English Gardner, now 33 years old, is still very fast.

Gardner, the Olympic gold medalist from Eastern High School, easily advanced to the semifinals in the 100-meter dash Thursday at the USATF National Championships at Heyward Field in Eugene.

Gardner ran 11.12 and placed 3^rd in the 3^rd of four heats. The top six in each heat plus the next three-fastest times advanced to the semifinals. Gardner ran 11.04 earlier this year, her fastest time in seven years.

It’s her fastest time in the first round of U.S. Nationals since 2017, when she opened with an 11.04 in Sacramento. It’s her fastest time in any round at nationals since 2021, when she ran 10.96 in the semis.

The third semi was run into a 1.5 meters-per-second headwind. All three other races were aided by a tailwind. Her 11.12 into a 1.5 headwind is the equivalent of an 11.00 with no wind or a 10.88 with the maximum allowable 2.0 wind.

The semifinals are scheduled for 7:20 p.m. Friday.

Heat sheets are out for the U.S. Championships in Eugene this week, and Eastern High School’s Natalie Dumas will line up in Lane 6 in the 3^rd of four sections of the 800 Thursday evening.

This will be Dumas’s first race since she won national high school titles in the 400, 800 and 400 hurdles last month at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field. She qualified for U.S. Senior Nationals in all three races with all-time U.S. high school top-10 times in each before opting to race the 800 this weekend at Hayward Field.

Dumas is scheduled to race at 6:37 p.m. EST. Standing on the starting line just to her right will be South Orange native and Columbia High graduate Olivia Baker, a two-time podium finisher at nationals. Other New Jersey entries are Neptune’s Ajee’ Wilson, the U.S. indoor 800 record holder, Monmouth graduate Allie Wilson, Trenton Olympic gold medalist Athing Mu and Sage Huerta, who grew up in Moorestown but moved away before high school.

There are nine runners in each of four semifinal races, and 27 of the 36 starters will advance to the semis.

The top six finishers in each race advance to the semifinals along with the next three-fastest times. The semis are scheduled for 7:01 p.m. Friday, with the top two finishers in each of three races along with the next three-fastest times advancing to a nine-runner final at 4:18 p.m. Sunday.

https://results.usatf.org/2025Outdoors/

Also Thursday, Florence’s Curtis Thompson, already a four-time U.S. champion, shoots for his 5^thnational title. Thompson is the top seed and the only entry with the world standard of 280-6. He threw 287-11 in Austin in March. The javelin is scheduled for 4:20 p.m. Thursday with the top eight after three throws getting three more throws. If nobody in the field hits the world standard, Thompson would represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

At 7:07 p.m., Eastern’s English Gardner will race in the 100 trials. She’ll be in Lane 2 in the 3^rd of four heats. Gardner ran 11.04 – her fastest time in seven years – on June 14. Same as the 800, the top six in each race plus the next three-fastest advance to the semifinals. They’re scheduled for 7:20 p.m. Friday, with the final at 10:27 p.m.

Winslow’s Tionna Tobias will also compete Thursday. She’s one of 16 women who qualified in the long jump. Tobias jumps at 9 p.m. Thursday. The top eight after three throws get three more jumps.

It looks like eight South Jersey athletes made the cut for USATF Nationals next week in Eugene.

With a couple B qualifiers added to the group of A qualifiers, the fields are set for national championship meet, which will run from Thursday through Sunday at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

Guaranteed entry with A standards since the qualifying window opened June 21, 2024, are English Gardner from Eastern in the 100, Natalie Dumas from Eastern in the 800, Aliya Garozzo from Paul VI in the 400-meter hurdles, Tionna Tobias of Winslow in the long jump, Delsea’s Josh Awotunde in the shot put and Florence’s Curtis Thompson in the javelin.

Two athletes were accepted with B standards when there weren’t enough A qualifiers to fill the fields. They are Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard in the shot put and Highland’s Floyd Whitaker in the triple jump.

Thompson, a four-time national champion, gets the South Jersey contingent underway in the javelin final at 4:20 p.m. Thursday (all times here are EST). Dumas, the triple national high school champion, races in the first round of the 800 at 6:21 p.m. EST, Gardner will be up next in the first round of the 100-meter dash at 6:47 p.m., and Tobias jumps at 9 p.m.

On Friday, Garozzo races in the first round of the 400-meter hurdles at 6:31 p.m., the women’s 100 semis are at 7:20 p.m. and finals at 9:36 p.m. and the women’s 800 semis at 8:04 p.m.

On Saturday, Woodard throws at 3:45 p.m., and the women’s 400 hurdles semis are at 4:19 p.m.

On Sunday, the women’s 800 final is scheduled for 4:18 p.m., Whitaker will compete in the triple jump final starting at 4:20 p.m., the women’s 400 hurdles final is at 4:34 p.m., and Awotunde throws in the shot put final at 4:40 p.m.

Here’s a look at all 234 South Jersey athletes who have placed in the top eight at U.S. Nationals, going back Mel Sheppard in 1906: https://sjtrackblog.com/2024/07/01/lets-take-a-look-at-all-234-south-jersey-athletes-who-have-ever-placed-in-the-top-8-at-u-s-nationals/

Click here for the full schedule: https://www.usatf.org/events/2025/2025-toyota-usatf-outdoor-para-national-championsh/schedule-full

Full list of qualifiers can be found here [although in typical USATF fashion it’s a mess]: https://usatf.sport80.com/public/events/158719/entries/150?bl=wizard&filters=eyJtZ18zOTg0NSI6W119

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta, who anchored South Florida’s 1,600-meter relay team to the NCAA Championship last month, has changed his national affiliation from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic, according to his World Athletics Profile.

That makes him eligible to represent the Dominican Republic in the Olympics, World Championships and other international competitions.

Moronta, who won the indoor 2020 Meet of Champions 800 at Ocean Breeze, ran 45.01 at NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville in May, the 4^th-fastest time ever by a New Jersey 400 runner and 2^nd-fastest by a South Jersey runner behind Lamont Smith’s 44.30 at the 1996 Olympic Trials in Atlanta.

Moronta placed 2^nd in the 400 at NCAA Championships in Eugene but was disqualified for running out of his lane. He came back soon after with a 44.23 anchor split to lift South Florida to a 3:00.42 win in the 4-by-4, No. 26 in U.S. history.

But despite ranking 16^th among U.S. 400 runners this year and holding the “A” standard of 45.20, Moronta did not enter the USATF Championships.

The reason why becomes clear when you check out his World Athletics profile, which states that Moronta represented the United States through June 17 – four days after his final college race – and began representing the Dominican Republic on June 18.

Moronta, 22, was born in Puerta Plata in the Dominican Republic, which makes him eligible to represent the D.R. in international competitions.

Moronta has not raced since NCAAs. I looked for a while and didn’t find anything about a Dominican Republic National Championships, so I’m not sure what Moronta has to do to represent the D.R. at the World Championships in Tokyo in September. He does not currently have the standard for Worlds, which is 44.85. The World Athletics web site does not list a qualifying deadline.

According to the World Athetics database, five quarter-milers from the Dominican Republic have run sub-45, including Alexander Ogondo, who ran 44.78 in May in Miramar, Fla. He was 5^th at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the 200 with a 19.93 and ran 44.68 in Chorzów, Poland, in 2022.

With the qualifying deadline passing on Sunday, at least 22 South Jersey athletes have posted either an A or B standard for the USATF Nationals later this summer Eugene.

One has posted an A standard in two events (and a B in a third), and by now you can probably guess who that is.

The qualifying window opened on June 21, 2024, and continued through midnight Sunday. USATF Senior Nationals run from Thursday, July 31, through Sunday, Aug. 3, at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

Not all the athletes who qualified will compete. The deadline for entering is midnight Tuesday.

Athletes with an A standard are guaranteed entry into the meet. If that fills up the field – generally, 32 for sprints, middle distance and hurdles, 24 for distance races and 16 for field events – no B qualifiers are added. If the A qualifiers don’t fill the field, which is usually the case for most events, B qualifiers are added in order of their performance until the field size is reached.

The 2025 World Athletics performance lists are a pretty good indication where an athlete ranks in relation to other A or B qualifiers, but those lists only cover the 2025 calendar year and not the portion of the qualifying window that was in 2024. So there are some qualifiers you won’t find on the 2025 performance lists.

One example of that is Winslow Township’s Tionna Tobias, who jumped a lifetime-best 22-9 ¼ on July 19, 2024, so she has the A standard for the 2025 meet, it just wasn’t recorded in 2025.

The top three placers at U.S. Nationals (provided they have the world standard) make up the U.S. team that will compete at the World Championships in Tokyo from Sept. 13-21.

Let’s take a look at the long list of South Jersey athletes who’ve qualified for nationals.

An asterisk means that as of Monday morning they have entered. We’ll update the list once all the entries and declarations are in later this week. (Note that Tobias entered on Monday)

MEN
A Qualifiers
*Josh Awotunde, Delsea
Shot Put [#6 U.S. ranking]
Awotunde has the A standard at 70-2 ½ from Tucson in May, but he actually has a 71-5 from last year’s Olympic Trials on June 22 of last year, the 2^nd day of the current qualifying window. Awotunde has a PR of 73-1 ½ from his 3^rd-place finish at 2022 Worlds in Eugene. Awotunde is No. 22 in world history, No. 12 in U.S. history and No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 14 in the world this year.

Gabriel Moronta, Pleasantville
400 [#16 U.S. ranking]
Moronta recorded the A standard with his 45.01 at NCAA East Prelims and went on to anchor South Florida’s NCAA championship 1,600-meter relay team. Moronta is well under the A standard of 45.20. [Note that according to World Athletics, as of June 18, Moronta began competing for the Dominican Republic and therefore is ineligible for U.S. Nationals].

*Curtis Thompson, Florence
Javelin [#1 U.S. ranking]
Thompson is seeking his 5^th U.S. title having won the javelin in 2018 in Des Moines and 2021, 2023 and 2024 in Eugene. He’s No. 1 in the U.S. this year and No. 3 in the world with his PR 287-11 in Austin in March. That’s more than 30 feet above the A standard of 255-10.

B Qualifiers
Jamir Brown, Riverside
110-Meter Hurdles [#51 U.S. ranking]
Brown set the NCAA Division 3 record of 13.60 in the semifinals at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. So he’s got the B standard of 13.75. The A standard is 13.40.

*Kevin Burr, Rancocas Valley
Javelin [#8 U.S. ranking]
Burr is well over the B standard of 232-11 with his 246-8 in Knoxville last month, and he’s within nine feet of the A standard if he feels like chasing a qualifier over the next couple weeks.

*Greg Foster, Lumberton
Long Jump [#20 U.S. ranking]
Foster increased his B standard with a season-best 26-0 ¼ at the Elliott Denman International in West Long Branch last month. The B standard is 25-7 and the A is 26-6 ¾. Foster isn’t far off in the 110 hurdles either with a 13.78 in New Haven last month. The B standard is 13.75.

Bryce Tucker, Pennsauken
400 Hurdles [#34 U.S. ranking]
Tucker isn’t far off the A standard of 49.75 with his PR 50.00 at NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville last month. He’s well under the B standard of 50.75.

Ajani Dwyer, Washington Twp.
100-Meter Dash [#46 U.S. ranking]
200-Meter Dash [#52 U.S. ranking]
Dwyer was one of only three NCAA Division 1 freshmen to run 10.16 and 20.51 this past spring. He’s under the B standards of 10.25 and 20.60 in both sprints, but Dwyer hasn’t raced since the Big Ten Championships in Eugene in May.

Johnnie Jackson, Cherry Hill East
Hammer [#18 U.S. ranking]
Jackson doesn’t throw very often – just 11 meets over the past three years – but his 237-4 in Tucson last month is well above the B standard of 233-1 and only about seven feet shy of the A standard of 244-5.

Sincere Rhea, St. Augustine
110-Meter Hurdles [#56 U.S. ranking]
Rhea had a 13.48 in March at the Texas Relays in Austin that was slightly wind aided at 2.3, and his fastest wind-legal race was a 13.66 one day earlier in the semis. That puts him under the B standard of 13.75, but he could use a faster time to help his chances.

Premier Wynn, Pennsauken
400 [#93 U.S. ranking]
400 Hurdles [#61 U.S. ranking]
Wynn has B standards in both the 400 and 800 with 46.00 in the flat 400 and 50.70 in the hurdles. He’s right at the B standard of 46.00 in the 400 and just under the B standard of 50.75 in the intermediates.

*Floyd Whitaker, Highland
Triple Jump [#12 U.S. ranking]
Whitaker is less than a foot off the A standard of 54-9 ¼ but has a very strong B standard with his 53-10 from his 2^nd-place finish at NCAAs. The B is 51-10.

WOMEN
A Qualifiers
*English Gardner, Eastern
100 [#23 U.S. ranking]
Gardner nailed the A qualifier of 11.07 when she ran 11.04 – her fastest time in seven years – in Winter Garden, Fla., last month. She’ll return to her home track in Eugene, where she became one of the most decorated sprinters in college history running for the University of Oregon.

*Natalie Dumas, Eastern
400 [#18 U.S. ranking]
800 [#23 U.S. ranking]
400 Hurdles [#19 U.S. ranking]
Racing at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field, Dumas – who just completed her junior year at Eastern High School – locked down A qualifiers in both the 800 with a 2:00.14 and the 400-meter hurdles at 55.99. The A standards for those events at 56.00 and 2:00.50. She ran a B qualifier of 51.11 in the 400, just off the A standard of 51.00. Dumas plans to compete in the 800 in Eugene.

Nia Ali, Pleasantville   
100 Hurdles [#29 U.S. ranking]
Ali, a world champion, two-time indoor world champion and Olympic silver medalist, has a best time this year of 13.01, which is shy of the A standard of 12.80. She’s only competed twice all year. But she ran 12.37 last year at the Olympic Trials nine days after the qualifying window opened last June, so she’s got a lane locked up.

*Aliya Garozzo, Paul VI
400 Hurdles [#15 U.S. ranking]
Garozzo’s 55.77 PR at the Duke Invitational in Durham in April has her safely under the A standard of 56.00. She’s actually only 4-100ths of a second shy of the B standard of 52.50 in the 400 with her 52.54 in Raleigh in March, the only outdoor flat 400 she’s run since April 2022 while she was a sophomore at Penn. But she’ll run the intermediates in Eugene.

*Tionna Tobias, Winslow Twp.
Long Jump [#52 U.S. ranking]
Tobias’s best jump this year was a 20-8 at the Armory indoors, a few inches shy of the B standard of 21-0. But she popped a lifetime-best 22-9 ¼ in Gainesville last July after the qualifying window opened and that’s well beyond the A standard of 22-1 ¾.

B Qualifiers
Arianna Smith, Pennsville
100 Hurdles [#55 U.S. ranking]
400 Hurdles [#21 U.S. ranking]
Smith is very close to the 400 hurdles A standard of 56.00 with her PR 56.11 in Norfolk last month. She’s well under the B standard of 58.00. She’s also got a B standard in her secondary event, the 100-meter hurdles, with a 13.19, under the B standard of 13.25.

Jenovia Logan, Sterling
High Jump [#37 U.S. ranking]
Logan PR’d with her 5-11 ¼ in her outdoor opener for Rutgers in Tampa back in March. That’s above the B standard of 5-10 ¾. The A standard is 6-2.

Jewel Ash, Eastern
400 Hurdles [#50 U.S. ranking]
One of three Eastern women who have at least a B qualifier and one of four South Jersey women who have at least a B qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles. Ash ran 57.46 in College Station in May, below that 58.00 B standard. She hasn’t raced since May.

*Jessica Woodard, Cherokee
Shot Put [#10 U.S. ranking]
Woodard is less than a foot and a half off the A standard of 62-4 with her season-best 60-11 ½ in Tucson in May. Only four U.S. women have thrown the A standard this year. Woodard is 5 ½ feet over the B standard of 56-5 and is in outstanding position to make the field of 16,

Sianni Wynn, Pennsauken
100-Meter Dah [#64 U.S. ranking]
Wynn ran 11.29 when she won her national title in the 100 at Franklin Field last month. That’s just under the B standard of 11.30. The A standard is 11.07.

Elisia Lancaster, Delsea
Hammer [#21 U.S. ranking]
Lancaster is actually shy of the B standard – by six inches – but we’re including her here because she’s so close. She threw 222-7 in Princeton last month, and the B qualifier is 223-1.  As close as she was, Lancaster did not chase a qualifier and competed only twice since mid-May.

Anthony Barber, who just graduated from Burlington Township, threw a big javelin PR of 185-0 at American JavFest Friday at East Stroudsburg High School.

Barber PR’d at 175-7 when he placed 6^th at the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken last month. That was his first time over 170 feet.

On Friday, he hit 185-0 on his 3^rd throw and placed 3^rd in the “emerging elite” division at the annual two-day javelin festival.

Burlington Township’s other javelin specialist, 2025 graduate Dylan Fitzpatrick PR’d at 188-1 when he won the state Group 3 title at South Plainfield.

Barber and Fitzpatrick are South Jersey’s only 185-foot throwers this year. They’re the first South Jersey duo ever to surpass 185 feet with the new javelin in the same season and the first with any implement since Steve Finlan and Brian Lee did it for Lenape in 2000. Finlan threw 190-11 and Lee 185-1 with the old jav.

Demetrio Lukaitis, who had a javelin PR of 166-11 at Haddon Heights and has a 177-11 best at High Point University, PR’ d with a 187-8 Friday at American JavFest at East Stroudsburg High School.

Lukaitis had lifetime-best throws of 187-8 and 184-7 competing in the open men’s division of the annual summer javelin weekend.

At Heights, Lukaitis PR’d with a 166-11 when he won South Jersey Group 2 Sectionals at Delsea two years ago. At High Point in North Carolina, he PR’d with 177-11 at Vertklasse 2025 at High Point in April.

Lukaitis is No. 7 all-time at High Point, where he’ll be a junior this fall.

Natalie Dumas, who qualified for U.S. Senior Nationals in three events, has opted to compete in the 800-meter run later this month in Eugene.

Dumas, 16, qualified in the 400, 800 and 400-meter hurdles when she won all three events at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field last month.

She ran all-time top-10 U.S. high school times of 51.14, 2:00.11 and 55.99, times no other woman in world history has achieved.

Dumas ranks 19^th among U.S. women in the 400 and intermediates and 23^rd in the 800. On the all-time U.S. Under-18 lists, she’s No. 4 in the 400, No. 2 in the 800 and No. 4 in the 400 hurdles. The auto qualifying standard in the 800 is 2:00.50.

Only seven women from New Jersey have broken two minutes in the 800, and three of them presumably will be in the field at Nationals – Olympic gold medalist Athing Mu of Trenton [1:54.97], Ajee Wilson of Neptune [1:55.61] and Olivia Baker of Columbia [1:58.05].

The only faster women from South Jersey are Shawnee’s Michelle DiMuro, who ran 1:59.85 and placed 5^th at the 1996 Olympic Trials in Atlanta, and Haddonfield’s Erin Donohue, who ran 1:59.99 at Meeting International d’Athlétisme de la Province at Stade Naimette-Xhovémont in Liège, Belgium.

Dumas’s two-fastest times – 2:02.75 at the Meet of Champions and 2:00.11 at West Philly Nationals – came as the 3^rd race of a triple. This will be her first fresh 800 since the state Group 4 meet.

The first round of the 800 is scheduled for 6:21 p.m. EST on the first day of nationals, Thursday, July 31. Presumably, there will be four heats, with the top six in each heat plus the next three-fastest times advancing to the semifinals at 8:04 p.m. EST on Friday.

The top two in each of three semifinals and the next three-fastest will advance to a nine-runner final, which is slated for 4:18 p.m. EST Sunday. Last year, when Nationals were the Olympic Trials, 2:02.64 advanced to the semis and 2:01.11 advanced to the final.

Dumas’s 800 progression is astonishing. She wasn’t one of those freshman phenoms back in 2023.

She ran two  800s indoors as a freshman, PR’ing at 2:35.52 in a meet at Ocean Breeze. That ranked 39th among New Jersey freshmen. She ran 2:27.28 that spring in a meet at Pennsauken, which ranked 36th among New Jersey freshman.

Dumas had a big breakthrough indoors as a sophomore with a 2:16.80 at the state Group 4 meet at the Bubble and then dropped to 2:14.30 outdoors at South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals at Pennsauken.

Her biggest drop came this past indoor season, when she lowered her PR nearly seven seconds to 2:07.68 at Armory Nationals. That remained her PR until a meet-record 2:02.75 as part of a Meet of Champions triple – also at Pennsauken – and then the 2:00.11 two weeks later at Franklin Field. That’s No. 5 in U.S. high school history and No. 11 in world history in the Under-18 division.

The USATF Championships are scheduled for July 31-Aug. 3 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

The top three finishers in each event will make up the U.S. team that will compete at the World Championships in Tokyo Sept. 13-21.

1:54.97 … Athing Mu [Trenton], Sept. 17, 2023, Eugene, Ore.

1:55.61 … Ajee Wilson [Neptune], July 21, 2017, Monaco

1:57.84 … Joetta Clark [Columbia], Aug. 8, 1998, Monaco

1:57.99 … Hazel Clark [Columbia], July 29, 2005, Oslo, Norway

1:58.05 … Olivia Baker [Columbia], Aug. 10, 2022, Monaco

1:59.85 … Michelle DiMuro [Shawnee], June 17, 1996, Atlanta

1:59.99 … Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], July 13, 2010, Liège, Belgium