MIT’s Jacob Cobb, a junior from West Deptford, ran the 3rd-fastest steeplechase ever by a South Jersey high school graduate and qualified for NCAA Division 3 Nationals in a recent last-chance meet in Williamstown, Mass.
Cobb solo’d an 8:53.62 to win the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the F.I.R.E. Meet at Williamson Field. He won the race by 135 meters. F.I.R.E. apparently stands for Farley Inter Regional Extravaganza.
Cobb entered the meet with a lifetime-best and school-record 9:00.17 from a meet on the same track from last May. His season-best was 9:01.16 from a meet in April in Providence, and he also had a 9:01.28 and a 9:05.92 as he tried to get under nine minutes.
With the 8:53.62, Cobb becomes the No. 10 seed at this weekend’s NCAA Division 3 Championships. His 9:01.16 would not have gotten him in.
Shawnee’s Connor Herr set the South Jersey steeplechase record of 8:53.66 at the 2015 Penn Relays. The record then changed hands a few times between San Gerstenbacher of Schalick and Cinnaminson’s Mike Ungvarsky, with Gerstenbacher ultimately holding the mark at 8:38.94 from a meet in New York in May 2022.
Ungbarsky ran 8:46.16 in Durham two days later. Cobb is now 3rd behind those two, with Herr 4th. Camden’s Terrance Armstrong is the only other South Jersey steepler under ninte minutes. He ran 8:56.15 in 1994.
New Jersey’s fastest steeplechasers of all-time are Steve Slattery of Mount Olive [8:15.69 in 2007], Travis Mahoney of Old Bridge [8:19.18], Craig Forys of Colts Neck [8:24.09], Mike Roche of Cranford [8:30.17 in 1977] and Colin Daly [8:30.88 in 2024]. Cobb is now No. 15 on that list.
Cobb will race in the 2nd of two steeplechase semifinals at NCAA Division 3 Champions in Geneva, Ohio. The semifinals are scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Thursday, with 12 advancing – the top four in each race plus the next-four-fastest times. The final is scheduled for the final at 4:40 p.m. on Friday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 