Eight South Jersey athletes will be competing in the NCAA Division 1 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene starting tomorrow.
Washington Township’s Ajani Dwyer, Riverside’s Jamir Brown and Lumberton’s Greg Foster are all top-10 seeds in their specialties, Dwyer in the 100, Brown in the 110 hurdles and Foster in the long jump.
They all qualified in the NCAA East Regional Prelims two weeks ago in Lexington, Ky.
Dwyer, a Penn State sophomore, is tied for the No. 3 seed in the 100-meter dash with his 9.99 in Lexington. He’s run as fast as 9.93 this year and 9.98 with legal wind. He’s ranked 18th in the world with legal wind and 7th among American men. Dwyer races in the semis at 6:25 p.m. Wednesday, with the final slated for 5:52 p.m. Friday.
Brown, a Syracuse sophomore, is tied for the No. 7 seed in the 110-meter hurdles with a lifetime-best 13.25 in Lexington. He’s No. 21 in the world and No. 13 among American men with legal wind. Brown races in the hurdles qualifying at 6:08 p.m. Wednesday, with the final at 5:42 p.m. Friday.
Foster, a Princeton junior, is the No. 9 seed in the long jump after a 25-10 ¾ in Lexington. He’s jumped 26-5 ½ with legal wind this outdoor season and 27-0 ½ indoors. He’s No. 14 in the world and No. 3 American. The long jump final is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.
The other individual who qualified is Rutgers junior Jenovia Logan, a Sterling graduate, who is the No. 16 seed in the high jump with her 5-10 ½ in Lexington. Her PR is 5-11 ¼. She competes at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Everyone else will race in the 1,600-meter relays.
Clayton’s Alexander Osayemi, a true freshman at Alabama, will run on the Crimson Tide 4-by-4, which qualified with a 3:02.45, and Pennsauken’s Premier Wynn, a Tennessee junior, will run on the Vols’ 4-by-4 team, which ran 3:01.25 at Regionals.
Tennessee is the No. 5 seed and Alabama is No. 12. Tennessee ran 3:01.06 in Lexington, which is No. 7 on the 2026 U.S. list. Alabama’s 3:02.45 from Lexington is No. 11.
The men’s 1,600-meter relay first round is scheduled for 8:36 p.m. Wednesday, with the final at 7:21 p.m. Friday.
The Arkansas women’s 4-by-4 lists Clayton twins Amirah and Arianna in its 4-by-4 pool. Arkansas ran 3:21.83 in Fayetteville, No. 4 in the world. The women’s 4-by-4 runs at 8:36 p.m. Thursday, with the final at 7:21 p.m. Saturday.
Winslow’s Jasmine Jackson isn’t just the fastest sophomore hurdler in the country this year, she’s one of the fastest ever.
Jackson, who won the Brooks P.R. Invitational in Renton, Wash., on Sunday, set a South Jersey and state sophomore record of 13.28 at the Meet of Champions Wednesday at Pennsauken with a 1.3 wind reading.
Turns out that 13.28 is 4th-fastest ever by a U.S. sophomore and 3rd-fastest in a wind-legal race.
Tia Jones set the national sophomore class record of 13.01 with a 0.4 tailwind when she won the 100-meter highs at the 2017 Pan Am Junior Championships at Chan Chan Stadium in Trujillo, Peru. Jones went on to set a world indoor record of 7.67 in the 60-meter highs in Albuquerque in 2024 [since broken by Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas] and is No. 3 in world history outdoors with her 12.19 in Miramar, Fla., at a Grand Slam Track meet last May.
Aleesa Samuel of Somerset Academy in Pembroke Pines, Fla., is No. 2 all-time with a 13.26 at a meet in 2023 in Miami into a 2.0 headwind, and Jackie Coward of Knoxville West is No. 3 all-time with a 13.27 at the 2006 Junior Olympic Championshisp in Baltimore, but that was aided by a 3.1 tailwind and her fastest legal time was a 13.62 at a meet in Indianapolis.
Three girls have run 13.28 as sophomores – Kendall Williams of Kell High in Marietta, Ga., in Lille France, in2 011, Rebekah Jhade-Garrett of North Canyon High in Phoenix in 2024 and Jackson. Both were either wind-aided or didn’t have a wind gauge, which is essentially the same. Williams’ fastest legal time was a 13.45 and Jhade-Garrett’s was 13.41.
That leaves Jones, Samuel and Jackson as the only three U.S. sophomores who have run a wind-legal hurdles time of 13.28 or faster.
Jackson’s time is 3rd-fastest in state history behind Taylor Cox, who ran 13.18 at last year’s Meet of Champions at Pennsauken and Dawn Bowles of Neptune, who ran 13.20 at the 1985 Golden West Invitational in Sacramento.
13.01 … Tia Jones [Walton, Washington, D.C.], 2017, Trujillo, Peru
13.26 … Aleesa Samuel [Somerset Academy, Pembroke, Fla.], 2023, Miami
13.27 … Jackie Coward [West, Knoxville, Tenn.], 2006, Baltimore
13.28 … Kendall Williams [Kell, Marietta, Ga.], 2011, Lille, France
13.28 … Rebekah Jhade-Garrett [North Canyon, Phoenix], 2024, Albuqurque
13.28 … Jasmine Jackson [Winslow Twp.], 2026, Pennsauken
13.32 … Kaahilyah Lacy [San Jacinto (Texas) Valley Academy], 2026, Clovis, Calif.
13.33 … Alexis Duncan [DeSoto (Texas)], 2014, Greensboro, N.C.
13.33 … Nia Armstrong [Sickles, Tampa, Fla.], 2026, Gainesville, Fla.
13.34 … Haley Richardson [Cedar Hill (Texas)], Red Oak, Texas
13.35 … Trinity Wilson [St. Mary’s College, Berkeley, Calif.], 2010, Clovis, Calif.
13.35 … Rylee Hampton [Cypree Ridge, Houston], Eugene, Ore.
13.50 .. Sonya Hardy [Boulder, Colo], 1976
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 