Junior John Santos is the latest Washington Township sprinter to enjoy a breakthrough race in the 55-meter dash.

Senior Ajani Dwyer broke the state record with his 6.18 at the Millrose Trials earlier this month, U.S. No. 1 hurdler Yashahya Brown ran N.J. No. 6 6.44 last month in a meet at the Armory and on Friday Santos ran a PR 6.48 in the Olympic-Tri-County Meet at the Bubble, which is No. 9 in the state this year.

There are nine sprinters who have run sub-6.50 this year in New Jersey and three of them are Washington Township athletes.

Dwyer of course is the Gloucester County record holder, and Brown and Santos are now No. 6 and No. 8 in county history. They’re No. 1, 2 and 4 in South Jersey, broken up only by Burlington City senior Malachi James, who ran 6.36 at Ocean Breeze last month.

Santos had a PR of 6.58 coming into this winter from his 3rd-place finish at South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at the Bubble last February.

He lowered it to 6.53 in the trials Friday before his breakthrough 6.48 in the final. Glassboro senior Brysheen Ferguson placed 2nd in a PR 6.56

6.18 … Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp.], 2024
6.34 … A.J. Bunton [West Deptford], 2006
6.38 … James Brown [Glassboro], 2009
6.43 … Anthony Averett [Woodbury], 2013
6.44 … Thomas Hampton [Clayton], 2019
6.44 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2024
6.47 … Josh Washington [Woodbury], 2019
6.48 … Clayton Crosse [Washington Twp.]. 2016
6.48 … John Santos [Washington Twp.], 2024
6.50 … Shawney Kersey [Woodbury], 2007

Cinnaminson’s Austin Gabay ran the 2nd-fastest 3,000 ever by a Duke runner Friday night at the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center.

Racing nearly 200 of the top collegiate distance runners, Gabay placed 15th in 8:01.79, just 7 ½ seconds behind winner Gabriel Sanchez of Tennessee, who ran 7:54.36.

Gabay closed in 28.61 for his final 200, 58.18 for his final 400 and 2:01.86 for his final 800.

Gabay’s time is No. 2 in Duke history behind only Nick Dahl, who ran 7:59.84 in 2022. It was the first 3,000 Gabay has ever run in high school or college.

Click to access Duke_T_F_Record_Book.pdf

The time is also No. 3 ever by a South Jersey runner. Ford Palmer of Absegami ran 7:57.65 at the Columbia East-West Challenge at the Armory in 2017, and Samuel Gerstenbacher, a Schalick graduate who was a multiple NCAA Division 2 All-America at Elizabethtown, ran 8:01.24 as a post-collegian in February in Boston.

Gabay opened in 2:10.10 through 800 meters and came through 1600 in 4:21.71 and then ran his next three 400s in 65.52, 64.75 and 61.23 before closing in 28.61.

Here’s my best attempt at an all-time South Jersey alumni 3,000 list:

8:01.24i … Samuel Gerstenbacher [Schalick], Feb. 26, 2023, Boston
8:01.79i … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], Jan. 26, 2024, Boston
8:10.69i … Sebastien Reed [Pitman], March 6, 2022, Boston
8:11.81 … Oliver Adler [Cherry Hill East], Feb. 12, 2022, Boston
8:13.00i … Karl Savage [Eastern], Feb. 25, 2005, New York
8:13.37 … Jack Shea [Cherokee], March 18, 2022, Tempe, Ariz.
8:15.06i … Ethan Wechsler [Cherokee], Jan. 26, 2023, Boston
8:17.82i … Nick / Cole Pschunder [Eastern], Feb. 8, 2019, Boston
8:17.95 … Connor Melko [Bishop Eustace], Feb. 12, 2022, New York
8:18.75i … Connor Herr [Shawnee], Feb. 10, 2017, New York

Yashahya Brown continued chasing the state hurdles record Friday, improving his No. 3 time in state history at the Olympic and Tri-County conference meet at the Bubble.

Brown, a Washington Township senior, lowered his U.S.-leading time in the 55-meter highs from 7.13 to 7.11. He had run 7.13 last month at the Armory.

His time is No. 15 in U.S. history.

Brown is now just 4-100ths of a second off the state record of 7.07, set by East Orange’s Cory Poole at 2017 Armory Nationals, and just 1-100th of a second off the South Jersey record of 7.10, set at 201 Armory Nationals.

ALL-TIME UNITED STATES 55-METER HURDLES LIST
6.87 … Trey Cunningham [Winfield City, Ala.], 2017
7.04 … Kurt Powdar [Oscar Smith, Va.], 2019
7.04 … Ayden Owens [North Allegheny, Pa.], 2018
7.05 … Grant Holloway [Grassfield, Va.], 2015
7.05 … Wayne Davis [Southeast Raleigh, N.C.], 2009
7.05 … Chad Zallow [Kennedy, Warren, Ohio], 2015
7.07 … Johnny Dutch [Clayton, N.C.], 2007
7.08 … Deworski Odom [Overbrook, Philadelphia], 1995
7.07 … Cory Poole [East Orange Campus], 2017
7.10 … Eric Perry [Menchville, Va.], 1979
7.10 … Patrick Mann [Gar-Field, Va.], 1984
7.10 … Michael Hancock [George Washington, Denver], 2008
7.10 … Damion Thomas [Northeast, Oakland Park, Fla.], 2017
7.10 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
7.11 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2024
7.12 … Rod Wilson [Bartram, Philadelphia], 1979
7.14 … Nathaniel Rayan [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 2023
6.9h … Dan Lavitt [Raytown, Mo.], 1976
6.9h … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 1977
6.9h … Jeff Martin [Indianapolis], 1995
7.15 … Terrance Trammell [Decatur, Ga.], 1997
7.15 … Jermaine Cooper [Giddings, Texas], 1999
7.15 … Josh Hembrough [Forest Hills, Northern, Mich.], 2007
7.15 … Donovan Robertson [Midpark, Berea, Ohio], 2012

ALL-TIME N.J. 55-METER HURDLES LIST
7.07 … Cory Poole [East Orange Campus], 2017
7.10 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
7.11 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2024
7.14 … Nathaniel Rayan [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 2023
6.9h … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains], 1985
7.18 … Sultan Tucker [Delsea], 1996
7.19 … Jermaine Collier [Trenton], 2012
7.22 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], 2001
7.22 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], 2012
7.27 … Dwight Henry [Irvington], 2020
7.29 … Nate Harley [Pleasantville], 1996
7.29 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.29 … Will Brown [Palmyra], 2006
7.29 … Chris Serrao [East Brunswick], 2022

ALL-TIME S.J. 55-METER HURDLES LIST
7.10 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
7.11 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2023
7.18 … Sultan Tucker [Delsea], 1996
7.22 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], 2001
7.22 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], 2012
7.29 … Nate Harley [Pleasantville], 1996
7.29 … Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
7.29 … Anthony Acklin [Triton], 2001
7.29 … Will Brown [Palmyra], 2006
7.31 … Anthony Vasquez [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2020
7.32 … Jon Dickey [Penns Grove], 1985
7.34 … Chais Hill [Highland], 2015
7.35 … Gerard Reynolds [Willingboro], 1990
7.36 … Bryce Tucker [Pennsauken], 2023
7.39 … Rashad Baker [Wilson], 2000
7.39 … Isaiah Lewis [Winslow Twp.], 2020

Haddonfield junior Rebecca Hoover continues climbing the South Jersey all-time pole vault lists thanks to her first 12-foot clearance Monday at the Bubble.

Hoover increased her PR from 11-9 to 12-0. Series information not available. Her 12-0 clearance movres her into a tie for No. 4 in South Jersey history both on the all-time indoor list and the all-conditions list.

She broke her own Camden County indoor record and tied the overall Camden County record, set by Fiona Basewitz at the 2021 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield. Before Hoover cleared 11-6 in her first meet of the year at the Armory, the Camden County indoor record was 11-2 by Audubon’s Sarah Parr from a meet in Norristown, Pa., February of 2020.

All-Time South Jersey Indoor List
13-5 … Danielle O’Reilly [Shawnee], 2004
12-7 … Ashley Preston [Delsea], 2018
12-6 … Hannah Byrd-Leitner [Moorestown], 2024
12-0 … Jessica Kloss [Moorestown], 2004
12-0 … Rebecca Hoover [Haddonfield], 2024
11-6 … Melissa Gale [Millville], 2005
11-6 … Brittney Raffo [Seneca], 2017
11-6 … Lindsey Michie [Northern Burlington], 2019

All-Time South Jersey Overall List
13-5 … Danielle O’Reilly [Shawnee], 2004 [i]
12-7 ½ … Ashley Preston [Delsea], 2018 [o]
12-6 … Hannah Byrd-Leitner [Moorestown], 2024
12-0 … Brittany Raffo [Seneca], 2016 [o]
12-0 … Jessica Kloss [Moorestown], 2004 [i, o]
12-0 … Fiona Basewitz [Collingswood], 2021 [o]
12-0 … Brittney Raffo [Seneca], 2017 [o]
12-0 … Rebecca Hoover [Haddonfield], 2024 [i]
11-10 … Kaitlyn Dermen [Millville], 2014 [o]
11-9 … Julia Greeley [Seneca], 2021 [o]
11-6 … Melissa Gale [Millville], 2005 [i]
11-6 … Lindsey Michie [Northern Burlington], 2019 [i]
11-6 … Abby Boggs [Rancocas Valley], 2021
11-6 … Gabby Vetere [Washington Twp.], 2022
11-6 … Lauren Tauscher [Moorestown], 2009
11-6 … Reese Gebhard [Delsea], 2023
11-6 … Quin Zacamy [Haddon Heights], 2023

Two wins, two PRs and three outstanding performances Wednesday evening for Ocean City junior Hercules Stewart at the Metropolitan Invitational at the Armory.

Stewart won the high jump with a lifetime-best 6-4 clearance, won the triple jump with a 44-foot jump and placed 2nd in the long jump with a PR 21-2, finishing 6 ½ inches behind Piscataway senior Skylar McGhee, who jumped 21-8 ½.

Stewart had a high jump PR of 5-10 a month ago. He cleared 6-2 in his season opener, the Marine Corps Classic at the Armory, before clearing the bar at 6-4 Wednesday on his 3rd and final attempt. He was clean at 5-8 and 5-10, made 6-0 on his 2nd try and 6-2 on his 1st.

That 6-4 ties the Cape May County record shared by three other Ocean City jumpers. It was originally set by Ben Marple in 1995 and matched by Jim O’Connor in 2011 and Ryan Givens in 2014.

Stewart shares the No. 2 mark in South Jersey behind Rancocas Valley senior David Godbolt, who cleared 6-6 last month at the Armory. Willingboro’s Tra’san Adam, Highland’s Jayden De Leon and Washington Township’s Carson Thomas have also cleared 6-4.

Stewart is already No. 4 in the state in the triple jump with a 45-0 last week at the South Jersey Track Coaches Association meet at Ocean Breeze. That 45-0 is No. 12 in South Jersey history and also a Cape May County record. The previous mark was 43-8 ½ by Ocean City’s Dan Givens at this meet in 2022.

His triple jump series included five jumps of at least 43 feet, including the winning 44-0 on his 2nd attempt. He averaged 43-3 ½ on his five legal jumps, and that average would have won the meet. Ethan Gutierrez of Monroe-Woodbury, N.Y., was 2nd with a 43-1.

In the long jump, Stewart topped his previous PR of 20-4 ¾ from Ocean Breeze last week. That 21-2 is 11 inches shy of Givens’ county record of 22-1 from 2015 and it’s No. 2 in South Jersey this year, behind only Moorestown’s Rece Englehart, who jumped 22-5 at a meet at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., earlier this month in his first lifetime indoor long jump competition.

Woodrow Wilson graduate Dennisha Page, now a post-grad student at Tennessee, ran one of the fastest 60-meter dashes in the world this year as well as a 200-meter dash indoor PR this weekend at Texas A&M.

Page ran 7.23 and 23.60 at the Ted Nelson Invite at the R.A. Murray Fasken ’38 Indoor Track in College Station, Texas.

That’s No. 12 in the world according to the World Athletics database and No. 8 among U.S. women.

Her previous 60 PR was 7.26 in the prelims of the Tyson Invitational at Arkansas’s Randall Tyson Track in Fayetteville, Ark., last February. Her previous indoor 200 PR was a 23.61 last January at the Bob Pollock Invitational at Clemson Indoor Track. She was competing for Rutgers when she ran both those times.

The 7.23 is No. 6 in Tennessee history and No. 6 on the 2023-24 NCAA Division 1 performance list.

It’s also 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey sprinter, behind Montclair’s Me’Lisa Barber [7.01 in Moscow, Russia, in 2006] Eastern’s English Gardner [7.10 in New York in 2019] and Montclair’s Mikele Barber [7.14 in Albuqurque in 2010] and just ahead of Lakewood’s Shavon Greaves [7.24 at State College in 2010], Montclair Immaculate’s Dominique Booker [7.24 in Fayetteville in 2011] and Paramus Catholic’s Myasia Jacobs [7.24 in Boston in 2016].

Page was the 5th-fastest qualifier with a 7.37 in the trials before the 7.23 breakthrough race in the final. She placed 2nd to Jacious Sears, who won in a world No. 2 7.10. Sears is No. 2 in college track history with a 7.04 last winter. That’s No. 13 in U.S. history.

Page’s lifetime best at 200 meters is 23.08 from the prelims of the Big Ten Championships in June in Bloomington, Ind. That’s the No. 8 time ever run by a New Jersey high school graduate for 200 meters and No. 3 by a South Jersey woman.

Another PR this weekend for Syracuse hurdler Anthony Vazquez, a junior from Egg Harbor Township.

Vazquez lowered his 60-meter hurdles PR from 7.94 to 7.91 with a win at the NYC Gotham Cup at Ocean Breeze. Vazquez edged teammates Naseem Smith from Deptford and Isaiah Lewis from Winslow Township. Smith was 2nd in 8.04 and Lewis 3rd in 8.07.

I’d love to give you some background about Syracuse’s hurdling history – where does Vazquez rank on the all-time list? What’s the school record? – but Syracuse doesn’t have a top-10 list or even a record book on its web site – maybe the only NCAA Division major program that gives you nothing in the way of historical perspective. When you click on “men’s records” on their web site, you get “The page you are looking for no longer exists.”

In any case, Smith and Lewis both have PRs of 8.00, Smith at the Armory and Lewis at Clemson, so Syracuse is very close to having three hurdlers from South Jersey under 8 seconds in the 60-meter highs.

I put together my own all-time Syracuse list going back as far as TFRR.org goes, which is 2010:

7.49 … Jarret Eaton, 2012
7.61 … Jaheem Hayes, 2023
7.65 … Freddie Crittenden, 2017
7.69 … Angelo Goss, 2018
7.74 … Matt Moore, 2018
7.75 … Donald Pollitt II, 2014
7.81 … Amadou Gueye, 2013
7.85 … Richard Floyd, 2018
7.86 … Tyler Garland, 2020
7.87 … David Gilstrap, 2017
7.91 … Anthony Vazquez, 2024
7.93 … Brevin Sims, 2021

Norfolk State freshman Premier Wynn from Pennsauken won the 200 with the fastest time in the MEAC this year Friday at the Marlin Invitational in Virginia Beach.

Wynn ran 21.43 and edged teammate Christopher Basking in a 1-2-3 finish of Norfolk State freshmen. Basking ran 21.85 and Vincent Bond was 3rd in 21.89.

Wynn’s time is fastest in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference so far this year.

Wynn had a PR of 21.55 in high school from his win at the state Group 4 meet at Franklin Township High last June. His indoor PR was 21.75 when he won the Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze this past March.

His time matches the fastest by a Norfolk State freshman indoors in 13 years, since James Taylor ran 21.08 in a meet in Blacksburg, Va., in 2011. Savien Hayes also ran 21.43 as a freshman in 2020.

Another meet, another PR for Noah Kriesman.

The Rutgers sophomore from Cherry Hill East cleared 16-3 ½ and placed 5th Saturday at the TRACK at New Balance Collegiate Showdown in Boston.

Kriesman had just PR’d at 16-2 ¾ last Sunday in a meet at the same facility. Before that he had a PR of 15-7 as a Rider freshman last winter at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships last February at the Armory.

Kriesman improved on his own No. 3 mark in South Jersey alumni history, behind Seneca’s Mike Maira [16-10 in 2014 in College Station, Texas] and current Rutgers teammate Nico Morales [16-9 ½ in April at the Penn Relays].

Although Rutgers hasn’t updated its all-time top-10 performance list, it looks like Kriesman’s 16-3 ½ is No. 7 in school history. Morales is No. 5 at 16-6 from December, but he hasn’t competed since.

At Cherry Hill East, Kriesman had indoor and outdoor PRs of 15-0, so he improved seven inches as a college freshman at Rider and has improved another 7 ¾ inches this year. Kriesman hasn’t competed outdoors since he was a senior at East.

Penn State freshman Ahmad Fogg from Egg Harbor Township High recorded a victory in his first collegiate meet Saturday.

Fogg jumped an indoor PR 23-6 ¾ to win the long jump at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational at the Athletics South Competition and Performance Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Fogg’s previous indoor PR was a 22-3 ½ last year as an EHT senior at Ocean Breeze. He jumped 24-4 ¼ outdoors at West Philly Nationals in June.

Fogg won the competition by three-quarters of an inch over Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin. He popped the 23-6 ¾ on his first attempt.

His 23-6 ¾ is the best jump by a Penn State freshman in seven years, since William Henderson jumped 23-11 on Feb. 2, 2018, in a meet at Penn State’s Ashenfelter Track in State College, Pa.

Ahmad Fogg EHT

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/530962/results/all

1st Simmons-Harvey Invitational, Athletics South Competition and Performance Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.

23-6 ¾

7.18 meters