.S. history behind Breaux Greer [299-6 in Indianapolis in 2007] and Tom Petranoff [292-6 in Potchefstroom, Russia, in 1991].

Thompson is a four-time U.S. champion and two-time Olympic Trials champion. He won U.S. titles in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024 and the Trials in 2021 and 2024. He competed in the 2021 Olympics Tokyo and 2024 Games in Paris after missing qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro by 15 inches.

Thompson broke the meet record of 274-2 set by former world record holder Patrik Bodén of Sweden and the University of Texas at the 1990 meet at the University of Texas’s Memorial Stadium, across the street from Mike Myers Stadium.

Thompson, in his first meet since the Olympics seven months ago, opened with a 257-2 before hitting the 287-11 on his 2nd attempt. He added two more throws over 270 feet – 276-11 and 271-9 on his 3rd and 4th throws before finishing with two fouls.

The 276-11 is his 3rd-best throw ever, and the 271-9 is his 10th-best. This is the first time he’s thrown 270 feet or more three times in the same meet and the first time he’s thrown 275 feet twice in the same meet.

Curtis Thompson’s 270-foot throws
287-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [2nd throw]
287-9 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [2nd throw]
276-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [3rd throw]
276-4 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2022 [3rd throw]
274-11 … Athletissima, La Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland, Aug. 26, 2022 [1st throw]
273-4 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [1st throw]
272-5 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 23, 2024 [1st throw]
271-11… Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 4, 2016 [1st throw]
271-10 … Spitzen Leichtathletik, Luzern, Switzerland, Aug. 30, 2022 [3rd throw]
271-9 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [4th throw]
271-7 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 21, 2021 [6th throw]
271-0 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 13, 2024 [1st throw]
270-3 … Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Invitational, Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland, Aug. 6, 2022 [2nd throw]

In her first outdoor race for Duke, Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo sped to the 6th-fastest 400 time ever recorded by a South Jersey high school alum.

Garozzo, a transfer from Penn, opened her outdoor season Friday by running 52.54 and placing 3rd in the 400 at the Raleigh Relays at Paul Derr Stadium. She placed 3rd out of 114 runners.

Garozzo’s previous PR was a 53.47 earlier this month indoors in the prelims of the ACC Championships in Louisville. Because she focuses on the intermediate hurdles outdoors, she didn’t run an outdoor 400 her last two years at Penn. Technically, her previous outdoor 400 PR was a 56.31 in a meet in Fairfax, Va., in April of 2022.

Garozzo hasn’t run a 400IH yet this spring. She PR’d with a 56.34 when she won last year’s Heps in Princeton. That’s 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey intermediate hurdler.

Duke doesn’t have an all-time top-10 on its web site. It has an all-time top-5 which goes down to 52.30, so presumably Garozzo isn’t far outside that top five.

All-Time New Jersey 400-Meter Dash List
48.74 … Sydney McLaughlin [Union Catholic], July 8, 2023, Eugene, Ore.
49.57… Athing Mu [Trenton], June 12, 2021, Eugene, Ore.
50.63 … Mikele Barber [Montclair], May 13, 2001, Columbia, S.C.
50.66 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 2003, Sacramento
50.87 … Me’Lisa Barber [Montclair], June 1, 2002, Baton Rouge, La.
51.70 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], June 13, 2014, Eugene, Ore.
51.72 … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], June 27, 1987, San Jose, Calif.
51.94 … Stephanie Saleem [Neptune], May 20, 1989, Knoxville, Tenn.
52.00 … Jenna Harris [Franklin Twp.], May 31, 2008, Fayetteville, Ark.
52.24 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], March 16, 1996, Westwood, Calif.
52.36 … Julia Jackson [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], May 12, 2023, Raleigh, N.C.
52.37 … Joetta Clark [Columbia], June 1, 1996, New York
52.42 … Arianna Sharpe [Clayton], Feb. 10, 2023, Clemson, S.C.
52.46 … Olivia Baker [Columbia], July 6, 2014, Eugene, Ore.
52.54 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], March 28, 2025, Raleigh, N.C.
52.77 … Eusheka Bartley [Highland], March 23, 1996, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.77 … Ahndraea Allen [Roselle Park], May 15, 2005, Princeton
52.80 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], May 12, 2007, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.86 … Tina Johnson [Burlington Twp.], May 20, 2001, Bloomington, Ind.

Austin Gabay, a junior at Butler, PR’d over 5,000 meters Thursday night in Raleigh with the 3rd-fastest time ever run by a South Jersey native.

Gabay ran 13:52.19 at the Raleigh Relays at Paul Derr Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., shaving about 6 ½ seconds off his PR of 13:58.84, set on the same track last year as a sophomore at Duke.

Gabay, in his 2025 outdoor season opener, closed in 4:24.08 for his final 1,600, 2:08.20 for his final 800 and 61.1 for his final 400.

Gabay moved from 4th to 3rd on the all-time South Jersey performance list and broke the Cinnaminson alumni record along the way. Jon Anderson ran 15:58.23 at the 2009 Penn Relays while racing for Army.

All-Time South Jersey 5,000 List
13:44.57 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], April 29, 2022, Palo Alto, Calif.
13:48.61 …Karl Savage [Eastern], April 17, 2003, Walnut, Calif.
13:52.19 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], March 28, 2024, Raleigh, N.C.
13:58.23 … Jon Anderson [Cinnaminson], April 23, 2009, Philadelphia
14:03.52 … Kevin McDonnell [Camden Catholic], April 5, 2013, Williamsburg
14:04.8h … Kevin Pumphrey [Highland], 1989
14:06.23 … Sam Gerstenbacher [Schalick], April 29, 2022, Philadelphia
14:08.24 … Kevin Antczak [Mainland Regional], Feb. 22, 2024, Boston
14:09.10 … Andy Arnold [Bishop Eustace], April 4, 2014, San Francisco
14:09.37 … Jon Vitez [Haddonfield], March 30, 2012, Raleigh, N.C.

University of Delaware freshman Laurel Conway from Sterling popped a javelin PR Thursday afternoon at the Raleigh Relays at Paul Derr Track in Raleigh, N.C.

Conway threw 133-11 in her 2nd collegiate meet, moving into the No. 10 spot in Delaware history and the No. 3 spot on the all-time Delaware freshman list, behind Megan Albamonti [162-9 in 2021 in Harrisonburg, Va., before she transferred to Alabama] and Jillian Seamon [142-4 at Swarthmore in 2009].

At Sterling, Conway had a PR of 131-3 from the Camden County Champions at Haddon Township this past May. That was her only high school meet over 125 feet.

She opened this spring with a 129-9 last weekend at Richmond and after opening with a foul on Thursday, she threw 126-9 before her 133-11. So she’s already had three of the top four lifetime throws in just two college meets.

While I was researching this post I found a few interesting things that I had missed along the way:

1) Nico Morales cleared 17-8 1/2 in a meet at Basking Ridge in July. It never showed up on TFRRS because it wasn’t made during the college season, but it’s the best jump ever indoors or outdoors by a South Jersey high school graduate.

2) Floyd Whitaker of Highland hit 52-3 in January in the triple jump, his best jump as a collegian. That earned him a No. 17 U.S. ranking this past indoor season. Oklahoma is one of the few NCAA Division 1 programs that doesn’t have all-time top-10 lists on his web site, so can’t tell you where that ranks in school history, but it’s an indoor PR and just shy of Whitaker’s PR of 52-6 1/4 from World Juniors in Cali, Columbia, in August of 2022.

3) I had West Deptford’s Jacob Cobb of MIT listed as the fastest over 3,000 meters this indoor season with his 8:16.06 in Boston last month, but at the same meet Kevin Antczak of Mainland Regional ran 13:39.56 for 5,000 meters, and his official 3,000 split was 8:11.87, so he gets the spot!.

Mistakes or omissions, please let me know in the comment section!

MEN
60-METER DASH: 6.64, Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp., Penn State], , Feb. 23, New York
200-METER DASH: 20.65, Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp., Penn State], Jan. 25, Philadelphia
400-METER DASH: 46.04, Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville, South Florida], Feb. 8, Boston
800-METER DASH: 1:50.34, Ian Moore [Rancocas Valley, Monmouth], Feb. 14, Boston
MILE: 3:59.19, Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson, Butler], Feb. 14, Boston
3,000-METER RUN:  8:11.87 [en route], Kevin Antczak [Mainland Reg., North Carolina], Feb. 14, Boston
5,000-METER RUN: 13:39.56, Kevin Antczak [Mainland Reg., North Carolina], Feb. 14, Boston
60-METER HURDLES: 7.64, Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine, Texas Tech], Feb. 1, Lubbock, Texas
HIGH JUMP: 7-1 ¼, Mawali Osunniyi [Mainland Reg., New Mexico Junior College], Lubbock, Texas
LONG JUMP: 25-7, Greg Foster [Lumberton, Princeton], Feb. 14, Fayetteville, Ark.
TRIPLE JUMP: 52-3, Floyd Whitaker [Highland, Oklahoma], Jan. 17, Norman, Okla.
POLE VAULT: 17-6 ½, Nico Morales [Delsea, Rutgers], Feb. 7, Cambridge,Mass.
SHOT PUT: 69-0 ¾, Josh Awotunde [Delsea, post-collegiate], Feb. 23, Staten Island, N.Y.

WOMEN
60-METER DASH: 7.29, Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], March 16, New York
200-METER DASH: 23.31, Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], March 2, Staten Island, N.Y.
400-METER DASH: 53.47, Alilya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI, Duke], March 2, Louisville
800-METER DASH: 2:06.80, Shelby Whetstone [Lenape, Rugers], Feb. 14, Chicago
MILE: 4:52.27, Grace Wassell [Highland, Wake Forest], Feb. 15, Lynchburg, Va.
3,000-METER RUN: 9:39.04 [en route], Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], March 2, Staten Island
5,000-METER RUN: 16:30.14, Helene Usher [Haddonfield, La Salle], Feb. 15, Boston
60-METER HURDLES: 8.40, Jewel Ash [Eastern, Fresno State], Feb. 28, Albuquerque
HIGH JUMP: 5-10 ¾, Jenovia Logan [Sterling, Rutgers, March 1, Indianapolis
LONG JUMP: 20-8, Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp., post-graduate], Jan. 25, New York
TRIPLE JUMP: 39-4, Ma’Syiah Brawner [Winslow Twp.], March 2, Staten Island
POLE VAULT: 14-1 ¼, Kaitlin Dermen [Millville, post-collegiate], Feb. 8, New York
SHOT PUT: Emma Peretti [Hammonton, Yale], March 2, Ithaca, N.Y.

Emma Crozier-Carole, a sophomore at North Carolina Wilmington from Mainland Regional, continues to be one of the top multi-event specialists in the Coastal Athletic Conference.

Crozier-Carole posted the top score in the conference in the season-opening Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational in Myrtle Beach this past weekend, placing 2nd with 4,050 points.

Crozier-Carole ran the hurdles in 15.22, the 200 in 28.00, the 800 in 3:03.39, high jumped 5-0 ½, threw the javelin 89-2, long jumped 17-1 ¼ and threw the shot 34-7. She has PRs of 15.06, 27.22, 2:51.34, 5-3 ¾, 91-6, 18-0 ½ and 37-4 ½.

She PR’d with 4,329 points when she placed 5th in the conference meet last spring in Elon, N.C., and then scored 3,174 points when she placed 6th in the pentathlon at the conference meet indoors last month in Virginia Beach. That’s the 2nd-highest point total in school history.

When Crozier-Carole placed 5th in last year’s conference heptathlon, she finished 93 points behind another Atlantic County multi-eventer, Monmouth’s Anne Rutledge, who placed 4th. Rutledge, now a senior, has not yet competed outdoors this spring. She has PRs of 3,217 indoors and 4,536 outdoors. That 4,536 total is No. 4 in Monmouth history, just behind two other South Jersey multi-eventers: Bridgeton’s Mary Wilks [4,838 in 2010] and Lenape’s Lindsey Walsh [4,822 in 2012].

Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker, a Rutgers sophomore, opened his outdoor season with a 400 PR at a meet in Tampa.

Tucker ran 47.43 at the University of South Florida Invitational, lowering his PR from 47.53 last month at an indoor meet in Boston. His previous outdoor PR was 48.16 last April in Gainesville.

Tucker didn’t run his specialty, the 400-meter intermediates, in the season opener in Tampa, but he ranks 2^nd in Rutgers history with his 50.61 from his win at the Big Ten Championships this past May in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Over the weekend, we wrote about Pennsville’s Arianna Smith running 57.89 in her first 400-meter intermediate hurdles race since transferring from Rutgers to Howard. That’s No. 4 through the first weekend of the season in NCAA Division 1. You can read about that race here.

But later in the day, she recorded another PR, running 13.51 in the 100-meter hurdles. That’s No. 13 so far in NCAA Division 1. It was her first race over the 100-meter hurdles in almost two years – since May 6, 2023, when she ran her previous PR of 13.73 at Heps at Franklin Field. That is No. 2 in Princeton history.

Her history with the highs is sporadic. She won the Salem County Championships in 2019 in 14.44, then didn’t run another 100 hurdles race until the spring of 2023. She only ran three outdoor meets while she was at Rutgers and never ran the 100 highs.

Anyway, Smith’s 13.51 – with a legal 1.0 wind – is No. 5 in school history and it’s also 6th-fastest on the all-time South Jersey performance list (I’m pretty sure).

All-Time South Jersey 100-Meter Hurdles Alumni List
12.34 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], Oct. 6, 2019, Doha, Qatar
13.11 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow], May 25, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
13.28 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow], May 15, 2015, Starkville, Miss.
13.29 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], March 30, 2024, Storrs, Conn.. [+0.2]
13.30 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], May 28, 2005, New York
13.36 … Samantha Sharper [Wilson], May 12, 2013, Houston [+0.1]
13.51 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], March 22, 2025, Tampa [+1.0]
13.59 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], May 5, 2024, Princeton [+0.3]
13.61 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], May 4, 2002, Storrs, Ct. [+0.6]
13.64 … Magenta Taylor [Willingboro], March 24, 2001, Houston [+0.9]
13.68 … Jewel Ash [Eastern], May 8, 2024, High Point, N.C. [+0.5]
13.71 … Imani Gilliam [Pennsauken], May 17, 2008, Princeton [+0.9]
13.72 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest], June 4, 1997, Raleigh, N.C. [0.0]
13.73 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], May 7, 2023, Philadelphia [+1.5]
13.74 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], April 23, 2022, Baltimore [-1.1]
13.77 … Dierra Poland [Deptford], April 6, 2006, Boulder, Co. [NWI]
13.84 … Evann Thompson [Lenape], May 4, 2013, Piscataway [+0.8]
13.88 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], Aug. 31, 1984, Rome [NWI]
13.97 … Mariah Stephens [Egg Harbor Twp.], April 13, 2024, Durham, N.C. [+0.3]
13.98 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], June 4, 2014, South Plainfield [+0.8]