From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

It’s impossible to write posts on everybody South Jersey athlete that excels at the Penn Relays just because there are so many of them. Doesn’t help that it’s one of the busiest non-track weekends of the year as well, and I just don’t have the time.

Here’s a look at the posts I did get to over the weekend:

Winslow, Willingboro, Pennsauken girls 4×1: Click here.
Egypt Bolan High Jump: Click here.
Rowan Women’s 4-by-4: Click here.
Ocean City girls DMR: Click here.
Winslow boys 4×4: Click here.
Rowan men’s 4×2: Click here.
Cherokee girls win 4×8:: Click here.
Winslow boys 4×1: Click here.

But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface so here’s a look at an addition 13 South Jersey athletes or relay teams that turned in notable performances over three days at the 129th running of the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Full results are here.

Aliya Garozzo
Paul VI graduate Aliya Garozzo led off Duke’s 1,600-meter relay team, which won the Championship of America in 3:27.77, with Garozzo splitting 52.9. She’s the first South Jersey woman to race on a Championship of America 4-by-4 winner in 18 years, since Winslow’s Krystal Cantey led off for South Carolina, which won in 3:29.78 in 2007. Duke’s 3:27.77 is 2^nd-fastest in school history and 10^th-fastest in Penn Relays history. The 2023 team ran 3:27.14 at Penn, placing 3^rd. Julia Jackson of Scotch Plains-Fanwood ran the second leg for Duke. Garozzo graduated in the spring from Penn and is a grad student at Duke, so she was running on her former home track. She also placed 3^rd in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.01. Pennsville’s Arianna Smith, a junior at Howard, was 5^th in 57.71.

Willingboro Girls 4-by-4
The Chimeras won the South Jersey Small-School 1,600-Meter Relay in 3:51.17, then lowered their time to 3:50.22 in the Philadelphia Area Championship Race, with Maya Bolden, Adiyah Robinson, Kaila Speight and Nester Wea racing, Wea anchoring in 56.64. The time is Willingboro’s fastest since 2003, when they ran 3:47.30 to win the South Jersey Large-School race. Boro also won South Jersey races – either small- or large-school or combined some years – in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2023 and 2024. So this was their 3^rd straight win. Winslow Township [3:43.46], Pennsauken [3:50.21], Willingboro [3:50.22] and Kingsway [3:55.37] are now No. 1, 5, 6 and 8 in New Jersey this year. Kingsway’s 3:55.36 was only 2-100ths of a second off the program’s Penn Relays PR of 3:55.34 in 2013.

Hannah Byrd-Leitner
Byrd-Leitner, a Moorestown senior, cleared 12-11 – just three inches off her PR – and placed 2^nd in the pole vault Friday. It wasn’t her sharpest day – she had early misses at 11-9 ¼ and 12-3 ¼ and by the time she jumped at 13-3 she had already taken 10 vaults. But her 12-11 is No. 1 in New Jersey this year and her 4^th-highest clearance ever. Veronica Vacca of Mount St. Joseph Academy in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, won her 3^rd straight Penn Relays title with a 13-3 clearance on her 2^nd attempt.

Bryce Tucker
Rutgers sophomore Bryce Tucker from Pennsauken placed 3^rd in the 400-meter hurdles championship on Thursday in 50.79, his fastest time this year and only 18-100ths of a second off his lifetime-best 50.61 from his win at the Big Ten Championships last May in Ann Arbor. Tucker’s 50.79 is 4^th-fastest in the conference so far this year

Jaden Johnson
Johnson, an East Stroudsburg sophomore from Timber Creek, jumped a season-best 47-7 ¼ to place 4^thin the triple jump at Penn on Friday. He only managed two legal jumps in his series, but the 47-7 ¼ is 4^th-best in the PSAC this year and just 6 ½ inches off his PR of 48-1 ¾ from an indoor meet in Boston in February.

Cherokee Girls 4×8
After running 9:15.02 on Friday morning to win their Large-School 3,200-Meter Relay section, Cherokee smashed the school record in the Championship of America race and placed 8^th in 9:13.67. They placed 5^th among U.S. schools. Alyssa Suriano led off in 2:17.61, Megan Niglio ran 2:20.77, Sofia Recinto split 2:17.31 and Maddie Meder anchored in 2:17.99. Cherokee’s previous outdoor school record was 9:14.25 from the 2023 Championship of America race. The 9:13.67 is 8^th-fastest in South Jersey history and 3^rd-fastest in Burlington County history, fastest since Lenape ran 9:05.62 at 2012 Greensboro Nationals. Cherokee ran 9:07.27 indoors at 2022 Armory Nationals with Kelsey Niglio, Kerry O’Day, Megan Niglio and Nicole Clifford.

Gabriel Moronta
South Florida placed 2^nd to Texas A&M in the Championship of America 4-by-4 with Pleasantville graduate Gabriel Moronta anchoring in 45.16 for the Bulls. South Florida ran 3:02.69, 3^rd-fastest in school history. Moronta has run on all three. Their time is Moronta is South Florida’s 400 school-record holder with his 45.31 in Gainesville earlier this month. South Florida’s time is No. 7 in NCAA Division 1 this year.

Rowan Women’s 4-by-4
Freshman Nyla Jones from Timber Creek, senior Jasmine Broadway from Burlington Township, freshman Ava Reilly from Toms River East and senior Molly Lodge from Woodstown ran a season-best 3:48.10, with Lodge anchoring in 56.15. That’s 11^th-fastest in NCAA Division 3 this year. They qualified for the College Final but didn’t race.

Ma’Syiah Brawner
Winslow junior Ma’Syiah Brawner placed 6^th in the triple jump at Penn and 3^rd among U.S. jumpers with a season-best 39-11 ½ on her 1^st attempt. She added three more jumps over 39 feet in a huge series – 39-8 ¾, 39-3 ¾ and 39-3 ¼. She fouled twice, but her four legal jumps averaged 39-6 ¾. She’s now the No. 4 junior in the U.S., according to MileSplit’s database.

Haddonfield Boys
With their 10:13.01 for 7^th in the Championship of America, Haddonfield recorded the fastest distance medley time by a South Jersey school in nine years and 6^th-fastest all-time.  Senior Bennet Wright led off with a 3:07.42 for 1,200 meters, sophomore Jack Brand ran his lap in 51.00 seconds, junior Luke Andressen split 1:58.65 on the 800 and junior Ben Andrus anchored in 4:15.94. It’s the fastest South Jersey DMR since Haddonfield ran 10:10.62 at Penn in 2016 with Derek Gess, Luke Colehower, Austin Stoner and Greg Pelose.

Isabella Turner
Georgia Tech senior Isabella Turner from Shawnee lowered her 5,000 PR from 16:54.03 from the Raleigh Relays last month to 16:52.10. Turner never ran a 5,000 her first three years at Georgia Tech. She ran 17:09.83, 16:54.03 and now 16:52.10 in her three 5,000 races. She’s the fastest Shawnee alum over 5,000 meters since La Salle’s Jenna Darcy, who ran 16:34.70 in Kingston, R.I., in 2005.

Stockton Women 4×4
The Ospreys won the CTC 4-by-4 in 3:53.54, with senior Kayla Sullivan from Delaware Valley, junior Emma Conroy from Matawan, junior Emma Petrolia from New Milford and Bayonne junior Kayla Kass, the No. 2 800 runner in Division 3 at 2:07.13.

Kami Joi Hickson
Hickson, a former Washington Township runner, led off Maryland’s school-record 4-by-8 team, which ran 8:42.42. Previous school record was their 8:42.96 at Penn.