The 87th annual Eastern States Invitational begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the 168th Street Armory, its home since 1998.

The meet wasn’t held last year, the third time since its inception that’s happened. The 1973 and 1992 boys meets weren’t held because of issues because of venue issues.

The first boys meet was held in 1934 under the auspices of the AAU at the old Madison Square Garden at 50th Street and 8th Avenue, and it remained at the Garden until 1966, when it moved to the Armory. When the Armory wasn’t available in 1973, the meet was cancelled, but it returned in 1974 at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym, where it stayed until moving back to the now-refurbished Armory in 1998.

The girls meet was held from 1980 through 1996 in Boston before merging with the boys meet. A joint meet was first held at Jadwin in 1997 before the meet as we all currently know it, with boys and girls at the Armory, debuted at the Armory in 1998.

Over the next couple days I’ll be posting all-time top-20 Eastern’s boys and girls performance lists and a list of all-time South Jersey winners – the first South Jersey winner was 79 years ago!

But first here’s a look at all the entries.

It’s not a very large South Jersey contingent this year, but Haddonfield, Rancocas Valley, Delsea, Deptford, Washington Township, Pleasantville, Atlantic City, Sterling, Winslow Township, Pitman, Highland and Egg Harbor will all be in action Tuesday.

For the complete event-by-event list of entrants, click here.

Penn freshman Aliya Garozzo from Paul VI used a powerful finish to snag 5th place in the 500-meter run at the Ivy League Heps Championships Sunday.

Garozzo ran 1:13.44 in the first of two sections of the 500 final at at the Armory, then watched as her time held up for 6th overall after the second section.

Her time is No. 8 in Penn history, which is quite an achievement considering her limited experience at a very challenging distance. 

Garozzo just ran her first collegiate 500 two weeks ago and ran 1:15.68 in a meet at Lynchburg, Va. She ran 1:14.45 in the Ivy Heps trials on Saturday before her breakthrough race on Sunday.

Here’s a look at the all-time Penn 500-meter list:

1:11.77 … Jesse Carlin, 2005
1:12.37 … Uchechi Nwogwugwu, 2019
1:12.68 … Jamie Massarelli, 2010
1:12.72 … Candace Taylor, 2015
1:12.75 … Nia Akins, 2017
1:13.04 … Skyla Wilson, 2022
1:13.36 … Taylor Hennig, 2015
1:13.44 … Aliya Garozzo, 2022
1:14.26 … Victoria Strickland, 2012
1:14.56 … Dana McCurdy, 2005
1:14.65 … Mikayla Schneider, 2017

Garozzo did run a 500 in high school, clocking 1:19.16 as a PVI junior in another meet at the Armory, so she had some experience at the distance. 

Her best event is the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, which she won both as a junior and a senior at the state Parochial A meet. Her PR of 1:00.16 at the 2019 New Balance Nationals in Greensboro is No. 6 in South Jersey history and earned her All-America honors with a 5th-place finish.

Safe to say a 1:13.44 in a speed-strength event like the 500 augurs well for her performance in the 400IH this spring.

Garozzo also ran a 56.72 third leg on Penn’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:47.46.

Northern Burlington’s Liliah Gordon remained unbeaten this year at 3,200 meters with a PR win at the state Group 3 meet Saturday at the Bubble.

Gordon ran 11:06.89, three seconds below her winning time at sectionals a week earlier on the same track.

She fell about half a second off the school record of 11:06.43 set 27 years ago by Colleen Sunderland, who actually ran 11:10.32 for two miles at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. That converts to 10:06.43 for 3,200 meters.

This is the second straight year NBC has had a state champion. Lindsey Michie won the pole vault last year at 11-6. Michie and Gordon are the only Northern Burlington girls to win indoor state titles.

The last Northern girl to win a state title on the track indoors or out was Sunderland, who won the state Group 3 3,200 outdoors in 1995 in 10:58.23.

Gordon finished three meters ahead of Toms River South senior Taylor Guthrie, second in 11:07.40. Mainland’s Sofia Day was 3^rdin 11:11, a five-second PR of her own.

Gordon is the No. 9 seed for the Meet of Champions 3,200, although at least a couple of the girls seeded faster than her will likely run the 1,600.

The 11:06.89 is fastest by a South Jersey freshman since Kingsway’s Chelsea Ley ran 11:00.79 at 2007 Group 3 states.

She moved up to No. 6 in Burlington County indoor history, and her time is 5^th-fastest among U.S. freshmen, according to MileSplit’s national database.

10:31.06 … Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 2012
10:46.63 … Erika Kemp [Rancocas Valley], 2013
10:55.58 … Nicole Clifford [Cherokee], 2022
11:00.7y … Deanna Germano (Shawnee), 1986
11:06.32y … Colleen Sunderland (Northern Burlington), 1995
11:06.89 … Lialah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 2022
11:08.85 … Nina Bendixen, [Shawnee], 2015
11:09.91 … Liliah Gordon [Northrn Burlington], 2022
11:10.88 … Caitlin Orr (Lenape), 2009
11:12.32 … Mara Schiffhauer [Seneca], 2014
 

Delsea graduate Josh Awotunde his first U.S. national team and will compete in the Indoor World Championships after placing 2^nd at USATF Nationals Sunday with a monster PR.

On his second throw at the Podium in Spokane, Awotunde threw the 16-pound shot 71-4, good for second behind world record holder and two-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser, who won the event with a world-leading 73-10 ¼.

The top two finishers in each event at U.S. Nationals this weekend form the U.S. team that will travel to World Indoors March 18-20 at Štark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.

Awotunde’s previous PR was 70-7 ½ from earlier this month in Louisville. He moved up from No. 20 to No. 13 in U.S. history and threw half a foot of his outdoor PR of 72-2 set in Italy in September, No. 15 in U.S. history.

His 71-4 is No. 4 in the world this year, behind Crouser on Sunday and Filip Mihaljević of Croatia [71-7 ¾ ] and Konra Bukowiecki of Poland [71-7 ½] both from a meet in Toruń, Poland, last weekend.

His throw is also No. 74 in world history.

Awotunde finished his series with a 68-4 ¼ and another 70-foot throw, a 70-2 ¼ on his fourth attempt. He fouled on his last two throws.

He’s now surpassed 70 feet four times in his last two meets after taking a PR of 69-11 ¾ into February, a four-year-old PR from the 2018 SEC Championships at College Station, Texas, while he was competing for South Carolina.

Awotunde finished more than two feet ahead of 3^rd-place Roger Steen, a former NCAA Division 3 champion at Wisconsin Eau Claire.

Closing in 55.4 for his final 400 and 27.1 for his final 200 (😲), Cornell freshman Brady Shute from Woodbury placed 3^rd in the 1,000 Sunday at the Ivy League Championships at the Armory.

Shute, who ran 2:25.68 in Saturday’s trials, lowered his time to 2:25.68 at a distance he had never run until this weekend.

https://results.armorytrack.com/meets/11222/events/425222/results

Shute, the No. 6 seed out of the qualifying rounds, was in 6^th place with a lap to go but passed three runners over the final 100 to move up into 3^rd.

He move up from 10^th to 7^th in Cornell history. Teammate Rhys Hammond ran 2:23.77 in the semis, No. 4 on that top-10 list, and placed 2^nd Sunday in 2:24.75. Princeton’s Harrison Witt won the final in 2:24.41.

Shute had never run a 1,000 until Saturday. He’s run 1:54.13 an 4:16.76 this year in his only previous open races.

Shute went out much faster Saturday [59.09 to 60.39] but finished much faster Sunday [1:24.84 final 600] compared to Saturday [1:26.59].

All-time Cornell 1,000-meter list
2:23.66 … Nick Wade, 2011
2:24.31 … Andrew Levy, 2009
2:24.35 … John Schilkowsky, 2011
2:23.77 … Rhys Hammond, 2022
2:24.58 … Jimmy Wyner, 2006
2:24.74 … Mike Franks, 1993
2:25.24 … Brady Shute, 2022
2:25.41 … Aldo Gonzalez, 2004
2:25.3h … Colin McClive, 1980
2:26.00 … Alex Mocarski, 2022

Shawnee graduate Kara Bonner ran a personal-best 4:55.27 mile Sunday at the Patriot Conference Championships at Bucknell.

Bonner, a Lehigh senior, placed 7th in the mile final after running 4:59.21 in Saturday’s trials. Bonner had a PR of 5:05.41 until earlier this month when she ran 4:55.86 on the banked 200-meter oval at the Armory.

Her 4:55.27 Sunday came on a flat, slow track at Bucknell’s Gerhard Fieldhouse.

Bonner was out in 73.38, 2:29.04 and 3:43.52 but closed in 71.76 for her final 400 and 35.09 for her final 200.

Unfortunately, Lehigh is one of the few schools that doesn’t have a top-10 list on its web site. 

I did look through year-by-year results and can tell you Bonner’s time is Lehigh’s 3rd-fastest over the past decade, behind only Clare Severe, who ran 4:45.41 at Boston University in 2019, and Maura Henderson, who ran 4:53.32 in 2017 at Ocean Breeze.

Bonner also ran a 2:15.04 leadoff on Lehigh’s winning 3,200-meter relay team, which set a meet and facility record of 8:50.37. 

Rancocas Valley’s Anabella Chin continued her outstanding senior season Saturday with her first state title and the fastest time by a Burlington County hurdler in 35 years.

Chin won the state Group 4 55-meter hurdles title at the Bubble in Toms River in 7.41 after a personal-best 7.28 in the trials.

Whether or not state officials seed Chin based on her time in the trials or the final, she’ll be the No. 2 seed at Meet of Champions Sunday behind U.S. No. 7 Ajanae Thompson of Union Catholic, who has run 8.14 and won Parochial A Friday in 8.21.

Chin is No. 15 nationally in the MileSplit database with her 8.28, which broke her previous PR of 8.33, which she ran at Ocean Breeze earlier this month.

Her time moves her into a tie for the No. 2 spot on the all-time Burlington County list, behind only two-time Olympic long jumper Carol Lewis of Willingboro, who ran 7.92 in 1981 at the Philadelphia Track Classic at the Spectrum, where she finished only 9-100ths of a second behind world record holder Candy Young of Fairleigh Dickinson. Lewis’s performance at the time ranked No. 4 in U.S. women’s track history. Lenape’s Jasmine Staten ran 7.28 at a meet at Lawrenceville in 2016.

Even though Chin didn’t run quite so fast in the final as she did in the prelims, she didn’t have to.

Racing in lane four, she ran away from the field, finishing nearly a meter ahead of East Orange senior Azariah Christopher, who placed second in 8.52. Millville senior Leah Ellis, the state Group 4 long jump chanp last spring, was 3^rd in 8.53.

Chin won a second state title when she teamed up with seniors Sanai Jenkins and Jya Marshall and junior Kasey White to win the 1,600-meter relay in 4:01.38. That makes the Red Devils No. 2 seed in the Meet of Champions behind Union Catholic, which won Parochial A in 4:00.47.

Chin also made the 55-meter dash final with a 7.39 in the trials and finished 7^th overall in 7.43. She won the South Jersey Group 4 meet with a PR 7.31 that makes her No. 2 in South Jersey this year behind Winslow’s Jaia James, who ran 7.20 Saturday to win the state Group 3 title.

All-time South Jersey 55 hurdles list
7.89 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.89 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], 2006
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
7.94 … Lenaami Morton [Camden], 2017
7.98 … Nichole Belcher [Woodrow Wilson], 1992
7.98 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2019
8.01 … Samantha Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2008
8.03 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.03 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2020
8.03 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2018
8.04 … Zonya Cross [Edgewood], 1983
8.05 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.06 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
8.10 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest], 1997
8.11 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.15 … Jewel Ash [Eastern], 2020
8.17 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.17 … Aliya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI], 2020
8.18 … Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015
8.18 … Te’seanna Harris [Camden], 2019
8.19 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp,], 2016
8.22 … Jamillah Nock [Wilson], 2004
8.23 … Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], 2019
8.24 … Malea Broome [Millville], 2019
8.26 … Jane Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2006
8.28 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2016
8.28 … Anabella Chin [Rancocas Valley], 2022
8.29 … Keisha Williams [Camden], 2015
8.29 … Meredith Updike [Cinnaminson], 2020

All-time Burlington County 55 hurdles top 10
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
8.28 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2016
8.28 … Anabella Chin [Rancocas Valley], 2022
8.29 … Meredith Updike [Cinnaminson], 2020
8.35 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], 1988
8.38 … Kimberly Allen [Willingboro], 2004
8.42 … Stephanie Maugham [Shawnee], 1995
8.42 … Ashley Edwards [Northern Burlington], 2015
8.44 … Yvette Murry [Cherokee], 1998
8.45 … Lindsey Walsh [Lenape], 2008
8.45 … Magenta Taylor [Willingboro], 1999

A.J. Brooks lined up for the Group 4 55-meter hurdles Saturday in lane 4, with the fastest hurdler in the country just to his right in lane 5.

That was Christopher Serrao of East Brunswick, who ran a U.S.-leading 7.29 at Group 4 sectionals earlier this month.

It was no contest. 

Brooks ran away from Serrao and everybody else in the race, winning his first state title and matching his lifetime best of 7.54.  Navonn Barrett of Trenton ran 7.71, edging Serrao for 2nd. Serrao placed 3rd in 7.74.

That made Brooks Eastern’s first indoor state champion in eight years, since Mikhail Micheaux won the 55 in 2014 in 6.60 and Eastern’s first state champ in the 55 hurdles since Preston Beckley ran 7.79 to win the 1993 race at Jadwin Gym over Willingboro’s Kenny Wade.

A far cry from Brooks’ last indoor state meet, when he placed 13th in the high jump and didn’t even qualify in the hurdles. That was two years ago, and Brooks has come a long way since.

They’ll all meet again next weekend at the Meet of Champions, but for Brooks it’s the culmination of a season that’s seen him lower his PR from 8.24 from last year in the only 55 hurdles race he ran during an abbreviated season down to 7.54, which is fastest by any South Jersey hurdler this year and fastest from all the groups at states.

Shamali Whittle of Nottingham is the No. 2 seed going into Meet of Champions with a 7.56 from the state Group 2 meet. Whittle is also ranked No. 9 nationally in the 55 with his 6.33 at sectionals.

Julia Greeley, a Seneca graduate and now a Lafayette freshman, recorded an indoor pole vault PR of 11-7 ¾ Saturday and medaled in her first collegiate conference meet Saturday.

Greeley tied for 7^th at the Patriot League Championships at Gerhard Fieldhouse on Bucknell’s campus in Lewisburg, Pa.

Greeley cleared 10-2, 10-8 and 11-1 ¾ on her first attempt and 11-7 ¾ on her second before three misses at 12-1 ½.

At Seneca, Greeley had an indoor best of 11-0 when she won the 2020 state Group 3 title at the Bubble. She cleared 11-9 outdoors when she won South Jersey Group 3 sectionals this past spring at Delsea.

Greeley’s mark is No. 2 on Lafayette’s all-time performance list and best in eight years, since Elise Buffinton set the school record of 12-11 ½ at the 2014 ECAC Championships in Boston.

Here’s a look at Lafayette’s all-time top-10:
12-11 ½ … Elise Buffinton, 2014
11-7 ¾ … Julia Greeley, 2022
11-5 ¾ … Mara Blanchard, 2015, 2017
11-5 ¾ … Claire Murphy, 2013
11-5 ¼ … Daria Szkwarko, 2006
11-3 ¾ … Jennifer Kihm, 2010
11-3 ¾ … Rebecca Slotkin, 2011
11-3 ¾ … Brooke Kohler, 2010, 2011
11-3 ¾ … Ambyr Craw, 2002
11-0 ¾ … Annie Hathaway, 2020

Jessica Woodard placed 3^rd at USATF Nationals Saturday and popped her second indoor PR of the month.

Woodard, a Cherokee graduate, threw the shot put 61-4 ¼, placing third behind 2019 World Outdoor Championships finalists Maggie Ewen [world No. 1 64-11 ¼] and Chase Ealey [62-8] at the Podium in Spokane, Wash.

It was Woodard’s best finish ever at a national championship meet and she finished only 15 ½ inches from 2^ndplace and a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships March 18-20 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Woodard had an indoor PR of 59-0 ¼ coming into this indoor season, but she’s now PR’d in all three meets she’s competed in with a 59-6 last month in Phoenix, then 60-7 ½ two weeks ago in Albuquerque and now 61-4 ¼ in Spokane.

Her mark Saturday is No. 13 in the world this year, No. 5 among U.S. women this year and No. 20 in U.S. history.

Woodard fouled on her first attempt and then got off a 59-10 ¼ throw to get her into the mix. After another foul, she popped her 61-4 ¼. She followed with a 59-2 ¾ before surpassing 60 feet again with a 60-10 – her 2^nd-best throw ever.

Her four legal throws averaged 60-3 ¾, which is better than her PR earlier this month.

Woodard has now made the finals in seven straight national championships meets.

She was 8th at the 2017 outdoor championships, 9th at the 2018 outdoor championships, 7th at the 2019 indoor championships and 6th outdoors, 6th at the 2020 indoor championships, 7th in the shot at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials  She also placed 13th at 2017 Outdoor Nationals I the discus.

Last time she didn’t reach a final was at the 2016 Olympic Trials, when she was 21 years old and a sophomore at Oklahoma.