Hammonton’s Anthony Liakhnovich and Delsea’s Jonathan Harris both placed among the top 12 in the shot put over the weekend at the U.S. Under-20 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Liakhnovich, who recently finished his freshman year at Princeton, threw a lifetime-best 61-4 and placed 9th, and Harris, who red-shirted this past year at South Carolina, was 12th at 60-10.
Liakhnovich went into the meet with a PR of 60-3 ¾ from the NCAA East Region Prelims last month in Lexington, Ky. Liakhnovich fouled on his first two throws, so the 61-4 came on his only legal throw. He missed advancing to the finals by 6 ½ inches.
Harris is listed with a PR of 54-9 in the World Athletics data base, but that wouldn’t be good enough to get him into Under-20 Nationals. The Under-20 performance list has him with a 57-0 ½ throw this year, but nobody seems to know where that happened. But in case, he actually PR’d three times in Eugene. He opened with a 58-2 ½, followed by a 59-5 and then his first 60-footer at 60-10.
Liakhnovich and Harris now rank 7th and 8th on the all-time South Jersey alumni list, and Harris is the 8th 60-footer South Jersey has produced.
All-Time South Jersey Shot Put Alumni List
73-1 ½ … Josh Olayinka Awotunde [Delsea], July 17, Eugene, Ore.
66-3 ½ … Braheme Days [Bridgeton], April 23, 2016, La Jolla, Calif.
66-2 ¾ … Jon Kalnas [Paulsboro], May 2, 2008, Princeton
65-0 ¾ … Lucciano Pizarro [Cherokee], May 15, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
61-8 ¼ … Steve Muse [Kennedy], March 28, 1987, Fresno, Calif.
60-11… Ray Wilks [Bridgeton], May 15, 1999, Chapel Hill, N.C.
61-4 … Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton], June 19, 2026, Eugene, Ore.
60-10 … Jonathan Harris [Delsea], June 19, 2026, Eugene, Ore.
58-8 ¾ … Jason Nwosu [Delsea],April 5, 2025, Gainesville, Fla.
56-3 … Art Dreher [Edgewood], March 6, 1999, Boston
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 