Some impressive results Friday from Glassboro’s terrific freshman class at West Philly Nationals.
Alexander Adeleye placed 2nd in the freshman long jump with a lifetime wind-legal best of 22-6 ½ with a 1.6 tailwind. He also had legal jumps of 21-0, 20-11 ¾, 20-7 ¼ and 20-5 ¼ in an outstanding series.
Adeleye had a 22-9 ½ at the Meet of Champions, where he placed 6th, but his previous-best legal jump was a 21-11 at the state Group 1 meet at Somerset.
That 22-6 ½ appears to be a South Jersey freshman record, although it’s possible someone could have jumped farther as a freshman in the 1970s or early 1980s. The best previous jump I have listed is 22-2 ¾ by Bordentown’s Matt Rose in 1982. Carl Lewis and Gerard Reynolds didn’t jump 22-6 as freshmen and if they didn’t I don’t know who could have.
Adeleye also PR’d in the 100 with an 11.27. His previous best was 11.33 at the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea.
Another Glassboro freshman, Mehki Parker, ran 56.33, not a PR but good enough for 2ndplace in the freshman 400-meter hurdles. He finished less than half a second behind winner Chanon Palmer, who has apparently never competed for a high school but attends high school somewhere in Michigan. Parker’s 400IH PR is 55.47 from sectionals, fastest by a South Jersey freshman behind Alex Reber’s 54.38 for Cherry Hill East in 2010.
And another Glassboro 9th-grader, Moses Robles, took 5th in the freshman high jump at 6-2 ¼, a lifetime best. His previous PR was a 6-2 last month at the Tri-County Conference meet at Delsea.
He also placed 14th in the long jump with a 20-5 with a legal 2.0 tailwind on his 1st jump.
Adeleye, Parker and Robles are each the No. 1 freshman in New Jersey this year.
Parker is also the top high hurdler and triple jumper in New Jersey this year. He’ll compete in the freshman division of both Saturday. Robles is also in the triple jump, and Adeleye will run the freshman 200.
Largely on the strength of their tremendous freshman class, which also includes distance runner Joe Saicic, Glassboro won the South Jersey Group 1 title and placed 3rd at states.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 