Winslow graduate John Purvis, a freshman at Morgan State, popped a personal-best 55-7 and placed 2nd in the shot put Wednesday at the MEAC Championships in Virginia Beach.

Purvis finished second to another Morgan state freshman, Zackery Dillon, who threw a PR of his own at 56-0 for the win.

Going into the final round, Dillon, a graduate of Calabar High School in Kingston, Jamaica, led with a best throw of 54-6 1/2, and Purvis was sitting in 2nd at 53-11. Purvis then took the lead with his 55-7, only to watch Dillon reclaim the lead on the final attempt of the competition with his 56-footer.

Before the conference meet, Purvis had an indoor PR of 53-6 1/2 with the 16-pound shot. He threw 54-2 3 3/4 to win the MEAC Outdoor Championship last spring at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.

Purvis also placed 4th in the 35-pound wight throw with a PR of 49-10. His previous PR was 46-4 in Virginia Beach earlier this month.

Morgan State’s athletics web site lists no indoor school records or top-10 lists or any sort of historical information or pretty much anything at all, but going through year-by-year MEAC performances lists on TFRRS [Track and Field Results Reporting System] I did figure out that Dillon and Purvis registered the two-best throws by Morgan State shot putters in 12 years – since Tyron Benjamin of the Commonwealth of Dominica threw 60-5 as a Morgan State senior at a meet at the Armory in 2010.

So back-to-back Purvis and Dillon recorded the best shot put throws by Morgan State freshmen since at least 2009. The TFRRS database only goes back to 2010.

Purvis threw 143-7 in the discus last spring and 133-10 in the hammer. At Winslow, Purvis threw 60-0 indoors with the 12-pound shot, No. 9 in South Jersey indoor track history, and also threw 168-9 in the discus.

Shawnee graduate Andrew Lodge smashed a 27-year-old College of New Jersey school record Monday at the NJAC Championships.

Lodge ran 48.89 and finished 2nd in the 400 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze, behind only Rowan freshman Amara Conte of Jersey City and Ferris High, who ran 48.45.

Lodge broke the school record of 48.92, set by Toms River North graduate Chris Kalwinsky at the 1995 ECAC Championships at Boston University.

That 48.89 ranks No. 5 in NCAA Division 3 this year, although the TFRRS ranking system somehow has him at 49.68, which may be some sort of conversion for a banked track? I don’t know. It doesn’t explain it anywhere. In any case, the top 20 performers qualify for the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C., next month.

Lodge also ran a 49.54 leadoff leg on TCNJ’s 3rd-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:19.20. The Lions have run as fast as 3:20.19 this winter.

Lodge’s previous indoor PR was a 49.91 nine days earlier in Boston. Coming into the season, his indoor PR was 50.18 from a meet in Boston last winter. He has yet to run outdoors for TCNJ.

At Shawnee, Lodge only ran a couple indoor 400s with a best of 54.11 at the Bubble in January of 2018. His outdoor PR remains 50.88 from the 2019 Burlington County Open at Rancocas Valley, where he placed 2nd to Cinnaminson’s John Meekins.

So Lodge has now improved almost exactly two seconds since arriving in Ewing, and he hasn’t run a 400 outdoors yet.

Kalwinsky also holds the TCNJ outdoor 400 record with a 47.95 from 1995.

Washington Township senior Gabby Vetere, who had a pole vault PR of 9-0 coming into the indoor season, cleared a lifetime best 10-9 Tuesday at the Bubble, the No. 2 pole vault performance in Gloucester County history.

No. 1 on the all-time Gloucester County list is current Villanova junior Ashley Preston of Delsea, whose 12-7 at the Bubble in 2018 ranks No. 7 in state history. Preston is a three-time Big East champ and has jumped 13-3 ¾ at Villanova.

Vetere won the event at the final SJTCA meet at the Bubble. Her previous PR was 10-6, which she cleared twice previously – once at the Bubble and once at Ocean Breeze.

That placed her tied for No. 2 in Gloucester County history with Katie Selfridge of Delsea [2014], Elizabeth Douglas of West Deptford [2015], Madison Mamounis of Delsea [2018] and Allison Bobst of Kingsway [2020].

It’s also the No. 7 jump in the state this year.

Vetere won her first sectional title last weekend and shares the top seed in Saturday’s state Group 4 meet at the Bubble at 10-0. Talia Hutchinson of Ridgewood [11-0] and Vetere have the top two PRs in the Group 4 field.

 

 

 

 

In only her second meet of the year, Jessica Woodard bombed her first 60-foot shot put throw,  the No. 14 performance in the world this year.

Woodard, a Cherokee graduate, threw 60-7 ½ at the Don Kirby Collegiate Elite meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Woodard’s throw moved her up to No. 22 in U.S. history indoors, No. 14 in the world this year and No. 5 among U.S. women this year going into indoor nationals next month.

Woodard won by half an inch over Netherlands discus Olympian Jorinde Van Klinken of Arizona State, who threw 60-7 ¼.

After a foul on her first attempt, Woodard hit the 60-7 ¾ on her second throw. After one more foul, she finished her series with throws of 59-8, 59-0 ½ and 59-6 ½. 

So she beat her previous PR on three of her four legal throws, and those four legal throws averaged 59-8 ¾ – well beyond her PR of January.

Woodard competed in one other meet this year, the Puma Indoor Invitational at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix in January, where she threw 59-6. That broke her indoor PR of 59-0 ¼, which she set in the winter of 2020 in a meet in Norman, Okla.

Woodard threw an outdoor PR 62-3 ½ last spring in Tucson, No. 18 in U.S. history  and No. 14 in the world last year.

USATF Nationals are scheduled for this weekend at the Podium in Spokane, Wash. The women’s shot put is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. EST on Saturday. As long as they’ve met the qualifying standard, the top two placers in each event will represent the U.S. in the World Indoor Championships March 18-20 at Štark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. The women’s shot put standard is 60- ¼, so Woodard has already met the standard. 

Cherokee’s Kelsey Niglio, Kerry O’Day, Megan Niglio and Nicole Clifford ran the No. 10 3,200-meter relay in state history Tuesday night at the Bubble.

Racing at the final SJTCA meet of the winter, Cherokee ran 9:07.81, a minute faster than any of the three other schools in the field.

Their time is No. 2 in the U.S. this year, No. 2 in South Jersey history and fastest ever at the Bennett Center (or on any track in New Jersey).

It’s fastest ever by any South Jersey 4-by-8 on a flat track. The previous fastest time at the Bubble was a 9:14.47 by Ridge at the 2017 Meet of Champions.

Kelsey Niglio led off with a 2:15.3 split, O’Day split 2:21.0, Megan Niglio 2:20.0 and Clifford anchored with a monster 2:11.3. All are indoor PRs.

The only faster time in South Jersey history belongs to the 2013 Lenape team of Emily McGee, Carly Pettipaw, Camille Franklin and Natalia Ocasio, who ran 9:04.66 at Indoor Nationals at the Armory. That’s No. 5 in state history.

No. 1 nationally is Pioneer High of Ann Arbor, Mich., which ran 8:59.20 at a meet last weekend in Saginaw, Mich.

Cherokee set its previous school record of 9:23.85 last month at a meet in Lynchburg, Va.

Here’s a look at the all-time New Jersey sub-9:20 performance list, with the meet and location listed for the top 10:

8:54.11 … Southern Reg., 2009 [1^st, Nike Indoor Nationals, Reggie Lewis Center, Boston]
8:56.94 … Red Bank Cath., 2011 [1^st, Nike Indoor Nationals, 168^th Street Armory, NYC]
9:00.62 … Freehold Twp., 2014 [1^st, Nike Indoor Nationals, 168^th Street Armory, NYC]
9:01.64 … Ridge, 2017 [1^st, New Balance Indoor Nationals, 168^th Street Armory, NYC]
9:04.66 … Lenape, 2013 [4^th, New Balance Indoor Nationals, 168^th Street Armory, NYC]
9:05.28 … Red Bank Cath., 2012 [3^rd, New Balance Indoor Nationals, Armory, NYC]
9:05.40 … Columbia, 2014 [Easterns, 168^th Street Armory]
9:05.97 … Pope John, 2007 [Easterns, 168^th Street Armory]
9:07.44 … Union Catholic, 2019 [Millrose Games, 168^th Street Armory]
9:07.81 … Cherokee, 2022 [SJTCA Winter Meet #16, Bennett Center, Toms River]
9:08.07 … Ridge, 2018
9:08.34 … Columbia, 1997
9:09.14 … Columbia, 1998
9:09.70 … Mount St. Dominic, 2012
9:09.71 … Lenape, 2012
9:10.22 … North Hunterdon, 2016
9:11.69 … Freehold Twp., 2013
9:11.94 … Lenape, 2008
9:12.82 … Roxbury, 2006
9:12.91 … Haddonfield, 2021
9:13.42 … Union Catholic, 2015
9:13.72 … Columbia, 1983
9:13.90 … Union Catholic, 2018
9:13.95 … Ridge, 2015
9:14.49 … Ridge, 2020
9:15.05 … Pingry, 2018
9:15.07 … Ridge, 2019
9:15.16 … Hunterdon Central, 2010
9:16.15 … Pope John, 2006
9:16.34 … Immaculate Heart Academy, 2008
9:16.8h … Kearny, 1980
9:17.00 … Union Catholic, 2016
9:18.17 … Middletown South, 2002
9:18.26 … Southern Regional, 2014
9:18.62 … River Dell, 2018
9:18.87 … Red Bank Catholic, 2015
9:19.01 … Lenape, 2011
9:19.06 … Union Catholic, 2022
9:19.20 … Ridge, 2016
9:19.35 … Wilson, 2002
9:19.47 … Voorhees, 2009
9:19.55 … Columbia, 2012
9:19.88 … Pope John, 2008

And here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-9:30 list:

9:04.66 … Lenape, 2013
9:07.81 … Cherokee, 2022
9:09.71 … Lenape, 2012
9:11.94 … Lenape, 2008
9:12.91 … Haddonfield, 2021
9:19.01 … Lenape, 2011
9:19.35 … Wilson, 2002
9:22.18 … Haddonfield, 2020
9:22.30 … Lenape, 2010
9:22.38 … Buena, 1999
9:23.71 … Lenape, 2009
9:24.68 … Seneca, 2017
9:26.65 … Kingsway, 2020
9:26.67 … Lenape, 2007
9:27.22 … Lenape, 2014
9:28.7 ….. Willingboro, 2003
9:28.90 … Haddonfield, 2019

Nice double Tuesday night for Burlington City junior Ny’era Hand-Brooks in the first two events of the final SJTCA meet of the year.

Hand-Brooks ran a personal-best 8.89 in the 55-meter hurdles Tuesday night at the Bubble in Toms River and followed that up just a few minutes later with a PR 7.57 in the 55-meter dash.

Brooks hurdles time is fastest this year in all of New Jersey Group 1, and her 55 time is 3rd-fastest, behind Kennedy Pitts of McNair Academic, who ran 7.45 last month at the Jersey City Armory, and Haddon Township junior Lilli Santomauro, who won the South Jersey Group 1 sectional ahead of Hand-Brooks last weekend.

Overall, she now ranks No. 6 in South Jersey in the hurdles and No. 12 in the 55.

Hand-Brooks’ previous 55 PR was a 7.74 in the sectional trials at the Bubble last weekend, and her hurdles PR was 9.03 at sectionals in the final.

Hand-Brooks also placed 2nd in the 200 in 26.85 – a personal best because it’s the first time she’s run it indoors.

Hand-Brooks was sectional 200 champ as a sophomore 1st-year competitor last spring and also placed 2nd at sectionals in the 100 and 100 hurdles.

Rowan freshman Marquise Young outraced Montclair State’s Kimani Carrington in the hurdles by 5-100ths of a second Monday to win his first NJAC title.

Young, a Sterling graduate, ran a personal-best 8.25 over the 60-meter highs at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze. Carrington was second in 8.30.

https://twitter.com/856_marquise/status/1496296033000828931

In the trials, Young led all qualifiers with an 8.27, with Carrington next at 8.45. The final was closer, but it was Young all the way.

Young’s 8.27 broke his PR of 8.30, which he set at the Bomber Invitational earlier this month at Ithaca. This is his first year of indoor track at Rowan, although he ran outdoors last spring and was 2nd to freshman teammate Liam Davies of Wissahickon High in the NJAC Championships in the 110 highs and placed 4th in the intermediates. Davies is no longer listed on Rowan’s roster.

Young’s time ranks No. 17 in NCAA Division 3 so far this year. The top 20 performers in each individual event qualify for NCAAs.

Young competed in the spring of 2019 for Camden County College and placed 2^nd in both the 110 highs and 400 intermediates at the NJCAA Division 3 Outdoor National Championships at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, N.Y. In both races he finished behind Deptford graduate Glenn Abbott of Glouester County College.

The Pros outscored The College of New Jersey 184 ½-138 ½ to win their 7^th consecutive title.

Rowan will look to improve on its qualifying marks for NCAA Division 3 Nationals at the Fasttrack Last Chance at Ocean Breeze on Friday and then at the AARTFC Championships in Rochester March 4-5.

Nationals are scheduled for March 11-12 at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.

It was a big day all around for Sterling graduates at the NJAC meet.

In addition to Young, Rowan sophomore Jah’mere Beasley placed second in the 60 with a school-record 6.89, took second in the 200 with the No. 19 time in NCAA Division 3 history and ran a leg on Rowan’s winning 800-meter relay team, which ran the 2nd-fastest time in Division 3 history. Another Sterling graduate, Stockton senior Jessie Klenk, won the women’s mile.

Alyssa Condell, a Timber Creek and University of Pennsylvania graduate now competing for the Breakneck Trac Club, ran a personal-best 5,000 at the recent Garden State Track Club Invitational at Ocean Breeze.

Condell ran 16:48.45, reeling off all 20 laps from the 800 mark to the 4800 point between 39.8 and 41.3 and then closing in 36.6. She was the first woman across the line in the mixed race.

Condell’s previous 5,000 PR was a 16:56.36 outdoors at the 2019 HEPS at Princeton. She didn’t run many indoor 5,000s in college, but her previous indoor PR was a 17:14.03 at the Armory in December of 2018.

Haddon Township graduate Jacob Dinerman, competing for Moody Park Trak Club, ran 4:13.23 and placed 2^nd in his first mile race in two years. Dinerman, who ran one year for TCNJ, has an indoor mile PR of 4:08.49 in Boston in 2020. Dinerman also ran 14:58.49 in the 5,000, which is quite a double.

Another Haddon Township graduate, Luke Petela, who ran at Penn and graduated from Vermont, placed 3^rd in the 3,000 in 8:40.54.

Rutgers-Camden senior Jude Misko of Cherry Hill East, the NC AA Division 3 hammer throw champ last spring, won his won his 4^th NJAC title Monday.

Misko threw the 35-pound ball 57-10 ½ on his final attempt in the weight throw to edge long-time rival Darren Wan of Stockton, who was second with a throw of 55-7 ½.

Misko had three throws over 57 feet.

He threw within just a couple inches of his PR of 58-1 ¼ from earlier this month in a meet at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.

After opening with a 54-9, Misko threw 57-8 and 57-0 ½ to close out the trials. He fouled twice to open the finals before popping the 57-10 ½ throw.

Wan was in 3^rd until he hit 54-4 on his 4^th throw. He improved to 55-7 ½ on his 5^th before closing with a foul.

It was only the second meet of the year for Wan, who spends most of his time during the winter playing ice hockey for Stockton’s club team.

 

Former Cherokee teammates Justin Kelly and Will Gross each won their first conference title Monday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze.

Kelly, a Rowan junior, won the 3,000, and Gross, a Stockton senior, won the shot put.

Kelly won the 3,000 in a personal-best 8:37.89, finishing 10 meters ahead of Chris Anderson of Ramapo, who was 2^nd in 8:39.74. Kelly was seeded 4^th in the race with his season-best of 8:46.06 from two weeks ago at Ithaca.

http://milesplit.live/meets/460061/events/20/F/M

Anderson led most of the race, with Kelly tucked in just behind him. Kelly took the lead on the 11^th lap.

Kelly came through 2,200 meters in 6:29.11 before surging over the final 800 meters, closing in 2:08.76. He needed a strong finish because Anderson closed in 2:10.42 with a 61.78 final 400 and 29.27 final lap.

Kelly’s complete 200 splits: 34.19, 35.10, 35.39, 35.47, 35.62, 35.91, 36.22, 35.79, 35.19, 35.30, 34.93, 32.33, 32.11, 32.12, 32.20.

Gross threw 49-2 ¾ on his final attempt to snag the win from top-seeded John Griffithof Montclair State, who led through five throws.

http://milesplit.live/meets/460061/events/26/F/M

Gross opened with a 44-9 throw, which was the early leader until Griffith hit 48-5 ½ on his second attempt.

Gross’s next two throws came up agonizingly short of Griffith – he threw 48-4 ¾ on his third throw and then opened the finals with a 48-5, just half an inch behind Griffth, before a 46-11 ¼ on his fifth attempt.

Meanwhile, Griffith – a graduate of Northern Highlands in Allendale, Bergen County – fouled on each of his final four throws, so going into his sixth and final attempt, Gross was half an inch away . But Gross came up huge with the 49-2 ¾ winner.

Griffith and Gross went 1-2 in the outdoor NJAC meet last spring at Ramapo in their only previous meeting. Gross began his career at Rutgers-Camden.