Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger advanced to the finals of the 1,500-meter run Friday at the USATF Under-20 Championships in Eugene.

Clevenger, who recently completed his freshman year at Iowa State, ran 3:52.74 at Hayward Field and placed 3rd in the first of two heats. The top four finishers in each race and the next four-fastest advanced to the 12-runner final. Clevenger earned a “large-Q” qualifier with his 3rd-place finish. His time was 8th-fastest overall among the 21 entrants.

Clevenger started out in 7th place after a strategic 66.78 first lap and came through 800 in 2:11.23 in 6th place in his section. But he used a 58.61 third lap to move into 5th and ran the final 300 in 42.92 – that’s 57.23 pace for 400 – to secure an auto qualifier.

Talk about negative splits. Clevenger ran about 1:57.6 for his final 800 meters.

Despite the very slow first 800, Clevenger still ran within 4 ½ seconds of his 1,500 PR of 3:48.23 from a meet in May in Ames, Iowa. He ran 4:08.67 full mile as a high school senior at West Philly Nationals.

The top two finishers in Saturday’s final will represent the U.S. in the World Athletics Pan Am Under-20 Championships Aug. 4-6 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

The final is scheduled for 10:08 p.m. EST Saturday.

Competing against college freshmen and incoming freshmen, Sophia Curtis – who just finished her junior year at Ocean City – placed 6th in the triple jump Friday at the USATF Under-20 Championships at historic Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.

Curtis jumped an outdoor lifetime-best 40-11 ½ on her fifth attempt and actually finished less than a foot outside the top two, who qualified to represent the U.S. in the World Athletics Under-20 Pan Am Championships Aug. 4-6 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Agur Dwal of the University of Oklahoma won with a 42-2 ¾ and Suzan Ogunleye of Tennessee was 2nd at 41-10.

Curtis’s 40-11 ½ was wind-legal, with a 1.7 meters-per-second tailwind. Anything at 2.0 or lower is considered legal and acceptable for record and list purposes.

Every woman that finished ahead of Curtis either just finished her freshman year of college or is a Class of 2023 graduate. Curtis will be a senior at Ocean City this fall.

Curtis opened with jumps of 39-4 ½ and 39-10 ¾ before hitting a wind-aided 40-7 ½ to close out the trials.

The top eight advanced to the finals, where they got three more jumps, and Curtis was in 8th place before the 40-7 ½ moved her up to 6th.

She opened the finals with a 39-8 ½ before popping the historic 40-11 ½, the No. 4 jump in state history. That moved her into 5th place, but she was bumped back down to 5th – by a quarter of an inch – when Skylann Townsend of North Texas jumped 41-5 on her 5th attempt.

She finished with a 40-1 ¼ jump, giving her six jumps at 39-4 ½ or better. She averaged 40-1 ¼ on her six attempts. Her average jump would have placed 9th overall Friday.

Curtis broke her own South Jersey outdoor record of 40-10 ¼, which she set at the Penn Relays.

Curtis, who spent her first two high schools years at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., finished undefeated in the triple jump against New Jersey athletes this past season. Her only loss before Friday was at Penn, where she was 2nd to Jade-ann Dawkins of St. Jago School in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica.

Curtis hit her overall PR of 41-3 ¼ to place 3rd at Boston Indoor Nationals in March. That’s the best jump indoors or outdoors in South Jersey history and No. 2 in state history indoors.

At 9:09 p.m. Saturday, Curtis will race in the first of two heats in the 400 hurdles trials. The top three in each race and the next two-fastest advance to the final at 9:38 p.m. Sunday.

Curtis was also undefeated against New Jersey competition this year in the 400-meter hurdles with a PR of 1:00.42, 10th-fastest in South Jersey history.

Curtis has two more years of eligibility for U.S. Under-20’s, open to athletes who don’t turn 20 before the end of this year.

Next year is a World Under-20 championships year, although Lima, Peru, recently dropped out of hosting the meet and there’s no replacement site selected yet.

Eastern graduate English Gardner advanced to the semis in the 100-meter dash Thursday at the USATF Championships in Eugene.

Gardner, 31, ran 11.13, only 4-100ths of a second off her season-best time of 11.09, which she ran in Miramar, Fla., in April.

The 16-fastest women advanced to the semifinals at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. The cutoff was 11.15 seconds.

Gardner’s time was 13th-fastest of 33 qualifiers. The top three finishers in each of four races advanced along with the next four-fastest.

Gardner, racing in the fourth and final quarterfinal, placed 3rd in her race to earn an auto qualifier – a big-Q – into the semis.

Her time was slightly wind-aided at 2.1 meters-per-second. Anything over 2.0 is considered wind-aided and not eligible for records and lists, although that really doesn’t matter at this point. Gardner is just trying to advance.

Gardner, an Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in 2016 and silver medalist in 2021, won U.S. titles in the 100 in 2013 with a 10.85 and in 2016 with a lifetime-best 10.74.

Gardner ranks 10th in world history with her 10.74 from 2016 nationals on the same track. That’s No. 5 in U.S. history.

She’s ranked 26th in the U.S. this year with a wind-legal-best of 11.13 from a meet in Devonshire, Bermuda, in May, so she’s already competing at a much higher level than her seed time.

The semifinals are scheduled for 10:14 p.m. EST on Friday, with eight women advancing – the three-fastest in each of two races and the next two-fastest. The final is scheduled for 11:45 p.m. EST Friday.

With track season finally over, we’ll catch our breath and spend the next couple weeks taking a look at some top South Jersey athletes who fell through the cracks this year that we didn’t have a chance to write about.

TODAY: Willingboro freshman Kaila Speight.

Willingboro’s Kaila Speight may have been overshadowed at times by Willingboro teammate Nester Wea, who won three state Group 2 titles and had a remarkable sophomore season for the Chimeras.

But Speight had a terrific season in her own right and was one of the top freshmen in New Jersey in two events.

Speight ran 12.30 in the 100, No. 4 among New Jersey freshmen and No. 2 in South Jersey, behind Pennsauken’s Sianni Wynn, who ran 11.82.

And she ran 24.83 in the 200, which made her the No. 2 freshman in New Jersey, behind only Wynn’s 24.38.

Speight was 2nd in the 200 and 5th in the 100 at the state Group 2 meet at Delsea, helping the Willingboro girls win their first state title in 21 years.

Overall, Speight ranked 5th in South Jersey in the 200 and No. 10 in the 100 this past spring. She broke the Burlington County freshman record in the 200 and tied the county freshman mark in the 100, set in 2007 by Willingboro’s Asja Goode.

Speight was also a regular leg on every Willingboro relay team. With three freshmen – Speight, Aaliyah Robinson and Jaden Murry – and Wea, a sophomore, the Chimeras reached the Northeast Championship 4-by-1 at Penn and ran 48.78, and won the South Jersey 4-by-4 for the first time in 13 years with the same four girls.

At states, Speight led off the 4-by-1, which won in 48.36 (Robinson, Murry and Wea also ran) and ran on the winning 4-by-4, which ran 3:56.18 and also included Sunny Oyibo, Robinson and Murry.

At the Meet of Champions, Speight split 58.85 and joined Oyibo, Robinson and Murry on the 5th-place 4-by-4 with a season-best 3:55.08. Speight led off the 4-by-1, which was 2nd in 47.78, with the usual lineup – Speight to Robinson to Murry to Wea. That 47.78 is No. 7 in Burlington County history and fastest by a Willingboro 4-by-1 since Tiffany Butler, Sherron Lawson, Kim Hargrove and Kia Van Wright ran 47.45 in 1994 – 29 years ago.

Here’s where Speight (and Wea) rank on the all-time Burlington County lists:

11.42 … Michele Glover [Willingboro], 1981
11.61 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
11.82 … Annie Johnson [Shawnee], 2012
11.95 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
11.96 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2023
12.00 … Andrea Conway [Bordentown], 1986
12.05 … Anu Ward [Moorestown], 2000
12.08 … Kim Hargrove [Willingboro], 1996
12.11 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009
12.11 … Nia Lawrence [Pemberton], 2012
12.15 … Rageana Marigna [Palmyra], 2008
12.20 … Mya Jackson [Delran], 2023
12.23 … Morgan Gordon [Rancocas Valley], 2009
12.25 … Halimah Bashir [Willingboro], 2002
12.30 … Kaila Speight [Willingboro], 2021
12.30 … Asja Goode [Willingboro], 2007

23.69 … Michele Glover [Willingboro], 1981
24.01 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
24.17 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2008
24.18 … Sheriyah Nutt [Rancocas Valley], 2019
24.31 … Morgan Gordon [Rancocas Valley], 2009
24.49 … Annie Johnson [Shawnee], 2012
24.55 … Daneille Myricks [Willingboro], 2000
24.61 … Aliyah Tayor [Rancocas Valley], 2018
24.63 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2023
24.72 … Halimah Bashir [Willingboro], 2002
24.79 … Darynn Minus-Vincent [Rancocas Valley], 2018
24.81 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2015
24.83 … Kaila Speight [Willingboro], 2023

 

With track season finally over, we’ll catch our breath and spend the next couple weeks taking a look at some top South Jersey athletes who fell through the cracks this year that we didn’t have a chance to write about.

TODAY: Pleasantville senior Xander Roberts-Bogin.

Xander Roberts-Bogin wrapped up an outstanding career by becoming the first Pleasantville athlete to place in the top three at a Meet of Champions in 10 years and moving into the No. 6 spot in Atlantic County history in the 400.

Roberts-Bogin first put himself on the map as a junior indoors when he won Easterns at the Armory in 48.45 and then placed 4th in the Meet of Champions at the Bubble. But this spring, he was a model of consistency, running sub-49 in every major race he entered, with wins at Fast Times at Cherokee [48.84], Atlantic County [48.70], Cape Atlantic [48.74] and South Jersey Group 2 sectionals [48.51] before a PR 48.17 for 3rd at the state Group 2 meet at Delsea.

He followed that with a 48.23 for 3rd in the Meet of Champions, where he was the top South Jersey finisher and the first Pleasantville top-3 finisher at an outdoor M-of-C since the Clark twins – Isaac and Jacob – went 1-2 in the 800 in 2013, Isaac winning in 1:50.12 and Jacob 2nd in 1:50.73.

Roberts-Bogin finished the year ranked No. 8 in New Jersey and No. 3 in South Jersey, behind only Pennsauken senior Premier Wynn [47.39] and Eastern senior Rajahn Dixon [48.05].

Here’s a look at the all-time Atlantic County 400 list:

47.44 … Amir Brock [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2017
47.89 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
48.05 … Mike Patterson [Pleasantville], 1997
48.07 … Isaac Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
48.12 … Devon Matthews [Pleasantville], 1999
48.17 … Xander Roberts-Bogin [Pleasantville], 2023
48.26 … Alex Dessoye [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2017
48.36 … Isiaha Whaley [Atlantic City], 2018
48.42 … Bo Melton [Cedar Creek], 2016
48.55 … Akmed Muhammad [Oakcrest], 2012

Roberts-Bogin – who will attend Delaware State in Dover, Del. – also anchored Pleasantville’s 1,600-meter relay team, which was No. 6 in the state and No. 2 in South Jersey behind Pennsauken with a 3:18.27 for 3rd at the Meet of Champions. That’s No. 6 in Atlantic County history and Pleasantville’s fastest 4-by-4 in 27 years. Senior Isaiah Davenport, junior Yusuf Golden and sophomore Jermain Nelson also ran on the 4-by-4.

Here’s a look at the nine Atlantic County schools I was able to find that have broken 3:19:

3:13.08 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2017
3:15.77 … Absegami, 2008
3:16.61 … Oakcrest, 2011
3:17.57 … Pleasantville, 1996
3:17.79 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2009
3:18.27 … Pleasantville, 2023
3:18.32 … Absegami, 2010
3:18.68 … Pleasantville, 2008
3:18.79 … Pleasantville, 2019

First-year thrower Mike Simeon, a rising senior at Egg Harbor Township, showed some promise this past indoor season, placing 3rd at South Jersey Group 4 sectionals with a 48-0 ¾ and reaching 49-5 at Easterns.

But he really blossomed this spring, with a consistent series of performances and eight straight meets over 50 feet culminating in a 55-foot throw at West Philly Nationals that makes him the No. 4 junior in New Jersey and the top Atlantic County underclassman in seven years.

Simeon surpassed 50 feet for the first time at Woodbury, placing 4th with a 51-3 ¾. He improved to 51-11 ½ when he won the Atlantic County title and 52-4 ¾ when he won Cape-Atlantic a few days later.

At sectionals, he placed 2nd to Southern’s Fabian Gonzalez – the West Philly Nationals discus champ and 3rd-place finisher in the shot – with another PR of 53-9. After taking 4th at states, he popped a huge PR of 55-3 ½ for 2nd place in the Rising Stars division of West Philly Nationals, finishing behind only Delsea rising junior Jonathan Harris, who PR’d at 58-4 ½. Simeon also placed 8th in the Meet of Champions with a 54-7.

Simeon finished No. 4 in South Jersey and No. 3 among underclassmen, behind Harris’s 58-4 ½ and Delsea’s Greg Masso’s 55-4 ¾. He was the No. 4 junior in the state [behind Josh Huisman of St. Rose, 64-7 ¾], Jack Small of Old Tappan [56-10] and Masso [55-4 ¾] and No. 7 underclassman overall.

He’s also the top returner in Group 4 and the top junior from Atlantic County since Meet of Champions javelin champ Cade Antonucci of Holy Spirit threw 56-11 as a junior in 2016.

EHT has quite a shot put history, and Simeon looks like the 6th 55-foot thrower that Egg Harbor has produced.

61-4 … Kofi Yamoah [2012]
58-0 … James Plummer [2013]
56-0 ¾ … James Mahana [2022]
55-3 ¾ … Curtis Fitzpatrick [2012]
55-3 ½ … Mike Simeon [2023]
55-2 … Malcolm Lee [2015]

When we wrote about qualifiers for the upcoming U.S. Championships, we mentioned that Winslow graduate Tionna Tobias was on the cusp of qualifying in the heptathlon.

Tobias – who won the Big Ten Championships with a lifetime-best 5,640 points – ranked 16th among those who had entered as of the qualifying deadline of 11:59 p.m. Sunday – according to USATF’s own web site. Considering they accept the top 16 entries to fill out the field if not enough people have the A standard, we thought Tobias had a shot at making the field.

But apparently the “status of entriers” page isn’t updated in real time, and Tobias wound up with the highest score among non-qualifiers.

However … Tobias is still headed to Oregon.

She’s been added to the field in the 100-meter hurdles, thanks to her 13.11 season-best time last month. She ranks 21st among entries in the hurdles, so she’s actually ranked higher in the event she didn’t get in that the one she did get in. But that’s because the field size in the 100 hurdles is 32 and the heptathlon is 16.

The A standard in the 100 hurdles was 12.78, but only 14 U.S. women who entered ran that fast during the qualifying window [June 23, 2022 – June 25, 2023].

A lane at nationals is a tremendous opportunity for the 22-year-old Tobias, who just finished her junior year at Iowa and posted these marks along the way – 11.13 in the hurdles, 23.97 in the 200, 5-7 ¼ in the high jump, 35-7 ¾ in the shot, 2:19.61 for 800 meters, 20-2 ½ in the long jump and 92-1 in the javelin.

Tobias joins former Pleasantville star Nia Ali as the second South Jersey woman entered in the 100-meter hurdles at USATF Nationals.

Her 13.11 is 4th-fastest by a New Jersey native, and that 5,640 is actually 2nd-highest point total ever by a New Jersey woman, behind Ali’s 5,870 in Asuza, Calif., in 2016.

Here’s my best attempt at a New Jersey high school alum 100-meter hurdles all-time top-10:

12.34 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], Oct. 6, 2019, Doha, Qatar
12.65 … Sydney McLaughlin [Union Catholic], May 9, 2021, Walnut, Calif.
12.74 … Dawn Bowles [Neptune], June 15, 1997, Indianapolis
13.11 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow], May 25, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
13.13 … Charmaine Walker [Plainfield], June 2, 2000, Durham, N.C.
13.15 … Amaya Chadwick [Union Catholic], May 27, 2021, Jacksonville, Fla.
13.18 … Amber Williams [Roxbury], June 6, 2007, Sacramento, Calif.
13.28 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow], May 15, 2015, Starkville, Miss.
13.30 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], May 28, 2005, New York
13.41 … Sara Gardner [Delaware Valley], May 6, 2018, Lawrence, N.J.

Tobias came into the 2023 season with a 100-meter hurdles PR of 13.59 from her freshman year at Iowa in a meet in Champaign, Ill. She lowered her PR to 13.55 in her opener in Gainesville in April and then 13.51 in a meet in Waco later in April. Her big breakthrough was a wind-legal 13.20 to open up her Big Ten heptathlon and then she lowered her PR to 13.11 in the NCAA Championships West Prelims in Sacramento last month.

U.S. Nationals are scheduled for July 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The 100-meter hurdles trials are scheduled for 8:42 p.m. EST Friday, July 7 with the semifinals at 9:02 p.m. Saturday, July 8. The final is scheduled for 10:55 p.m. Saturday.

With track season finally over, we’ll catch our breath and spend the next couple weeks taking a look at some top South Jersey athletes who fell through the cracks this year that we didn’t have a chance to write about.

TODAY: Absegami freshman Samia Ghazaz.

Samia Ghazaz had never broken 2:26 until sectionals, but in the span of two weeks she became one of the fastest half-milers in South Jersey this year, one of the fastest freshmen in the state and the fastest 800 runner from Atlantic County in six years.

Ghazaz, a freshman at Absegami, didn’t run indoors, so her first high school race was an 800 at the Lenape Girls Invitational on April 15, and it was a promising debut with a 2:28.38 for 4th place behind a senior and two juniors.

She dropped to 2:26.11 to win the 800 at the Atlantic County Championships in mid-May at Stockton University in Galloway Township and also ran her first 1,600, taking 3rd in 5:19.20 behind two really good milers – Mainland’s Gillian Lovett and Egg Harbor’s Michaela Schlemo.

But that was just the start.

At South Jersey Group 3 sectionals at Delsea, Ghazaz took 2nd to Highland’s Grace Wassell in the 800 in 2:20.71 – a 5 ½-second PR – and was 4th behind Delsea’s Lillie Widmer, Ocean City’s Maeve Smith and Lovett in 5:13.29, a 6-second PR.

Then it was off to states, where she lowered her 800 PR to 2:18.05 to place 8th in a very fast race. She was the top freshman runner in the race as well as the top South Jersey runner (Wassell focused on the 1,600 and placed 6th).

She qualified for the Meet of Champions and ran another 2:18-low, placing 19th overall – among every girl in the state – with a 2:18.13. She was the No. 3 freshman in the race, behind Shore Regional’s Kiera Greene [2:16.53] and Wall Township’s Cali Buxbaum [2:17.28] and the 3rd South Jersey finisher, behind winner Kadence Dumas of Eastern [2:10.44] and Cherokee senior Kelsey Niglio [2:13.42].

Ghazaz finished as the No. 8 half-miler in South Jersey this year and No. 19 in the 1,600. Among freshmen, she was No. 7 in the state in the 800 and also No. 7 in the state in the 1,600 – actually tied with Audubon’s Riley Fayer at 5:13.29.

The only faster South Jersey freshman in the 800 was West Deptford’s Kayla Romanoski, who ran 2:18.00 at the South Jersey Elite last month. Fayer and Ghazaz shared the top ranking among South Jersey freshmen in the 1,600.

Ghazaz is the fastest freshman from Atlantic County in the 800 since Bridget Flynn of Holy Spirit ran 2:15.98 at the state Parochial A meet in 2011 (Flynn later ran at Ocean City and ran as fast as 4:23.41 for Dartmouth at 2018 Heps). She’s fastest in Atlantic County in the 1,600 since Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge ran 5:06.13 in 2015.

Overall, she’s the fastest 800 runner in Atlantic County since Aldridge ran 2:16.00 at South Jersey Group 3 sectionals at Delsea in 2017.

Ghazaz swims for Absegami during the winter, but I couldn’t find any swimming results anywhere. Apparently, there is no equivalent of New Jersey MileSplit for swimming!

With Sunday’s midnight qualifying deadline passed, six South Jersey athletes have been accepted into the USATF Championships next month in Eugene.

Pleasantville’s Nia Ali, Kingsway’s Samuel Allen, Delsea’s Josh Awotunde, Eastern’s English Gardner, Florence’s Curtis Thompson and Cherokee’s Jess Woodard are all scheduled to compete in the U.S. Championships, scheduled for July 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Earlier this week, we took a look at the six South Jersey athletes headed for Eugene for the Under-20 Championships, held concurrently at the same venue. Click here for that post.

Click here for the schedule of events for nationals: Complete time schedule.

√  Nia Ali: Now 34, Ali is still going strong and remains one of the fastest hurdlers in the world. Ali, Olympic silver medalist in 2016, world champion in 2019 and indoor world champion in 2014 and 2016, is No. 9 in the world this year and No. 6 American with her 12.53 in the 100-meter hurdles in a meet in Gainesville back in April. Her 12.34 from Worlds in 2019 in Doha, Qatar, is No. 12 in world history and No. 4 all-time U.S. Ali is the No. 6 seed this year and actually has a 12.49 in the qualifying period from the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Championshisp in Eugene on June 25, 2022, two days after the 2023 qualifying period opened.

√ Samuel Allen: Kingsway graduate Sam Allen, 21, qualified in the 20,000-meter walk thanks to his 1:30.43.43 from his 3rd-place finish last June at the 2022 World Race Walking Team USA Trials at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, Calif. [The race walk qualifying window opened Jan. 31, 2022.] Allen ranked No. 2 among American men in the 20,000-meter race walk last year. Allen most recently placed 3rd at Mt. SAC with a 1:31.05.29. In February, he won the mile walk at Millrose [6:13.58] and was 4th at U.S. Senior Nationals in the 3,000 in Albuquerque [12:51.32].

√ Josh Awotunde: The 28-year-old Awotunde has only competed three times this this year after placing 3rd in the shot put at last year’s World Championships in Eugene with a mammoth 73-1 ½, the no. 5 throw in meet history. Awotunde is No. 18 in world history with that throw and No. 11 in U.S. history. So far this year, Awotunde has thrown only at the USATF Grand Prix in L.A. in May and the Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy, and 5th annual Irena Szewińska Memorial at Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland, last month. His best throw so far this year is 68-7 ¼ in Poland, which makes him No. 29 in the world this year and No. 11 among Americans. Because it came after the 2023 qualifying window opened, Awotunde’s 73-1 ½ is his seeded throw, which makes him the No. 3 seed.

√  English Gardner: Gardner, a two-time U.S. champion, 2016 Olympic 4-by-100 gold medalist and 2021 4-by-100 silver medalist, returns for her 11^th U.S. national championships. Gardner, now 31, won the 100 at nationals in 2013 in 10.85 and in 2016 – the Olympic Trials – in 10.74. Gardner hasn’t broken 11.00 since 2016 but she ran 11.09 in 2021, 11.08 in 2022 and 11.13 already this year, that coming last month in Bermuda. Her qualifying time is 11.08 from a meet last September in Pápa, Hungary. Gardner’s 10.74 PR is No. 10 in world history and No. 5 in U.S. history (although she’d be higher on a list of clean athletes).

√ Curtis Thompson: Florence High graduate goes after his 3rd U.S. title in the javelin. Thompson, 27, won the 2018 national title in Des Moines at 249-3 ¾ and the 2021 national title in Eugene at 271-7. That was also the Olympic Trials, and Thompson went on to compete in his first Olympics in August 2021 in Tokyo. Thompson is the top seed by virtue of his 276-4 at the NACAC Championships in Freeport, the Bahamas, last Aug. 20, but his 287-8 ¾ in East Stroudsburg – No. 3 in U.S. history – also came within the qualifying window [July 9, 2022], so not sure why he’s not listed with that mark. Doesn’t really matter. So far this spring, Thompson’s best throw is a 261-3 ¾ at Kuortaneen Keskusurheilukenttä in Kuortane, Finland, which ranks him No. 5 among U.S. men. But the top five have all thrown between 261-3 ¾ and 265-1 ¾ so there’s no clear favorite, although Thompson does have the best PR among all qualifiers. Thompson’s 287-8 ¾ in East Stroudsburg is the best throw by an American since Breaux Greer threw 299-6 in Indianapolis in 2007.

√ Jessica Woodard: Similarly, Woodard is the No. 3 seed in the shot put with her 63-7 ¾ to place 3rd at the U.S. Championships in Eugene this past June. The 28-year-old Marlton native is the No. 14 American woman all-time with that throw. Woodard’s best this year is 61-5 ¼ in Tucson, Ariz., last month, which makes her No. 6 U.S. thrower this year and No. 20 in the world.

√ And maybe …: One other athlete to keep an eye on: Winslow graduate Tionna Tobias, who won the Big Ten heptathlon for Iowa with a lifetime-best score of 5,640 in May, is listed as “not qualified” on the “status of entries” list because the A standard is 6,000 points. But only women are listed with qualifying marks of at least 6,000, and the qualifying standard page on the USATF web site shows a field size of 16, and Tobias’s 5,640 is the 16th-highest score listed, so it’s possible she will be added to the field. Of course with USATF in charge, we probably won’t know until the meet is underway.

 

As the entry deadline passed at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, six South Jersey athletes were accepted into the USATF Under-20 Championships next month in Eugene.

Kingsway’s Ryan Allen, Haddonfield’s Seth Clevenger, Millville’s Bryanna Craig, Ocean City’s Sophia Curtis, Lumberton’s Greg Foster and Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker are all scheduled to compete at Hayward Field from July 7-9.

The meet is open to athletes who don’t turn 20 before midnight on Dec. 31, 2023, so mostly college freshmen but a healthy slate of high school athletes as well.

Here’s a closer look at the South Jersey contingent heading to Oregon:

✔️  Ryan Allen: Allen, a Kingsway graduate, just finished his freshman year at Cornell, is entered in the 10,000-meter walk. He’s listed with a PR of 49:53.14, and although that mark for some reason isn’t listed among the World Athletics leaders, he’s the No. 1 junior in the U.S. in the 5,000 walk with his 22:38.48 at the Penn Relays. The 10,000-meter walk is scheduled for 11:46 a.m. EST Saturday, July 8.

✔️  Seth Clevenger: Former Haddonfield star recently completed his freshman year at Iowa State. He’s entered in both the 5,000 and 10,000 with a 3:48.23 in the 1,500 and a 14:24.57 in the 5,000. Neither mark shows up on the World Athletics U.S. Under-20 list, probably because World Athletics doesn’t have Clevenger’s birthday. Clevenger ran 3:48.23 at a meet last month in Ames and ran his 14:24.57 at a meet in Azusa, Calif., in April. The 1,500 first round is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EST Friday, July 7, with the final at 6:12 p.m. EST Sunday, July 9. The 5,000 final is scheduled for 7:24 p.m. Sunday, July 9.

✔️  Bryanna Craig: Craig scored a lifetime-best 5,460 points in her last heptathlon, at the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind. (won by Winslow graduate Tionna Tobias), which makes her the No. 4 American and No. 21 Under-20 in the world. She appears to be the No. 2 seed behind JaiCieonna Gero-Holt of Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, Wash., who scored a sophomore-record 5,481 at Eugene Nationals last week. Gero-Holt finished 13 points ahead of Craig at last year’s Under-20 Championships in Eugene, and they both made the U.S. team that competed at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Columbia. The two-day heptathlon begins with the 100-meter hurdles at 2 p.m. EST Friday, July 7, and concludes with the 800-meter run at 4:01 p.m. EST on Saturday, July 8.

✔️  Sophia Curtis: Curtis had a historic junior year at Ocean City running 1:00.42 in the 400-meter hurdles and triple jumping 41-3 ¼, and it looks like she plans to contest both in Eugene. Looks like she’s No. 9 seed in the triple jump and No. 8 in the 400IH – as a rising high school senior. The triple jump is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST Friday. The 400 hurdles first round is scheduled for 6:04 p.m. EST Saturday, July 8, with the final at 6:38 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 9.

✔️  Greg Foster: After finishing his freshman year at Princeton, Foster heads to Eugene to compete in both horizontal jumps. Foster is the top seed in the long jump with his 26-1 ¾ from outdoor Heps at Franklin Field and 51-0 ½ from last year’s West Philly Nationals (the qualifying window opened June 8, and the triple jump was June 17). Based on the entries, Foster appears to be the top seed in both jumps. Triple jump final is 6:05 p.m. EST Friday. Long jump final is 3:10 p.m. EST Saturday.

✔️  Bryce Tucker: Thanks to his 50.96 to win his 3rd straight Meet of Champions title, Tucker is the No. 1 seed by 1-100th of a second over Yan Vazquez of UCLA, who ran 50.97 in the trials of the NCAA Western Preliminaries. Tucker is the No. 14 Under-20 in the world. First round is 6:24 p.m. EST Saturday and the final is 6:46 p.m. EST Sunday.