Eastern senior Ashton Gage outleaned Winslow senior Quayd Hendrix in the 200-meter dash Thursday on Day 2 of the Olympic Conference Championships at Rancocas Valley. Both broke school records that were set in the same race 19 years ago.
Gage won the race in 21.44, breaking the school record of 21.46 set by Sabli Gonnet at the 2007 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield. Hendrix’s time is fastest with legal wind by a Winslow sprinter, breaking the school record of 21.90 set by Barry Cephas, also at the 2007 Meet of Champions. Reuben McCoy [21.14] and Cephas [21.43] both ran faster but their numerous faster times were either wind aided or with no wind gauge present.
There was a legal tailwind of 0.9 for the 200 at Rancocas Valley Thursday.
McCoy, an NCAA intermediate hurdles runner-up at Auburn, never ran a wind-legal 200 in high school. Gonnet and Cephas ran their previous school records in the same race with a legal 0.3 tailwind.
They both ran times that place them in the all-time South Jersey top 20. And they’re the two-fastest wind-legal times in New Jersey this year.
They’re the two-fastest FAT times in meet history.
Olympic gold medalist Dennis Mitchell of Edgewood set the meet record of 21.1 hand timed in 1984 in Deptford. That converts to a 21.34 FAT time. Antraye Miles of Winslow ran a hand-timed 21.2 at the 2003 meet at Pennsauken. That converts to 21.44.
BOYS 200-METER DASH
[fat times]
21.06 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], 1983
21.07 … Antonio Tarantino [Paul VI], 2018
21.08 … Malachi James [Burlington City], 2024
21.14 … Reuben McCoy [Winslow Twp.], 2004
21.30 … Jahmir Beasley [Sterling], 2019
21.33 … Thomas Howard [Rancocas Valley], 2024
21.39 … Martin Booker Jr. [Pennsauken], 2017
21.40 … Lamont Smith [Willingboro], 1991
21.40 … Rob Gary [Lenape], 1998
21.40 … Todd Dutch [Washington Twp.], 2001
21.40 … Jamaad Muse [Timber Creek], 2012
21.41 … Dorian Bryant [Kingsway], 2002
21.41 … T.J. Johnson [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2010
21.43 … Barry Cephas [Winslow Twp.], 2008
21.44 … Ashton Gage [Eastern], 2026
21.45 … Quayd Hendryx [Winslow Twp.], 2026
21.46 … Brondon Jenkins [Delran], 1994
21.46 … Sabli Gonnet [Eastern], 2007
21.47 … Curtis McIntyre [Bridgeton], 1992
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 