Maya Drayton of Cherry Hill East opened her senior year at Georgetown with a win at the VMI Team Challenge in Lexington, Va.

Drayton easily won the 400-meter dash in 56.61, outracing the field by more than 1 ½ seconds. Freshman teammate Jadah Fitzgerald was second in 58.35.

That ranks her No. 17 in the early going in NCAA Division 1 and No. 1 in the Big East Conference, with DePaul’s Jade Pope from Pennsauken No. 2 at 57.35.

Drayton was a Big East medalist in the 400 this past spring in Storrs, Ct., with a 4th-place finish in a personal-best 54.46. Her indoor PR is 54.78 from her 3rd-place finish at Big East at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, in March 2000. She ranks No. 7 in Georgetown history in the 400 outdoors and No. 14 outdoors.

Drayton also teamed up with Fitzgerald, Renee Newton and Rebecca Ochan to win the 1,600-meter relay in 3:50.59.

Egg Harbor Township graduate Anthony Vazquez opened his junior year at Syracuse with a monster PR and a spot in the all-time Syracuse top-10.

Vazquez won the 60-meter high hurdles at the Greg Page 2022 Invitational at Ithaca’s historic Barton Hall in 7.95. His previous PR was an 8.01 at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg this past January.

Vazquez ran 8.03 to lead all qualifiers in the trials before recording his first sub-8.00 performance.

His time is No. 1 on the 2022-23 Puerto Rico performance list and No. 6 on the all-time Puerto Rico list.

It’s also No. 17 in the NCAA Division 1 so far this year and No. 2 in the ACC, behind Clemson senior Giano Roberts, who has run 7.80. Roberts placed 4th at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene this past  June in 13.45.

At Egg Harbor, Vazquez was the 2020 indoor Easterns champ in the 55-meter hurdles over the 39-inch barriers in 7.45 and the Meet of Champions winner in 7.31.

Is there an event Millville’s Bryanna Craig isn’t good at? We haven’t found one yet.

Craig, a two-time national champ in the heptathlon and pentathlon, is now a freshman at Purdue, and while she hasn’t participated in a collegiate multi-event yet, she showed just how much she’s improved her middle-distance fitness with a crazy 800 performance over the weekend.

After winning the high jump at 5-7 ¼ on Friday, Craig ran an eye-opening 2:14.27 to win the 800 at the Edmonds-Wilt Invitational at Purdue’s Lambert Fieldhouse in West Lafayette, Ind.

This isn’t just impressive, it’s important in terms of multi-events, since the 800 is the closing event of the women’s multis – the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon.

Craig’s previous PR at 800 meters was 2:18.06 finishing off her win at the Ocean Breeze Nationals in Staten Island, N.Y., in March. Craig was competing for Ruston (La.) High School after spending her first two years at Millville.

In pentathlon scoring, the difference between 2:14.27 and 2:18.06 is 53 points (903 vs. 850), which could be critical in big meets.

Craig’s 800 time is fast enough to rank her third among freshmen in NCAA Division 1 in the early going, behind Macey Hilton of SMU [2:10.49] and Jacey Farmer of BYU [2:11.02].

Purdue freshman Jessica Lyons from Allentown High in Monmouth County was second in 2:16.02.

Craig was out in 30.30 for her first lap and then ran 34.16, 35.78 and 34.04 splits for 64.46 and 69.82.

Craig’s pentathlon PR is her 3,780 at Ocean Breeze, No. 6 in scholastic history. Her heptathlon PR is 5,388 from the USATF Under-20 Championships in Eugene in June.

Craig has PRs of 25.29 in the 200, 58.14 in the 400, 2:14.27 in the 800, 8.31 in the 55 hurdles, 9.01 in the 60 hurdles, 5-8 in the high jump, 18—0 in the long jump and 30-10 ½ in the shot put indoors and 25.11 in the 200, 2:19.42 in the 800, 14.08 in the 100 highs, 5-9 in the high jump, 18-8 in the long jump, 34-7 in the shot put and 118-6 in the javelin outdoors.

Tionna Tobias opened her indoor season over the weekend with a long jump PR in Iowa City.

Tobias, an Iowa junior from Winslow Township, jumped 20-1 ¾ to win the Jimmy Grant Invitational at Iowa’s Rec Center.

Her previous PR was 20-1 ½ from the Larry Wieczorek Invitational at the same facility this past January. Her outdoor PR is 19-11 from the Big Ten Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., in March of 2021.

After opening with an 18-9 ½, Tobias soared past 19-9 on her next three jumps – 19-9 ¼, 19-9 and 19-9 ¾ – before a foul on her 5th attempt. She saved her best for last, hitting 20-1 ¾ on her final attempt.

She won by over a foot over Aliyah Adams of Western Illinois, who jumped 18-9. So Tobias had the five-best jumps of the competition.

Tobias’s mark is No. 3 in Iowa history, behind only Jahisha Thomas (21-0 ¾ in 2018) and Zinnia Miller (20-4 ¼ in 2014).

It’s also No. 5 in NCAA Division 1 so far this year and No. 1 in the Big Ten Conference.

It’s also No. 5 among U.S. women and No. 9 in the world in the very early stages of the indoor season.

Tobias also ran a near-PR 8.44 to place 3rd in the 60-meter hurdles behind teammates Myreanna Bebe [8.29] and Paige Magee [8.33]. Tobias’s PR is 8.40 from the pentathlon at the Big Ten Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, this past February. That’s No. 8 in school history.

Eastern graduate Jailya Ash, now a sophomore at Connecticut, opened her season over the weekend with a PR in the 60-meter hurdles and a near-miss at the school record.

Ash won the 60 highs at the Joe Donahue Games Opener at The Track at New Balance in Boston in 8.31, winning easily over teammate Felicia Quainico, who ran 8.73.

Her previous PR was 8.54 from the Rutgers Open in February at the Armory. She actually lowered it to 8.52 in the trials.

The only faster time on record by a Uconn woman belongs to Phylicia George, who ran 8.24 in the prelims at the 2010 NCAA Championships at Randall Tyson Track at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She missed qualifying for the final by 2-100ths of a second.

Ash’s time is No. 7 in NCAA Division 1 after two weeks of the indoor season and has her ranked No. 5 among U.S. women, 1-100th of a second behind Rancocas Valley graduate Jasmine Staten of Holy Family College in Philadelphia, who according to World Athletics ran 8.30 in the trials at the Fastrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze on Dec. 2, although the meet results show an 8.36 and the Track and Field Results Reporting System doesn’t even list any times from the prelims, perhaps because of a timing irregularity.

UConn hasn’t updated the school records on its web site since 2015, but last year I took a couple hours and put together an all-time Huskies hurdles top 10, and here’s what that looks like now.

All-Time UConn 60-meter hurdles list
8.24 … Phylicia George, 2010
8.31 … Jailya Ash, 2023
8.33 … April Garner, 2005
8.45 … Madalayne Smith, 2012
8.55 … Chantal Scott, 2014
8.61 … Shavon Briscoe, 2012
8.61 … Tia Strackman, 2018
8.62 … Ashley Wiggins, 2017
8.63 … Toni-Ann Moore, 2015
8.67 … Gillian Flemmings, 2002

It took one jump for Greg Foster to move into 4th place on the all-time Princeton University long jump list.

Foster, a Lumberton native and Lawrenceville School graduate, began his collegiate jumping career with a 25-2 jump Saturday at the Joe Handelman Invitational at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

That was his only legal jump. He fouled twice, then passed on his last three attempts, but still won the event by more than four feet over Jadon Ra-Akbar of Morgan State, who was 2nd in 21-0 ¾.

Foster’s jump is 2nd-best by a Princeton athlete indoors in the last quarter century. Aviram Shwarzbard jumped 25-6 ¼ at Heps in February at the 168th Street Armory.

Foster’s jump was only 2 ½ inches shy of his indoor PR of 25-4 ½, which he jumped in his last indoor meet – when he won the Nike Indoor Nationals at Ocean Breeze in March. His lifetime best is 25-6 ¼ when he won New Balance Outdoor Nationals in June at Franklin Field.

Last weekend, in his first career college meet, Foster won the 60-meter hurdles at The College of New Jersey Opener at the Armory in 8.06, No. 9 in Princeton history.

Through two weekends, Foster is ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division 1 in the long jump and No. 1 among freshmen. He’s 29th in the hurdles and No. 6 among freshmen.

Here’s a look at the top 10 indoor long jumpers in Princeton history:

26-3 … Al Dyer [1990]
25-6 ¼ … Aviram Shwarzbard [2022]
25-5 ½ … Ugwunna Ikpeowo [1996]
25-2 … Greg Foster [2022]
25-1 ¾ … Tom Hopkins [2014 ]
25-0 ½ … Vince Smith [1990]
24-9 ¼ … Damon McLean [2013]
24-9 ¼ … Joe Sinisi [1988]
24-9 … Dwaine Banton [2005]
24-8 ½ … Bob Igoe [1985]
24-8 ½ … Jay Diamond [1986]

Former Millville star Bryanna Craig, who recorded the 11th-highest scholastic heptathlon score in history last spring, won the high jump Saturday in her college debut for Purdue.

Craig, a freshman at Purdue, where her dad Raffael is an assistant coach, cleared 5-7 ¼ on her first attempt before missing three tries at 5-9 ¼ at the Edmons-Wilt Invitational at Lambert Fieldhouse in West Lafayette, Ind.

Craig passed at 4-9, 4-11 and 5-1, cleared 5-3 on her first try, passed 5-5, and then cleared 5-6 and 5-7 ¼ on her first attempts.

Craig’s overall PR is 5-10 from the Little Caesars Chief Relays at West Ouachita High School in West Monroe, La., in April. Her indoor PR is 5-9 ¾ at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier this past February at LSU Fieldhouse in Baton Rouge, La.

She’s scheduled to race in the 60-meter hurdles later Saturday.

Craig was born and raised in Millville and led Millville High School’s track team to the 2019 state Group 4 championship. She won the national scholastic heptathlon as a Millville freshman and set the national freshman record. She graduated from Ruston (La.) High School this past spring.

Kylie Anicic, racing off her XC peak, shattered the Edinboro school record in the 5,000 Friday at the Grand Valley State Universitry Holiday Open at State-Laker Fieldhouse in Allendale, Mich.

Anicic, a Kingsway graduate, ran 16:26.23, finishing 12 meters behind Western Michigan’s Makayla Perez, who ran 16:23.94. Perez, a Michigan transfer, has run as fast as 16:01.57 outdoors.

Anicic’s time is No. 1 in NCAA Division 2 so far this indoor season and a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division 2 Championships in Virginia Beach in March.

Just seven days earlier, Anicic earned All-America honors with a 31st-place finish in the NCAA Division 2 cross country championships at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Wash., where she ran 21:14 for 6,000 meters.

Anicic’s previous 5,000 best was 16:39.84 when she won the Mountaineer Twilight in Morgantown, W. Va. Her indoor 5,000 PR was 16:47.87 at a home meet in Edinboro’s Zafirovski Rec Center in February.

Anicic broke the school record of 16:44.22 set by Rachael Lanzel when she won the 2009 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at East Stroudsburg.

Paul VI grad Aliya Garozzo blasted a hot 600 to open her sophomore year at Penn Friday at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island.

Garozzo, who dipped under a minute in the 400-meter intermediates as a Penn freshman, ran 1:32.49 Friday to win the three-lap event at the Seahawk Shootout.

It was the first lifetime 600 for Garozzo, who ran 1:13.98 for 500 meters last winter and lowered her 400 PR to 56.31 last spring.

Garozzo led a Penn sweep of the first five places in the race. Sophomore Isabella Whitaker was second in 1:32.64

Garozzo ran 59.76 to place second in the 400IH the Ivy League Championships in New Haven in May.

Here’s a new one: The Penn women’s track “history and record” book doesn’t include school records! https://s3.amazonaws.com/penn.sidearmsports.com/documents/2020/3/25/Women_s_Track_Field_Fact_Book.pdf

Garozzo’s bio page on Penn’s web site hasn’t been updated in two years, and the Penn women’s track page hasn’t been updated since May.

 

Quite collegiate debut for Stockton freshman Connor Wright of Hammonton, who popped four lifetime bests on his way to winning the long jump at the College of New Jersey Indoor Open at the Armory over the weekend.

Wright had a huge series, opening with a 22-3 ¼, then hitting 22-9, 22-10 and 22-9 again with a couple fouls mixed in there as well. Wright averaged 22-7 ¾ on his four legal jumps.

He finished just ahead of Princeton’s Illay Furman, who jumped 22-7 ¾ on his final attempt of the competition.

At Hammonton, Wright had a PR of 22-2 ¼ outdoors at the Eagle Relays this past April at Central Regional in Bayville. His indoor PR was 22-0 ½ from the Meet of Champions in March at the Bubble in Toms River, where he placed 5th.

So his average jump on four attempts Saturday was 5 ½ inches beyond his PR coming into the meet.

Wright ranks No. 8 in NCAA Division 3 one weekend into the 2022-23 season, and his jump is best so far by a NJAC athlete.

It’s also the best mark by a Stockton jumper since nine-time All-America and two-time NCAA Division 3 triple jumper Jared Lewis went 23-7 ¼ at a meet in 2018 at Shippensburg.

Stockton’s long jump record of 24-8 ½ was set in 1988 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., as part of a horizontal jumps double by Shawnee graduate Greg Foster, whose son Greg won the 60-meter hurdles at the same meet Saturday in his first race for Princeton.