Senior Scott Hubbard’s 4:27 anchor gave Audubon a win in the Group 1 distance medley at the Woodbury Relays Saturday and the fastest time this year by a Group 1 school.

Hubbard split 4:27.74 and Audubon ran 10:52.25, the second-fastest time in school history.

Senior Makaio Kelii led off with a 3:20.64 split to give Audubon a lead they never relinquished. Sophomore Amauri Pimentel split 53.81 to hold the lead, and senior Clifford Gilmore ran 2:10.06 to set up Hubbard, who got out in 63.77 to build Audubon’s lead to over 100 meters and put the race away. Hubbard closed in 66.24.

Sophomore Peyton Shute anchored Pitman to second place in 11:13.94.

At the same meet where Woodstown’s Xavier Seals nearly broke Georgian Court’s 800 school record, Deptford’s Julian Rodriguez nearly broke the school record in the intermediate hurdles.

Rodriguez, a Georgian Court freshman, won the 400-meter intermediates in 55.87 Wednesday at the Shippensburg Mid-Week Invitational. That’s the No. 1 time in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference this year.

Nicholas Claudeo from Jackson Memorial set the school record of 55.50 seconds on the same track in Shippensburg in 2016.

This was only Rodriguez’s second collegiate intermediate hurdles race. He opened with a 57.26 the first weekend of April in a meet at Towson, Md.

At Deptford, Rodriguez was a quad winner at last year’s Group 3 sectionals at Delsea, winning the 110-meter highs in a PR 14.83, the intermediates in a PR 55.15, the pole vault at 13-0 and contributing a leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team as Deptford won the team title.

Woodstown graduate Xavier Seals, a junior at Georgian Court, ran an 800 PR Wednesday in a meet at Shippensburg University in Central Pennsylvania.

Seals finished first in a field of 19 half-milers at the Shippensburg Mid-Week Meet with a time of 1:54.86. He won by a step over Shippensburg freshman Ryan Scicchitano, who was second in 1:55.02.

Seals’ previous PR was a 1:55.15 at a meet at his home track in Lakewood last May. He ran an indoor PR of 1:55.98 at the Armory in January.

Seals just missed the school record of 1:54.80 set in April 2019 at the Rider Invitational in Lawrenceville by West Orange graduate Chukwuebizie Anuamadi.

At Woodstown, Seals had a PR of 2:02.51 when he placed 3rd at the 2018 South Jersey Group 1 sectionals at Washington Township as a sophomore. He was a Salem County champ at both 800 and 1,600 meters and a top-10 finisher in the state Group 1 XC championships with a 16:51 at Holmdel County Park.

Lumberton’s Greg Foster of Lawrenceville School, who just missed Carl Lewis’s state indoor long jump record in March, opened up his spring season with a two-foot outdoor long jump personal best.

Foster jumped 25-4 ½ to win the Ocean Breeze Nationals in March, half an inch less than Lewis jumped at Easterns in 1979 at Jadwin Gym.

But Foster’s official outdoor high school PR coming into his senior year was a modest 21-6 at the MAPL Championships last May at the Peddie School in Hightstown.

He bloomsed over the summer, hitting 22-8 in July at a meet in Baltimore and then 23-6 in August, also at Peddie. But because those meets took place during the summer and weren’t a continuation of the outdoor season they don’t qualify for high school performance lists.

So Foster went into Wednesday with the unusual situation where his indoor PR was nearly four feet beyond his outdoor PR.

He took care of that at the Big Red Classic on his home track at Kueffel Stadium, where he hit 23-6 on his only legal jump. He opened and closed with fouls.

Foster also won the 100 in 11.24 and led off Lawrenceville’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:41.33.

Germantown Academy of Philadelphia and Blair Academy of Blairstown, Warren County, also competed at Lawrenceville Wednesday.

In what appears to be his first 400 in three years, Gloucester senior Steve Burkhardt ran the fastest time so far this spring in South Jerey Saturday at Cherokee.

Along the way, he broke a school record set 26 years ago by his father.

Burkhardt won the 400 at Fast Times at Cherokee High in 50.42, finishing six meters ahead of Robbinsville sophomore Maxim Rychkov (51.30), with Timber Creek sophomore Nasir Ali third in a PR of his own at 51.49. He ran 51.55 indoors.

According to his MileSplit profile, Burkhardt ran as a freshman but didn’t compete in track as a sophomore or junior. His 400 PR as a freshman in 2019 was 55.13 at Group 1 sectionals at Washington Township. That made him South Jersey’s 27th-ranked freshman quarter-miler.

So this was a PR of nearly five seconds.

Burkhardt is No. 2 in the state in the early going, behind only Lawrenceville senior Matt Baskin, who ran 49.23 at the Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational in March.

We didn’t want to make any assumptions, but not surprisingly the Steve Burkhard father who placed 6th in the 1996 South Jersey Group 1 sectionals in 51.8 – Paulsboro legend Fred Sharpe won the race in 50.1 – and then placed 5th at states in school-record 51.05 – is Burkhardt’s father.

Both Burkhardts also played football for Gloucester. The 1996 Burkhardt was an all-conference defensive back, and the 2021 version was an all-state running back for the Lions, surpassing 2,000 yards this past fall, and high school football stats are apparently much harder to find than high school track stats, but it looks like he rushed for over 4,000 yards in his high school career.

Eight South Jersey relay teams learned Monday they’ve earned lanes in the 126th Penn Relays next weekend at Franklin Field.

Acceptances for the invitational 3,200-meter relays and distance medley were announced Monday, one day after the deadline to qualify.

Penn accepts 35 boys and girls teams for two races in the small-school 4-by-8s and 35 more for two large-school races. The 11 fastest of the 70 schools in four races competein the Championship of America. The girls 3,200-meter relays are scheduled for Thursday morning at Penn, with the two small-school races at 9 a.m. and the large-school sections at 9:25 a.m. The boys 3,200-meter relays are scheduled for Friday morning, with the small-school races at 9 a.m. and the large-school races at 9:25 a.m.

The DMRs are one-race finals with 16 schools accepted for each race. The girls race is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. Thursday with the boys race at 4:25 p.m. Friday.

For the full 2022 Penn Relays schedule click here.

For the full list of individual and relay acceptances, click here.

Here’s a look at the South Jersey acceptances. Click the subhead for the official list of entries for that race.

GIRLS DISTANCE MEDLEY
Kingsway: The Dragons qualified for Penn with its 12:43.02 at the state Group 4 relays at the Bubble back in January. Kingsway hasn’t run a DMR since, but with junior anchor Aubrey Pierontoni, who ran 5:00.17 indoors at the Meet of Champions, Kingsway has untapped DMR potential. Junior Nicole Lipieta, who has run a 5:06 mile, is expected to run the 1,200, with senior Sumayyah Turner on the 400 and sophomore Cassidy Dunk the 800.

BOYS 3,200-METER RELAY
Large School
Pennsauken: The Indians nailed their qualifier Saturday when junior Premier Wynn, sophomore Ladanian McGrath and juniors Joel Oquendo and Bryce Tucker ran 8:06.83 at Fast Times at Cherokee High, the fastest time in the state this year. Pennsauken has a great chance to erase the school record of 8:03.33 set by Elijah Swain, Charles Brewer, Donovan Torres and Eric Butler at the 2011 Carl Lewis Relays in Willingboro.

Cherokee: The Chiefs finished just behind Pennsauken Saturday in 8:07.58 – No. 2 in the state this year – without one of their regulars, and the likely lineup at Penn will be sophomore Nick Kuenkel and juniors Thomas Bromley, Conor Jacob and Patrick Ditmars.

Small School
Cinnaminson: The Pirates have known they’re headed to Penn for a while. They knocked out their qualifier indoors at Armory Nationals, where they ran 8:07.47. While 8:06 or 8:07 usually doesn’t get you into the Large-School race, it’s a safe time for a Group 2 school trying to get into the Small-School division. Juniors Matt McCarron, Derek Coceano, Tyler Schill and Alex Boyko are expected to run for Cinnaminson.

GIRLS 3,200-METER RELAY
Large School
Cherokee: The Chiefs were U.S. No. 7 indoors with their 9:07.27 for 4th place at Armory Nationals, so they sure didn’t have to sweat out Monday’s deadline. Junior Kelsey Niglio, sophomore Kerry O’Day, freshman Megan Niglio and senior Nicole Clifford will race for Cherokee. The Chiefs will have one of the faster anchors in the field in Clifford, who ran 4:53.85 back in February to win the state Group 4 title at the Bubble.

Cherry Hill East: The Cougars, with freshman Kiley Walsh, senior Madison McNiff, junior Alexis Tepper and senior Michelle Barry, qualified with their 9:49.64 at Armory Nationals in February. They haven’t run a DMR since, so look for that time to come down signficantly. Tepper, East’s likely anchor, ran 2:19.12 at the Bubble in February.

Winslow Township: Winslow qualified in the same race as Cherokee and Cherry Hill East, with senior Victoria Campbell, senior Charly Dutton, junior Alana Henry and freshman Ava Milner running 9:55.42.

Small School
Haddonfield: Senior Jessica Goode, sophomores Audrey Naticchia and Anne Earp and junior Thea Spellmeyer ran 9:45.30 at Ocean Breeze Nationals indoors, punching their ticket to Penn.

Huge outdoor opener Saturday for Delsea grad Josh Awotunde coming off his 5th-place finish at World Indoors.

Awotunde surpassed 70 feet four times in the same meet for the first time in his life and recorded four of his 13-best throws ever at the USATF Golden Games at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus in Walnut, Calif.

Awotunde opened with a 67-10 ¼ before reeling off four straight 70-foot bombs, each one farther than the last: 70-0 ¼ on his second throw, 70-3 ½ on his third, 70- 10 ¾ and 70-11 ¾ on his fifth.

He had the lead until Darrell Hill hit 71-1 ½ on his fifth throw. Awotunde closed with a 69-3 ¼. His six legal throws 69-10 ½.

This is actually the first time the former South Carolina All-America has even had three 70-foot throws in the same series, and he had four. He actually had four of the top-seven throws of the competition.

Hill and Awotunde rank No. 1 and No. 2 among Americans so far this year and No. 3 and 4 in the world, behind only Italians Zane Weir and Nick Ponzio, who both threw PRs of 72-1 ¾ and 71-1 ¼ last month at the European Throwing Cup at Centro Nacional de Lançamentos, in Leiria, Portugal.

Awotunde is No. 15 in U.S. history with his 72-2 in Italy last September. He’s now reached 70 feet 14 times in eight meets.

Here is a look at all of Awotunde’s 70-foot throws, including all tertiary throws within a series. Note that full series information was never released in the results from last year’s Meeting Città di Padova at Stadio Colbachini in Padovad, Poland. So it’s possible he has additional 70-foot throws from that meet that we don’t know about.

Josh Awotunde All-Time 70-Foot Throws
72-2 … Meeting Città di Padova, Stadio Colbachini, Padovad, Poland, Sept. 5, 2021 [N/A] [place]
71-8 … U.S. Olympic Trials, Eugene, Ore., June 18, 2021 [6th throw] (5th place]
71-2 ¼i … World Athletics Indoors, Belgrade, Serbia, March 19, 2022 [3rd throw] (5th)
71-2 ¼ … Gyulai István Memorial, Székesfehérvár, Hungary, July 6, 2021 [4th throw] (3rd)
71-1 ½ … Golden Games, Walnut, Calif., May 9, 2021 [6th throw] [2nd place]
70-11 ¾ … World Athletics Indoors, Belgrade, Serbia, March 19, 2022 [5th throw] [2nd]
70-11 ½ … USATF Golden Games, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022 [5th throw) [2nd]
70-10 ¾ … USATF Golden Games, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022 [4th throw) [—]
70-6 ½ … Gyulai István Memorial, Székesfehérvár, Hungary, July 6, 2021 [6th throw] [—]
70-6 ¼i … American Track League, Louisville, Ky., Feb. 12, 2022 [3rd throw] [1st]
70-3 ½ … USATF Golden Games, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022 [3rd throw] [—]
70-2 ½i … American Track League, Louisville, Ky., Feb. 12, 2022 [1st throw] [—]
70-0 ¼ … USATF Golden Games, Walnut, Calif., April 16, 2022 [2nd throw] [—]
70-0 ¼ … World Athletics Indoors, Belgrade, Serbia, March 19, 2022 [2nd throw] [—]

By the way, an interesting interview with Josh was posted Sunday on a web site called MCThrows that gets into his preparation for various meets depending on the pre-competition routine meet officials put the athletes through. And now I can’t figure out what the “MC” stands for in MCThrows, but it’s a good story! Click here for that.

Talk about a breakthrough race.

Washington Township sophomore Dylan Giloley lowered her 100-meter dash PR more than a third of a second Saturday at Cherokee and recorded the fastest time this year by a South Jersey sprinter.

Giloley won the 100 at Fast Times at Cherokee High in 12.39, leading Cherokee sophomore Madison Van Haren and Atlantic County Tech senior Amiyah Stephens under 13 seconds as well. Van Haren ran 12.54 and Stephens 12.86.

Giloley had a promising freshman year and showed great range, placing 3rd in the 100 at Group 4 sectionals with a PR of 12.77, 3rd in the Olympic Conference meet at 200 meters in 26.19 and 6th in the Olympic Conference meet at 400 meters in 1:00.04.

She ranked 9th in the state among freshmen in the 100, 10th in the 200 and 15th in the 400.

And this was a significant breakthrough in Year 2.

Giloley, who did not run indoors this year, is now No. 2 in the state in the 100, behind only Howell senior Laura Gugliotta, who ran 12.33 at the A-North Divisional meet at her home track last weekend. Gugliotta won the state Group 4 title at 400 meters indoors.

It looks like Giloley is 3rd-fastest ever at Washington Township in the 100, behind only Jackie Dim, who ran 12.11 at the 2007 Group 4 sectionals at Egg Harbor, and Latoya Benson, who ran 12.18 at the 2000 state Group 4 meet at South Plainfield.

She’s the fastest Gloucester County sophomore since Iyanla Kollock of Our Lady of Mercy ran 12.31 to win the 2016 Cape-Atlantic League Championships at Bridgeton. Kollock later ran for Rutgers.

Interesting to note that 4th-place finisher Miyana Johnson, a Clayton freshman, ran 13.02 in her first lifetime 100. Johnson, 3rd in the 55 indoors at the state Group 1 meet, has the fastest time in the state this spring by a freshman.

Pleasantville’s Nia Ali ran her fastest hurdles time in three years Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.

Ali, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, ran 12.59 with a legal wind at the Tom Jones Invitational at Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressley Stadium at the University of Florida.

It’s her fastest time since she ran a lifetime-best 12.34 to win the IAAF World Championships at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, in October 2019.

Ali, 33, did not compete in 2020 and didn’t run a 100-meter hurdles race in 2021. She opened this season with a wind-aided 12.59 at the University of Miami in March before racing this weekend in Gainesville.

She ran 12.81 in the trials before taking second in the final in 12.59, finishing behind only 2021 Olympic gold medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Jamaica, who won the race in 12.39, No. 1 in the world this year.

Ali’s 12.59 is No. 5 in the world this year and No. 4 among U.S. women. Ali ranks No. 10 in world history with her 12.34 from 2019 and No. 4 in U.S. history.

World this year: https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/100-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior/2022?regionType=world&timing=electronic&windReading=regular&page=1&bestResultsOnly=true

U.S. this year: https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/100-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior/2022?regionType=countries&region=usa&timing=electronic&windReading=regular&page=1&bestResultsOnly=true

World all-time: https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/100-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&timing=electronic&windReading=regular&page=1&bestResultsOnly=true&firstDay=1899-12-31&lastDay=2022-04-16

U.S. all time:
https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/100-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=countries&region=usa&timing=electronic&windReading=regular&page=1&bestResultsOnly=true&firstDay=1899-12-31&lastDay=2022-04-16

Ali’s 12.59 is her 8th-fastest time ever in the 100-meter highs and her fastest ever this early in the year. In fact, the earliest she’s ever run sub-12.60 previously was 12.48 on June 22, 2013, when she was 3rd in the U.S. Championships.

In fact, her time is 12th-fastest in U.S. history before May 1.

Other than a couple exhibition races, Ali sat out the 2020 COVID season, and then she sat out the 2021 Olympic season to have her second child, her first daughter, last May.

Audubon, West Deptford, Hammonton and Rancocas Valley won team titles Saturday at the West Deptford Relays.

Audubon won a tight three-team battle in Group 1, outscoring Schalick 102-92, with Salem 3rd with 91 points. The host Eagles edged Sterling 112-104 to win Group 2, Hammonton piled up 130 points and won Group 3 by 50 over Atlantic County neighbor Absegami, and R.V. finished with a 108-72 margin of victory over both Millville and Eastern in a battle of Group 4 powerhouses.

Full results are here: https://tomahawktiming.com/4-16-west-deptford-relays/

Let’s take a look!

Group 1
Sophomore Molly Rizzi, sophomore Mia Munn, senior Madelin Carter and freshman Mary McGuire won the 6,400-meter relay in 26:14.69, and in the field, Audubon got wins from their long jumpers [junior Caroline Hauser, sophomore Kira Collins], shot putters [seniors Aysiah Maldonado and Cyani Treiber].

Audubon’s sophomore Nylah Coleman, junior Ava Rizzi and freshman Riley Erwin teamed up to win the three-runner intermediate hurdles relay.

Schalick ran the fastest South Jersey Group 1 times this spring in the 4-by-4 [4:18.97], 4-by-8 [10:29.35] and shuttle hurdles [1:16.96], with sophomore Grace O’Neill, junior Jayla Gross, sophomore Sophia Longo and senior Molly Wood on the 4-by-4, senior Mia LaMarra, freshman Jordan Hadfield, Longo and freshman Taylor Behrens on the 4-by-8 and junior Angie Chomo, junior Aylani Eberl, freshman Gabrielle Simonini and sophomore Brooke Watt on the shuttles.

Salem’s 4:31.76 is fastest Group 1 sprint medley in South Jersey this year. Senior Ke’Asia Anthony, sophomore Anna Buzby, sophomore Karima Davenport-White and junior Aryana Furbush-Brewer ran for Rams.

Group 2
West Deptford won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:22.63, fastest by a South Jersey Group 2 school this year, with sophomore Rachel Barford, senior Ellie Goldberg and juniors Kelly Levengood and Paige McCullen in the lineup.

Sophomore Janie Cross, Goldberg, sophomore Isabella Mackey and freshman Talia Thomasson gave the Eagles a win in the 4-by-8 in 10:41.49, and Cross, Goldberg, Mackey and senior Hope Siner ran 24:28.42 to win the 4-by-1,600 and ran 13:59.18 to win the DMR.

West Deptford also won the shuttles in 1:12.08, with senior Jada Allen, sophomore Emily Hernandez, sophomore Halle Siner and freshman Remi Wicken.

Sterling swept all the field events, led by state indoor champ Jenovaia Logan’s 5-4 clearance in the high jump. Senior Faith Frazier was her high jump partner .

Senior Catherine Miller and freshman Isabella Petruno won the pole vault, Logan and junior Gianna Perez the long jump, Logan and sophomore Ayanna Brown the triple jump and senior Kayla Franklin and junior Jordyn Caul the shot put and discus. Franklin teamed up with junior Laurel Conway to win the javelin.

Group 3
Sophomore Julianna Ruhf, freshmen Natalie Clauhs and Emma Longo and junior Kaylie Ranere gave Hammonton a win in the 3,200-meter relay, sophomore Angelina Cortellessa, Longo and freshmen Hannah Salita and Ilema Sinon won the 4-by-1,600 and Clauhs, junior Amina Sykes, Ruhf and Ranere won the DMR for the distance sweep.

In the field, Hammonton got wins from junior Brianna Gazzara and freshman Kiley Kozlowski in the long jump and junior Emma Peretti and senior Sofia Purvis in the shot put.

Group 4
We wrote yesterday about R.V.’s 1,600-meter relay team [https://sjtrackblog.com/2022/04/16/rancocas-valley-girls-run-hot-4-by-4-in-solo-race-at-fast-times-at-cherokee/] and Eastern sophomore Zoe Goldgerg’s huge javelin throw [https://sjtrackblog.com/2022/04/16/eastern-soph-zoe-goldberg-bombs-no-1-javelin-throw-in-new-jersey-this-year/].

Rancocas Valley also picked up wins in the intermediate hurdles with senior Anabella Chin running 1:07.41 and seniors Sanai Jenkins 1:08.11, No. 2 and 3 in South Jersey this year. Aniya Wilkins also raced for R.V.

The Red Devils also won the 400-meter relay in 50.37 [freshman Cecilia King, senior Jya Marshall, senior Olivia Smith, junior Kasey White], the 800-meter relay in 1:46.40 [sophomore Adrienne Austin, King, Marshall, White] and the shuttle hurdles [sophomore Laila Bailey, Chin, Jenkins, sophomore Neveah Lott].

Seniors Ravin Hood and Faith Allen both surpassed 36 feet in a shot put win and also won the discus. Sophomores Lauren Fadairo and Shayna Miller won the triple jump.