From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Washington Township’s Ajani Dwyer, in his 2nd 100-meter dash as a collegian, ran one of the fastest times ever by a New Jersey sprinter Saturday.

Dwyer, a freshman at Penn State, ran a wind-legal 10.19 at the Florida Relays at Percy Beard Track in Gainesville. He won his section of the race easily but finished 7th overall without the benefit of racing head-to-head with the top sprinters in the country.

He dropped his PR from 10.32, which he ran at West Philly Nationals in June. He ran 10.21 at Group 4 sectionals last June at Pennsauken, but there was no wind guage at the facility, so it’s considered wind-aided.

But there was a wind guage in Gainesville, and Dwyer had only a 0.2 meters-per-second tailwind. Interestingly, Dwyer did not get into the fastest heat, which was wind-aided at 2.2 meters-per-second. So he was the only sprinter among the top nine finishers that got a legal wind reading and wasn’t assisted by an illegal tailwind.

Dwyer’s time is 2nd-fastest in Penn State history, behind only Ivory Coast Olympian Cheickna Traore of Snyder High School in Jersey City, who ran 10.15 in the NCAA East First Round in Lexington, Ky., last May.

The performance makes Dwyer the No. 3 freshman in college track this spring, behind LSU football and track star Jelani Watkins [10.01] and Adekalu Fakorede of Mississippi State and Nigeria [10.11].

Dwyer’s time is tied for 5th-fastest ever by a New Jersey high school graduate, and three of the four ahead of him are Olympians. In South Jersey history, only Olympic gold medalists Carl Lewis and Dennis Mitchell have run faster.

Dwyer is the fastest South Jersey sprinter over 100 meters since Mitchell ran 10.11 in Eugene in 2001. Ironically, earlier in the day on the same track, Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta ran 400 meters in 45.31, 2nd-fastest by a South Jersey runner since Mitchell back in 1986.

Dwyer ran a wind-aided 10.27 last weekend in Baton Rouge in his first college 100 and also ran 20.55 for 200 meters with a legal 0.0 wind. He didn’t run the 200 this weekend in Florida.

Dwyer is now the fastest New Jersey native on the all-time U.S. Junior [Under 20] list. Willingboro’s Lewis ran 10.21 in June of 1980 in Knoxville two weeks before turning 19, and Mitchell ran 10.21 in Starkville, Miss., at 18 in May of 1985.

Here’s a look at the all-time New Jersey sub-10.30 club:

9.86 … Carl Lewis [Willingboro], Aug. 25, 1991, Tokyo, Japan [+1.2]
9.91 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], Sept. 7, 1996, Milan, Italy [+1.2]
10.12 … Mario Heslop [Franklin Twp.], April 9, 2022, Atlanta [-1.3]
10.15 … Cheickna Traore [Snyder], May 24, 2024, Lexington, Ky. [+0.7]
10.19 … Michael Garvin [Don Bosco], April 4, 2009, Austin, Texas [+1.6]
10.19 … Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp.], April 5, 2025, Gainesville, Fla. [+0.2]
10.21 … Nadále Buntin [J.P. Stevens], May 13, 2023, Bloomington, Ind. [+1.0]
10.23 … Ashhad Agyapong [Trenton], June 7, 2008, Holmdel [+0.0]
10.24 … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], June 26, 1979, Västerås, Sweden [+1.0]
10.27 … Barry Douglas [Willingboro], May 4, 1996, Fairfax [+1.3]
10.28 … Malachi James [Burlington City], June 12, 2024, Pennsauken [+0.3]

10.32 … Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp.], June 13, 2024, Philadelphia [-1.4]