From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

St. Augustine’s Steph Janasiak ran the fastest 400 by a South Jersey 9^th-grader in 10 years Thursday on Day 1 of Boston Nationals.

Janasiak placed 6^th of 49 entries in the freshman 400 with a 50.73. That breaks his own Atlantic County freshman record of 51.25 that he ran at the Ott Center in February.

Janasiak’s time is 3^rd-fastest by any Atlantic County runner this year, behind teammate Marc Maccario’s 48.57 at the Meet of Champions this past Sunday at Ocean Breeze and Egg Harbor’s Xavier Aucule, who ran 50.13 in January at the Ott.

It’s fastest by any South Jersey freshman since 2016, when Luke Colehower of Haddonfield ran 49.44 at the Meet of Champions at the Bubble.