It didn’t take long for the Timber Creek girls to make some noise at Cherokee Saturday morning.

In the first varsity event of the Fast Times at Cherokee High meet, Ryan Jennings, Nyla Jones, Chloe Jones and Naylah Jones won the 400-meter relay in 47.53, the 14th-fastest time in South Jersey history.

Timber Creek, which already had a state-leading 48.96 from last weekend’s Spartan Relays at Deptford, becomes the fastest South Jersey school since Eastern ran 47.36 at the 2019 Meet of Champions. It’s the fastest any South Jersey school has run this early since Winslow’s 47.44 at Woodbury in 2017.

The previous school record at Timber Creek was 48.66 from the 2017 Group 3 meet at Northern Burlington with Janiyah Davis-Hines, Adia Starnes, Tierra Hooker and Kai Starnes.

Much more to come today from Timber Creek and everybody else at Cherokee today. Hopefully the weather holds up and the fast times keep coming.

All-Time South Jersey 400-Meter Relay List
46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.06 … Winslow Twp., 2014
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.19 … Winslow Twp., 2018
47.25 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
47.27 … Delsea, 2017
47.36 … Eastern, 2019
47.40 … Winslow Twp., 2016
47.3h … Willingboro, 1981
47.45 … Willingboro, 1994
47.49 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
47.53 … Millville, 2019
47.53 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
47.53 … Timber Creek, 2023
47.54 … Winslow Twp., 2003
47.54 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
47.4h … Camden,, 1978
47.4y … Camden, 1979
47.75 … Eastern, 2002
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2005
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2012
47.79 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2021
47.82 … Moorestown, 2000
47.85 … Deptford, 2015
47.87 … Winslow Twp., 2011
47.9h … Willingboro, 1995
47.8h … Willingboro, 2003
47.94 … Camden, 2000
47.98 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2019

Egg Harbor’s Isabella Leak ran a massive 5,000 PR Friday evening at Princeton and moved into the all-time Monmouth top-10.

Leak, a junior at Monmouth, placed 5th in the 5,000 at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton’s Weaver Stadium in 17:32.96.

That’s No. 8 in Monmouth history and fastest by a South Jersey woman at Monmouth since Katina Alexander from Pleasantville ran 17:29.23 at the 2006 Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.

Leak’s 5,000 PR was an 18:36.13 in a race in March of last year on her home track in West Long Branch. She hadn’t run one since. This was only her third lifetime track 5,000.

Leak finished just behind sophomore teammate Marisa Kilgarriff, who ran 17:29.14. Leak closed in 78.24 and nearly caught Kilgarriff, a Council Rock South graduate and Coastal Carolina transfer who’s No. 7 in Monmouth history with her 17:22.70 from a meet in Fairfax, Va., last weekend.

Delsea grad Noah Deckert, a junior at St. Joe’s, notched a huge 1,500 PR Friday night at Princeton’s Larry Ellis Invitational.

Deckert ran 3:50.29, equivalent of a 4:08.71 full mile. His previous PR was 3:55.81 – in his last race – at the Colonial Relays two weeks ago in Williamsburg, Va. Before that his PR was 4:05.57 from a meet last year at Temple.

So Deckert has lowered his 1,500 lifetime-best more than 15 seconds in the last two weeks. Deckert has a 4:15.03 full mile PR from last year’s Larry Ellis Invitational, so he’s lowered his mile equivalent more than six seconds in two weeks.

Deckert ran 45.00 for the first 300 and then ran his 400s in 63.11, 62.28 and 59.92. So he closed in 2:02.20 for his final 800.

Cherokee graduate Nico Grilli, a Monmouth freshman, PR’d at 3:58.09, the equivalent of a 4:17.14 mile. His previous 1,500 PR was 4:01.22.

Rowan’s Jacob Riley, who ran scholastically for North Warren, ran 3:56.56, a 4:15.48 equivalent.

Isabelle Deal, an Ursinus junior from Washington Township, shattered her own school record in the javelin Friday at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton.

Deal placed 3rd with a throw of 148-6, breaking her own Ursinus record of 144-10, which she threw at last year’s Larry Ellis Invite at the same facility.

Deal opened with a 133-7 before hitting 148-6 on her second throw. She finished with four more throws of at least 132 feet in a very consistent series – 135-6, 139-8, 132-3 and 136-10. She averaged 137-8 on her six throws.

According to the latest NCAA Division 3 performance list, Deal’s throw is No. 3 nationally behind Ava Nelson of Pacific Lutheran of Tacoma, Wash. (151-10 last month in a meet in Tacoma) and Chrissy Strickland of George Fox in Newberg, Ore. (151-0 last month in a meet in Newberg).

Deal’s previous best throw this year was a 134-2 last weekend in a meet at West Chester University’s Farrell Stadium, which is in both Westtown Township and East Bradford Township (but not in West Chester at all).

Washington Township graduate Jayden Greene, a junior at St. Joe’s, blew away his PR Friday afternoon with the fastest time by a St. Joe’s Hawk in eight years.

Greene ran 1:50.79 at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton’s Weaver Stadium. He placed 10th overall but was 3rd in his section. Villanova’s Sean Dolan was the overall winner in 1:47.33, and Monmouth’s Louis DiLaurenzio won the second section ahead of Greene in 1:50.05.

Greene was out in 56.69 but came back in 54.10, those big negative splits showing he’s ready to run significantly faster.

Unfortunately, St. Joe’s is one of the few Division 1 schools we’ve come across that doesn’t have an all-time top-10 on its web site, so no way to tell where Green’s time ranks in school history.

But from the year-by-year performance lists on DirectAthletics.com, we can determine it’s fastest by any Hawks runner in eight years. In May of 2015, Matt McGarvey ran 1:49.75 in a meet at Swarthmore.

Greene’s previous PR was a 1:51.05 at indoor IC4A’s last month in Boston. His outdoor PR was a 1:53.76 last month at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va. His high school outdoor PR was 1:55.41 at 2019 states at Franklin High School. He ran slightly faster indoors – 1:55.19 at the 2020 Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.

Kingsway graduate Thomas Cooke competing post-collegiately ran 1:52.19, Sean Burtnett of Burlington Township and The College of New Jersey 1:53.28 Monmouth’s Ian Moore from Rancocas Valley 1:53.81 and Delsea grad Michael Szwed, a post-grad at St. Joe’s ran 1:53.98.

Cooke, who competed briefly for Felician College in Lodi, N.J., in 2013 and 2014, doesn’t appear to have run an 800 in 11 years – since PR’ing at 1:54.53 at the 2012 state Group 3 championships in South Plainfield. He’s run 4:01.08 for a full mile.

Pitman’s Emily Galvin extended her own Rowan hammer throw record Saturday with a 183-7 as part of a monster series at the Oscar Moore Invitational in Glassboro.

Galvin, only in her 3rd year throwing the hammer, uncorked the five-best throws in Rowan history.

Galvin, a grad student who graduated from Villanova, has competed in the hammer in three meets so far this spring and broken the school record in all three.

The previous school record 164-11 set by Makayla Taylor last May in a meet at Moravian College in Bethlehem.

Galvin broke Taylor’s record in her first outdoor meet for Rowan, throwing 171-2 in mid-March in a meet in Lexington, Va., then she broke that with a 171-8 two weeks ago in Chester, Pa. She added nearly 12 feet to her own record Saturday with her 183-7.

Galvin had four legal throws over 180 feet and a fifth that was very close.

She opend with a foul, then hit 180-1, 181-4 and 183-6 on her next three throws, so she technically broke the school record three times in a row. She added a 180-3 and 178-11 on her last two throws.

Galvin averaged 180-10 on her five legal throws, so her average throw was more than nine feet beyond her previous school record.

Her 183-7 is No. 3 in NCAA Division 3 this year, behind only Kaitlyn Wilder of Dubuque (Iowa), who threw 193-6 in a meet at her home track, and Skye Digman of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who threw 187-8 at a meet at her home facility.

Galvin’s PR is 185-3 from her final meet as a Villanova Wildcat, when she placed 3rd at the 2022 Big East Championships in May in Storrs, Conn.

That’s No. 2 in Villanova history, behind Sade Meeks, who threw 195-5 at the same Big East meet last spring as a senior.

Galvin’s first lifetime hammer throw competition was the 2021 Villanova Opener on March 19, 2021, so she just passed her second anniversary as a hammer thrower.

Galvin had PRs of 31-6 ½ in the shot and 110-5 in the javelin at Pitman. She won the 2017 South Jersey Group 1 javelin title at Egg Harbor, but with her hammer success she hasn’t thrown the javelin since early in the 2021 season.

This past January, Galvin broke the Rowan school record in the 20-pound weight throw with a 55-3 ¾ in a meet at Ocean Breeze.

Galvin is not the only woman from Gloucester County ranked in the top-5 in NCAA Division 3 in the hammer throw.

Emily Hilt, a Kingsway graduate and a senior at Rutgers-Camden, ranks 5th with her PR 178-3 this past weekend at the Osprey Open in Galloway Township.

In their only head-to-head competition, Hilt edged Galvin at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University in Chester two weeks ago, Hilt with a 178-1 and Galvin with her then-school record 171-8.

Rowan and Rutgers-Camden are both scheduled to compete at the Widener Invitational back in Chester April 21-22 and Galvin and Hilt are both expected to throw at the Penn Relays. The women’s hammer is scheduled for Day 1 at Penn, which is Thursday, April 27.

Galvin and Hilt will meet again at the NJAC Championships in Mahwah May 6-7 and both have a very good chance of qualifying for the NCAA Division 3 Championships scheduled for May 25-27 at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, N.Y.

Greg Poloso and Edgar Rosa moved into the top two positions on the NCAA Division 3 javelin list Saturday at Rowan’s own Oscar Moore Invitational in Glassboro.

Poloso, from Wayne Valley, threw 225-9, and Rosa, a Paulsboro graduate, threw a personal-best 213-2.

Poloso was just short of his PR and school record of 230-11, which he threw at a meet last year at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. That makes him the No. 8 performer in NCAA Division 3 history, and it’s the No. 2 throw in Rowan history.

(Rowan’s Mike Juskus, a baseball player at Hopatcong High School, set the D-3 record of 273-3 with the old javelin at the 1981 NCAA Division 1 Championships at LSU. Back then, the Division 3 winners were allowed into the D-1 Championships.)

The NCAA Division 3 record of 247-11 was set by Deptford graduate Tim VanLiewcompeting for Rutgers-Camden at the 2013 Division 3 Championships in La Crosse, Wisc.

Rosa’s 213-2 surpassed his PR of 212-11, which he threw in a meet last April at Stockton University in Galloway Township.

Poloso and Rosa rank 26th and 46th among U.S. men according to the current World Athletics U.S. javelin list.

Two other Rowan javelin throwers, freshman Kevin Armstrong from Walkill Valley and junior Julio Lebron, also rank among the top 20 in Division 3.

Armstrong is 14th with his 187-10 from his first collegiate meet – the Washington & Lee Carnival in Lexington, Va., last month.

Lebron, a decathlete from Memorial of West New York in Union County, ranks 17th in D-3 with his 186-10 in Lexington. He PR’d at 194-1 in a meet in Orlando as a freshman.

Sixteen South Jersey high school athletes have been accepted into the individual events at the 127th running of the Penn Relays later this month at Franklin Field.

Eight boys and eight girls are among the leading performers among all entrants at the cutoff on Sunday. The relay fields will be announced next week.

Athletes must qualify this year indoors or outdoors except in events that aren’t contested indoors – the javelin and the discus. Marks from last spring can be used for those throws.

And, sadly, for the second straight year there are no 400-meter hurdles for high school athletes.

Five South Jersey athletes – all girls – will be competing at Penn for a second straight year: Williamstown’s Ciara Demarest, Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon, Millville’s Leah Howard, Hammonton’s Emma Peretti and Clayton’s Alanna Woolfolk,

The Penn Relays is always held the final Saturday of April and the two days preceding it. That’s April 27-29 this year.

The boys discus, shot put, long jump, high jump and javelin are scheduled for Thursday morning, the boys pole vault and triple jump Thursday afternoon, with the girls discus, shot put, high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and javelin Friday morning.

Here’s a look at South Jersey’s 16 individuals:

BOYS
Devon Brooks, Senior, Rancocas Valley, Discus: Brooks PR’d with a school-record 167-11 at the Spartan Relays at Deptford Saturday after surpassing 160 feet for the first time a few days earlier at CBA with a 163-5.

Isaiah Davenport, Senior, Pleasantville, High Jump: Davenport cleared 6-6 twice indoors, both times at the Bubble. He cleared 6-4 in poor conditions Saturday at Deptford in his outdoor opener.

Malicah Etienne, Senior, Cinnaminson, Discus: Etienne bombed a 174-5 at his season-opener in Lincroft, the No. 2 throw in Burlington County history behind another Cinnaminson thrower, Kamron Kobolak, who threw 185-6 when he won the 2018 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.

Jashad Kersey, Senior, Eastern, Triple Jump: Kersey hit 45-11 twice indoors – at the Bubble in February and then when he won Easterns in March at the Armory. That’s No. 10 in South Jersey indoor history.

Greg Masso, Junior, Delsea, Shot Put: Masso PR’d with a 54-8 at Cherokee back in January, and he threw an outdoor PR of 53-10 ½ this past Saturday at Deptford.

Ryan Merlino, Junior, Oakcrest, Pole Vault: Merlino PR’d with a 14-9 at Boston Nationals indoors. That broke a 32-year-old Atlantic County record and moved him up to No. 11 in South Jersey history.

Derrick Robinson, Junior, Cinnaminson, High Jump: The versatile Robinson cleared a PR 6-6 at one of the SJTCA meets at the Bubble over the winter.

Peyton Shute, Junior, Woodbury, 3,000: Shute qualified with a solo 9:14.51 at the state Group 1 meet, No. 3 in Gloucester County history and No. 16 on the all-time South Jersey list.

GIRLS
Sophia Curtis, Junior, Ocean City, Triple Jump: In her first season after transferring from Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del., Curtis set Atlantic County indoor records in the 400 (57.99), 55 hurdles (8.33) and triple jump (41-3 ¼). That 41-3 ¼ is a South Jersey record and No. 2 in state history.

Ciara Demarest, Senior, Williamstown, Discus: Demarest threw 42-11 ¼ in the shot indoors, but elected to throw the discus at Penn after a 138-3 last May in a meet at Delsea. That’s No. 8 in Gloucester County history. Demarest qualified for the shot last year and placed 16th with a 34-8.

Zoe Goldberg, Junior, Eastern, Javelin: Goldberg bombed a 136-7 at last year’s West Deptford Relays, No. 3 in Camden County history.

Liliah Gordon, Sophomore, Northern Burlington, 3,000: Gordon ran 10:38.20 for 5th at the indoor Meet of Champions, No. 6 in South Jersey history indoors (and No. 18 in state history). She went on to run 17:26.55 for 5,000 meters at New York Nationals, 14th-fastest in state history.

Leah Howard, Senior, Millville, Javelin: Howard threw 148-2 to win states last year – that’s No. 15 in state history and No. 6 in South Jersey history – and opened this season with a 146-2 at Deptford. Howard was 8th at Penn last year with a 126-7.

Emma Peretti, Senior, Hammonton, Discus: Peretti returns to Franklin Field – or more accurately the fields across the railroad tracks – where she had the meet of her life last year. Peretti placed 8th at Penn last year. She had throws of 122-6, 123-11, 124-3 and 128-11, moving into the No. 5 spot on the all-time Atlantic County list.

Chanel Swain, sophomore, Willingboro, Shot Put: Swain was the No. 2 sophomore in the state indoors with her 40-2 at the Bubble in February. That made her Willingboro’s first 40-footer in 26 years, since Nicole Scott threw 41-0 in 1997.

Alanna Woolfolk, Junior, Clayton, High Jump: Woolfolk cleared 5-8 to win Easterns at the Armory in March, equalling the No. 2 mark in South Jersey history. This will be Woolfolk’s second straight trip to Penn. She placed 4th last year with a 5-3 ¼ clearance.

With four runners from South Jersey, Rowan’s 400-meter relay team is one of the fastest in NCAA Division 3 and is closing in on a 20-year-old school record.

Sophomore Shamar Love of Bridgeton, freshman Evan Corcoran of Kingsway, sophomore Jah’mere Beasley of Sterling and freshman Masai Byrd of Rancocas Valley ran 41.14 at the recent Danny Curren Invitational at Widener University in Chester, finishing 2nd to a post-graduate club team that ran 41.04.

Rowan backed that up with a 41.35 at its own Oscar Moore Invitational in Glassboro this past weekend with the same lineup in cold, windy conditions. Princeton won that race in 40.56, with Lumberton’s Greg Foster leading off.

Rowan’s 41.14 is No. 6 in NCAA Division 3 so far this year but only 23-100ths of a second off No. 1 University of Redlands (Calif.), which ran 40.91 this past weekend at a meet in Claremont, Calif.

Also in the top 5 are Greenville (Ill.) with 41.01; Ohio Northern of Ada, Ohio (41.05); and Claremont-Mudds-Scripps of Claremont, Calif. (41.08).

Rowan’s school record of 40.82 was set in 2003 by a team including Ed Fortune from Queens, N.Y., Millville’s Matt Davis, Highland’s Jorge Santiago and Camden’s Tyree Jackson, when the Profs placed 3rd at the NCAA Division 3 meet at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.

Interestingly, Love has run on a faster 4-by-1 than Rowan’s school record. He anchored Westminster College’s 40.80 in the prelims at NCAA Division 3 nationals last spring in Geneva, Ohio. Westminster, from New Wilmington, Pa., just across the Ohio border from Youngstown. Westminster went on to place 7th in the final, earning Love All-America honors.

The Profs are scheduled to race this weekend at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton

Sterling graduate Nia Holloway smashed New Jersey Institute of Technology school record in the 100-meter dash at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.

Holloway ran 12.26 with a legal tailwind of 0.5 to break her own school record of 12.28, which she set with a 5th-place finish at last year’s America East Championships in Burlington, Vt.

Holloway’s high school PR was 12.46 at the 2019 South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Delsea.

Holloway shares the school record in the long jump with a 17-9 ½ in a meet last April at Rider. Freshman Maria Owens tied it this past weekend at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships at Icahn Stadium in New York. Holloway jumped 17-3 ½ on Saturday. Holloway is also the school record holder indoors at 60 meters with a 7.88 from a meet this past December at Ocean Breeze.

Holloway’s father, Jamal, ran for Delran and was the BCSL Liberty Division champ at 100 meters in 1992 and 1993.

Another South Jersey woman at NJIT also broke a school record over the weekend. Rancocas Valley’s freshman Sanai Jenkins of Rancocas Valley ran 1:05.33 to break her own school record in the 400-meter hurdles. She had run 1:05.91 last weekend. Before that, the school record was 1:05.99, set by Patricia Roche in 2017.

Holloway was joined Saturday by Rancocas Valley’s Sydne Nance, a grad student, junior Lillian Williams of Columbia and freshman Amiyah Stephens of Atlantic County Tech on NJIT’s 400-meter relay team, which set a school record of 48.40. The previous mark was a 48.87 from a meet last year at Princeton (with Holloway, Nance, Williams and Jadyn Otto in the lineup).

Nance has an amazing and impressive backstory, which you can read about here: