It was great to see Isabella Alvarez’s name in the results of the South Jersey Group 2 meet in her first competition in almost a year.
Alvarez, who had a historic freshman season last spring, placed 2nd in both the javelin and shot put after undergoing knee surgery that wiped out her indoor season and most of her outdoor season. The South Jersey Group 2 meet at Delsea was her first high school competition since the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken last June, although she did compete in some AAU meets after that.
As a freshman last spring, Alvarez was the state Group 2 champion in the hurdles with a 14.56 and shot put with a 38-10 ¾ and placed 2nd in the high jump at 5-4 and 4th in the long jump with a 17-6 ¼. She had PRs of 14.41, 39-8, 5-6 and 18-6 ½ as well as 35-5 ¾ in the triple jump and 118-1 in the javelin.
Among New Jersey freshmen last year, she ranked 1st in the high jump and shot put, 2nd to Jasmine Jackson in the hurdles, 2nd in the long jump and 2nd in the javelin and 5th in the triple jump.
At sectionals this past weekend, she threw the javelin on Friday and hit 108-0 on her 4th attempt, which gave her the lead until Middle Township junior Allison Nagle hit 109-9 on her final throw.
In the shot, Alvarez threw a PR 40-3 ½ on her final attempt and finished 1 ½ inches behind Elizabeth Buschiazzo of Barnegat. That’s the best throw ever by an Atlantic County sophomore.
She goes into states as the No. 3 seed in the javelin and No. 2 seed in the shot put.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 