Georgetown’s Maya Drayton from Cherry Hill East won her first Big East title Saturday, running away from the field in the 400-meter dash.

Drayton, a Hoya junior, won the race in 54.44, finishing a whopping six meters ahead of 2nd-place Tatyana McKenzie of St. John’s, who was 2nd in 55.14 at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Indoor Track and Field Center in Chicago.

Drayton’s previous best was an outdoor 54.46 last spring at the outdoor Big East Championships in Storrs, where she placed 5th. Her previous indoor PR was a 54.78 at the 2020 Big East meet at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, where she placed 3rd.

The Georgetown women’s “media guide” on its web site hasn’t been updated in 13 years, but by taking the top indoor 400 times through 2009 and then updating through conference performance lists since then I’ve come up with my own version of an all-time Georgetown women’s indoor 400 list:

53.14 … Steffanie Smith, 1993
53.64 … Abigail Johnson, 2010
53.78 … Sasha Spencer, 2001
54.13 … Monica Hargrove, 2004
54.28 … Carron Allen, 2000
54.37 … Nickey Penado, 2001
54.44 … Maya Drayton, 2020
54.79 … Bridget Johnson, 1996
54.91 … Jennifer Bell, 1987

Eastern grad Jailya Ash, a sophomore at UConn, won her first Big East hurdles title Saturday, outracing the field in the 60-meter hurdles final in Chicago.

Ash ran 8.35, finishing a step ahead of Villanova’s Jane Livingston, who was 2nd in 8.40. She was only 4-100ths of a second off her lifetime-best of 8.31, which she ran at a meet in December in Boston.

Livingston led all qualifiers with an 8.40 in Friday’s trials, with Ash just behind in 8.42. They lined up next to each other in the final, with Livingston in Lane 4 and Ash to her right in Lane 5, and it was a two-person race, with nobody else under 8.50.

The win was particularly sweet for Ash coming a year after she failed to finish the race in the hurdles prelims in last year’s Big East meet and then finishing 11-100ths of a second behind Livingston last spring in the Big East outdoor meet in Storrs with her PR 13.58.

UConn hasn’t bothered updating the women’s track and field records section on its web site since 2015, but Ash races 2nd in school history with her 8.31 behind only Phylicia George, who ran 8.24 in the prelims of the 2010 NCAA Championships at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Willingboro grad Kenady Wilson won her 3rd conference title in the high jump Friday at the Colonial Athletic Conference meet in Virginia Beach.

Wilson, a senior at North Carolina A&T, cleared 5-5 ¾ on her third attempt to secure the win and then cleared 5-7 on her first attempt before shutting down on a high note.

Wilson won the Big South Conference meet in Winston-Salem, N.C., last winter with a clearance of 5-9¾, and she won the MEAC Outdoor Championships in May of 2021 with a 5-10 ½. I don’t know why North Carolina AT&T has been in three different conferences in the span of 21 months, but the main thing is Wilson keeps racking up conference titles.

Wilson set her PR of 6-0 ¾ last spring at the Aggie Classic in Greensboro, N.C.

North Carolina A&T does not list any school records on its web site.

Rancocas Valley’s Kristina Tossas, the No. 11 seed going in, PR’d by more than a foot to win the Big Ten long jump title Friday evening.

Tossas, a Rutgers junior, entered the meet with a lifetime-best of 19-7 ½ from a meet last month at Clemson. But she popped a 20-9 ¼ on her first attempt and that stood up as the winning jump at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

That’s the No. 3 jump in Rutgers history and best since Williamstown’s Gabrielle Farquharson went 20-10 ¼ at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, also in Geneva. Oakcreset’s Shameka Marshall set the school record of 21-10 ¼ at the 2006 NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., so the top three long jumpers in Rutgers history are all from South Jersey.

After her 20-9 ¼, Tossas fouled and jumped 18-0 ¼ before a 20-2 ¼ on her first jump of the finals and after a 17-6 she closed with a 19-11 ½. She finished with the three-best jumps of her life.

Winslow’s Tionna Tobias jumped 20-0 ½ on her third attempt and it looked like a 1-2 South Jersey finish until Indiana’s Paola Fernandez-Sola jumped 20-6 ½ on her final attempt to take second. Still, that’s two 3rd-place finishes for Tobias, who also finished 3rd in the pentathlon.

Tossas’ 20-9 ¼ is No. 17 among U.S. women, pending other results Friday, and is the best jump by a Burlington County high school graduate since Carol Lewis went 23-1 in 1985. It’s No. 7 on the all-time South Jersey alumni list and best since Winslow’s Cidae’a Woods went 21-0 at the 2017 SEC Championships in Columbia, S.C.

Tossas, a 2020 R.V. graduate, had a high school-best of 18-7 ¾ at the 2019 outdoor state meet at Franklin High. Oddly, she was also the No. 11 seed that spring when she won the state Group 4 title.

Millville’s Bryanna Craig, a freshman at Purdue, and Winslow’s Tionna Tobias, a junior at Iowa, finished 2nd and 3rd in the pentathlon Friday at the Big Ten Championships with both South Jersey athletes posting lifetime bests in the one-day, five-event challenge.

https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=5438

Craig took 2nd with 4,046 points, and Tobias was 3rd with 3,997 points. Indiana senior Hope Purcell won the event with 4,109 points.

Craig’s previous PR was 3,968 points at a meet last month in Louisville, and Tobias’s was 3,919 at a meet last month in Fayetteville.

Craig ran 8.79 in the hurdles for 954 points, cleared 5-8 in the high jump for 891 points, threw the shot put a lifetime-best 34- for 560 points, long jumped for 750 points and closed with a 2:15.09 for 891 points. She had the second-best performance in the field in the high jump and third-best in the 800.

Tobias ran 8.49 in the hurdles for 1,019 points, high jumped 5-4 ½ for 783 points, threw the shot 33-8 ¾ for 548 points, long jumped 19-5 ¼ for 825 points and ran an 800 PR of 2:20 for 822 points. She had the top performances in the hurdles and long jump.

Craig’s 4,046 is No. 4 in Purdue history and the highest score by a Boilermaker in 25 years – since Beth Reid scored 4,074 points at the 1997 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City. It’s also No. 26 in NCAA Division 1 and No. 2 among freshmen. Tobias’s score is No. 33 in Division 1.

Click to access Indoor_Top_10s.pdf

Tobias’s 3,997 is No. 3 in Iowa history, behind only Jenny Kimbro (4,269 in 2020) and Tria Simmons (4,200 in 2019).

Click to access 2830ea6a-top-10-performers-womens.pdf

Egg Harbor graduate Ahmad Brock an Collingswood’s Keven Kevelier, both sophomores at Monmouth, won conference titles Thursday in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

Brock jumped 47-0 ¼ and won the triple jump by nine inches over Jordan Spencer of Northeastern. Kevelier placed 3rd with a 45-8 ½ jump, and Eastern’s A.J. Brooks, a freshman at Monmouth, was 6th with a PR 43-6 ½.

Brock had four jumps of at least 46-6, including the winning 47-0 ¼ on his third attempt. His PR is 47-6 ½ from the Villanova Invitational last month at Ocean Breeze. The conference title was his first.

Kevelier has an indoor PR of 46-6 ¾, also from the Villanova Invite. He hit his outdoor PR of 47-7 ¼ last May at the Metro Atlantic Championships in Lawrenceville. Monmouth moved from the MAC to the CAA this year.

Brooks was triple jumping indoors for the first time in his life, it looks like. He focused on the hurdles in high school but did go 44-5 ¾ this past June at Group 4 sectionals at Washington Township.

Kevelier picked up his second conference title in the high jump with a 6-6 ¾ clearance on his first attempt. He and runner-up Rickie Casazza, a Monmouth senior, both cleared 6-4 ¾ and 6-6 ¾ on their first attempts and missed all three tries at 6-8 ¼. Kevelier got the win because he made 6-2 ¾ on his first attempt and Casazza cleared it on his second try. Kevelier won the MAC high jump last winter at 6-8 ¾.

The official results don’t show final team scoring.

Cherry Hill East graduate Maya Drayton, a junior at Georgetown, led all qualifiers in the 400-meter dash Friday at the Big East Championships>

Drayton ran a season-best 55.15 to lead all eight qualifiers into Saturday’s final. Next-fastest qualifier was Villanova’s Micah Trusty, who ran 55.38 just behind Drayton in the first of five heats at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Indoor Track and Field Complex at Gately Park in Chicago.

Drayton’s previous season best was a 55.62 last month in a meet at the New Balance Center in Boston. Her lifetime best is a 54.46 outdoors last May in the Big East Championships in Storrs, Ct.

She’s a nine-time Big East medalist but seeking her first conference title.

Just missing the cutoff of 56.91 was Pennsauken graduate Jade Pope, a sophomore at DePaul. Pope ran 57.21 and was the fastest non-qualifier.

The women’s 400-meter dash final is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. Saturday.

Drayton also qualified for the 200 final with a 24.34, which was 2nd-fastest in the trials.

Eastern senior Kadence Dumas is one of the most versatile runners in the state and a top-10 seed in three events at the Meet of Champions.

At Group 4 sectionals, Dumas won the 400 in 57.62 and placed 2nd in the 800 in 2:17.30 and the 1,600 in 5:12.76 – all three were PRs – and ran on Eastern’s winning 4-by-4.

At states, she dropped the 1,600 – four events in the state Group 4 meet is not realistic – and came up huge with another 800 PR, taking 2nd in 2:17.12, and a near-PR 58.00 for 3rd in the 400. She also anchored Eastern’s winning relay team as the Vikings placed 2nd to Piscataway with 30 points.

Eastern is the top seed in the 4-by-400 at Meet of Champions March 5 at Ocean Breeze with its 4:00.61 at states. Freshman Natalie Dumas, senior hurdler Johnay Stilley and iunior Lomaria Tengbeh also ran on Eastern’s 4-by-4.

In the 800, Dumas is the No. 4 seed behind Mainland’s Sofia Day [2:15.59], Union Catholic’s Kaleigh Gunsiorowski [2:16.49] and Freehold Township’s Emma Zawatski [2:16.92].

Her 2:17.30 is just shy of the Eastern school record of 2:17.15 held by Courtney McCrudden and is No. 11 on the all-time Camden County list. McCrudden, who was a member of the U.S. Junior National soccer team, ran 2:17.15 to win the 2000 state Group 4 race over Overbrook’s Tara DeBrielle (2:17.82) at Jadwin Gym.

In the 400, Dumas is the No. 7 seed with her 58.00, but the top nine seeds are all within a second of each other (57.26 to 58.21). Pennsauken freshman Sianni Wynn is the No. 1 seed at 57.26, and Ocean City junior Sophia Curtis (No. 6, 57.99), Timber Creek junior Chloe Jones (No. 9, 58.21 and Absegami senior Hannah Ross (No. 12, 58.44) all ran under 59 seconds at states. Eastern’s Natalie Dumas, Kadence’s sister, is the No. 16 seed at 59.22. Paul VI soph Anna Marie Brown (59.75) and Deptford junior Djassi Dean (59.82) also qualified with sub-60 times at states.

Also for Eastern, Stilley is the No. 8 seed in the hurdles with her 8.38 – Curtis is right behind her at 8.42 – but Stilley ran a PR 8.23 in the trials, No. 1 in South Jersey this year.

Senior Savana Dodd will also represent Eastern at the MoC after throwing 33-9 in the shot put and earning a wild card. Dodd won the Camden County meet last spring.

The link to download the complete Meet of Champions boys and girls performance list *.pdfs can be found here.

The NJSIAA has released the official performance lists for the 54th annual Meet of Champions, including auto qualifiers and wild cards.

Click here to download the *.pdf file.

The Meet of Champions is back at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island this year and is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

I’ll be posting all-time winners, all-time performance lists and lots of other cool stuff before March 5, but these performance lists are a good start!

Yashahya Brown is the best hurdler in New Jersey, and he proved it once again on Saturday.

Brown ran away with the 55-meter hurdles at the state Group 4 meet at the Bubble, winning in 7.37 – just 1-100th of a second off his lifetime best. He ran 7.36 a week earlier to win the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals.

https://nj.milesplit.com/meets/511414-njsiaa-group-championships-2023/results/875262#.Y_VuEC-B004

That was Brown’s first state title and considering he didn’t even qualify for state last spring – he was 7th at sectionals, just 3-100ths of a second out of medal contention – it’s sure been a sweat season for the Washington Township junior.

Brown won the Group 4 race by more than a fifth of a second over East Brunswick senior Chiemelie Anoskie, who was 2nd in 7.58. He’s only lost one hurdles race this year and that was to teammate Kanye Mills at the Bubble a few weeks ago.

On the MileSplit national list, Brown is No. 5 overall and the No. 1 underclassman. His 7.36 is fastest by a New Jersey underclassman since St. Augustine’s Sincere Rhea, now at Miami, ran 7.35 to win the Meet of Champions at the Bubble in 2018.

The only other hurdler under 7.50 at states was Willingboro junior Eric Foster, who had a huge breakthrough with a 7.46 win in the Group 2 race.

Brown had never broken 8.00 seconds before this year. He brought a PR of 8.05 from a meet in Collegeville, Pa., into his junior year season. He ran 7.65 and then 7.51 in his opener in December at the Armory, then ran 7.46 at Ocean Breeze and 7.44 at the Bubble before the 7.36 last week.

That’s No. 15 in South Jersey history and No. 2 in Gloucester County history behind legendary Sultan Tucker, who ran 7.18 en route to a 7.73 for 60 meters at the 1997 National Scholastic Indoor in Roxbury, Mass. (and later represented Liberia in the World Championships and Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 2002 African Championships in Tunis and Radès, Tunisia).

7.10 … Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2019
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 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2023
7.39 … Rashad Baker [Wilson], 2000
7.39 … Isaiah Lewis [Winslow Twp.], 2020