Ocean City’s Elaina Styer, Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger, Egg Harbor’s Ahmad Fogg and Paulsboro’s Jamile Gantt are among the top seeds heading into the NCAA Division 3 Championships this weekend in Birmingham.
Let’s take a look at the South Jersey contingent that will compete at the Birmingham Crossplex Friday and Saturday:
MEN
60-METER DASH
Rancocas Valley’s Masai Byrd, a Rowan senior, qualified with his PR 6.79 at Ocean Breeze. He’ll race in the 60 trials at 3:15 p.m. Friday, with the final scheduled for 12:10 p.m. Saturday.
200-METER DASH
Three Rowan sprints – sophomore Rajahn Dixon from Eastern, junior Eli Hendricks from Penns Grove and junior Evan Corcoran from Kingsway – will race in the 200 trials at 5:30 p.m. Friday, with the final slated for 6:25 p.m. Saturday. Dixon is the No. 2 seed with his 21.15 at the NJAC Championships at the Ott Center. Hendricks has run 21.31 and Corcoran 21.50.
400-METER DASH
Glassboro’s Dallas Hohney, a Rowan junior, ran 47.75 in Youngstown, Ohio, last month to earn the No. 12 seed. The 400 trials are 4:25 p.m. Friday, with the final following at 5:35 p.m. Saturday.
MILE RUN
West Deptford’s Jacob Cobb, an MIT senior, ran a PR 4:07.01 in Boston to earn the No. 9 seed. The mile trials are set for 3:50 p.m. Friday with the final at 5:10 p.m. Saturday.
3,000-METER RUN
Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger, a Rowan junior, is the No. 1 seed with his 7:54.87, 3rd-fastest all-time in NCAA Division 3. The 3,000 is a final by time at 6:50 p.m. Saturday.
5,000-METER RUN
Clevenger is also top seeded in the 5,000 with his NCAA Division 3-record 13:32.09 in Boston. The 5,000 is a final by time at 6:05 p.m. Friday.
60-METER HURDLES
Rowan has two of the top three seeds and three hurdlers in all. Senior Jason Agyemang is No. 2 seed at 7.87 and senior Kwaku Nkrumah is No. 3 at 7.88. Both are former Division 1 national champions. Also qualifying is senior Valentin Augustin with a PR 8.11.
DISTANCE MEDLEY
Rowan is the No. 8 seed at 9:45.25. The 12 qualifiers all ran between 9:40.22 and 9:46.14. Blaik Slavinski will run the 1,200, Clearview’s Matthew Niedbalski the 400, Teddy Wilson the 800 and Clevenger the mile. The DMR final is 7:30 p.m. Friday.
HIGH JUMP
Rowan has three of the top four seeds and five jumpers in all. NCAA Division 3 freshman record holder David Brown of Edison is the top see at 7-2 ¼, Paulsboro’s Jamile Gantt and Noah Wampole from Radnor are tied as No. 3 seed at 6-10 ¾, Pleasantville’s Isaiah Davenport is tied for No. 5 at 6-10 ¼ and Arrington Rhym from Hamilton West is tied for No. 10 at 6-9. Also, Highland’s Jayden DeLeon, a Rutgers-Camden freshman, is tied for the No. 5 seed at 6-10 ¼. The high jump is at 4:45 p.m. Saturday.
LONG JUMP
Three of the top 11 seeds are from South Jersey. Rowan freshman Anthony Parker from Salem is No. 3 at 25-0, Stockton junior Ahmad Fogg from Egg Harbor Township is No. 4 at 24-9 and Rowan freshman Bright John from Sterling is No. 11 at 23-11 ½. The long jump is at 12:30 p.m. Friday.
TRIPLE JUMP
Fogg is No. 2 seed in the triple at 49-9 ¼ and Rowan junior Joshua Justin from Passaic County Tech is No. 5 at 49-2 ¼, both from the NJAC meet at the Ott. The men’s triple is at noon Saturday.
WOMEN
5,000-METER RUN
Rowan junior Gabriella Pagano from Pope Paul XXIII is seeded 7th at 16:45.30. The race starts at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday.
60-METER HURDLES
Rowan sophomore Nyla Jones from Timber Creek is seeded 11th with her PR 8.69 from the Ott Center. Trials are 2:30 p.m. Friday, final at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
PENTATHLON
Stockton junior Elaina Styer from Ocean City is the top seed with her 3,747 points at the NJAC Championships at the Ott. Styer has PRs of 8.82, 5-5 ¼, 34-9, 18-0 ½ and 2:21.80. Pentathlon schedule Friday has the hurdles at 11:20 a.m., high jump at 12:20 a.m., shot put at 2:05 p.m., long jump at 3:35 p.m. and the 800 at 5:20 p.m.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 