In his final conference meet, Bucknell senior and Egg Harbor Township graduate Alex Dessoye ran a huge 400 PR.

Racing at the Patriot League meet at Army in West Point, N.Y., Dessoyte ran 47.60 to place second to Navy senior Eric Hughey, who won the race in 47.60. Dessoye was only the sixth seed going into the final with a 48.99 in the final.

Dessoye’s PR going into the race was a 48.26 from the 2017 South Jersey Group 4 meet on his home track at Egg Harbor, when he placed a close second to teammate Amir Brock, who ran 48.23. His collegiate best was a 48.62 from the 2019 Patriot League meet at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. 

His 47.60 is No. 5 in school history, according to the school’s web site.

Click to access MTrackRecordBook2019.pdf

Alex and his brother Robert ran the second and third legs on Bucknell’s 3rd-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:16.00. Alex also anchored the 3rd-place 400-meter relay team, which ran 41.59.

Jude Misko is the best hammer thrower in NCAA Division 3.

And his rival, Darren Wan, keeps getting closer.

Misko, a senior at Rutgers-Camden from Cherry Hill East, and Wan, a senior at Stockton from Egg Harbor Township High School, are two of the top hammer throwers in the country and they keep bringing the best out of each other in their frequent head-to-head meetings. 

Wan hasn’t beaten Misko yet this spring, but this past weekend at the Osprey Invitational in Galloway Township he came as close as he has yet, falling less than five feet off of another Misko bomb.

Wan threw a massive PR of 190-10, more than 10 feet beyond his previous lifetime best of 180-7, which he threw in a meet at Stockton early last month.

Misko threw 195-8 on his fourth throw to win the event. He had a huge series, with a 191-10 and a 193-2 in addition to the 195-8. On his four legal throws he averaged 191-2.

Wan actually PR’d twice, first with a 182-2 on his fourth throw and then with the 190-10 bomb on his final attempt. He averaged 178-8 on his five legal throws, an average throw just two feet under his previous PR.

Misko is No. 1 in Division 3 with his 200-9 throw from the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at Franklin Field last weekend. Wan is now ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division 3.

This is the first time since at least 2012 (as far back as the TFRRS rankings go) that even one NJAC hammer thrower has surpassed 195 feet, and now two have done it.

Misko came into the season with a PR of 179-1, which he set in the spring of 2019 in a meet at Widener University in Chester. He’s broken that three times, as you can see in the comparison below.

Wan’s PR coming into this year was 169-11, which he set at the 2019 New Jersey Athletic Championships at Stockton. He too has PR’d three times this year.

Two of Misko’s PRs this spring have been set in head-to-head matchups with Wan, and all three of Wan’s PRs have been set in head-to-head meetings with Misko.

They’re two of the best in the country, they both went to high school in South Jersey, they’re both throwing in college in South Jersey, and they keep getting better. This is a fun one to keep watching.

Stockton Invite #1, March 26, Galloway Township
Misko: 1st, 190-2 
Wan: 2nd, 174-2

Stockton Invite #2, April 2, Galloway Township
Misko: 1st, 195-5
Wan: 2nd, 180-7

Bill Butler Invitational, April 10, West Chester, Pa.
Misko: DNC
Wan: 1st, 176-4

Stockton Invite #3, April 16, Galloway Township
Misko: DNC
Wan: 1st, 178-5

Bill Fritz Invitational, April 17, Glassboro
Misko: 1st, 184-4
Wan: DNC

Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational, April 24, Philadelphia
Misko: 1st, 200-9
Wan: DNC

Osprey Twilight Invitational, April 30, Galloway Township
Misko: 1st, 195-8
Wan: 2nd, 190-10

Florence’s Hunter Daly, a junior at Stockton University, recorded a big high jump PR of 6-9 1/2 this weekend at the Osprey Twilight Invitational in Galloway Township.

He actually recorded three PRs in one meet!

Daly’s 6-9 1/2 jump puts him in a tie for the No. 4 spot in the country in NCAA Division 3 and No. 1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Daly’s previous PR was 6-6 3/4, which he first cleared indoors at the 2020 NJAC Championships at Ocean Breeze and then matched outdoors in a meet at West Chester University last month.

Daly entered the competition at 6-0 3/4, which he cleared on his first try. After he cleared 6-2 3/4 on his first attempt to win the meet, he had the bar moved up to a PR 6-7 1/2, which he also cleared on his first try.

He then made 6-8 3/4 and 6-9 1/2 both on his first attempts for his second and third PRs of the day.

After the 6-9 1/2 clearance, he had the bar moved up to 6-10 3/4, where he missed three attempts.

Daly’s high school PR was 6-6 from the 2017 Woodbury Relays. He won the Burlington County Open at Rancocas Valley as a senior and then won the state Group 1 title at Hillsborough.

Stockton’s school record is 6-11 3/4, set in 2006 by Paul Klemic, who was the 2000 Foot Locker National national champion for Mainland Regional, with a clearance of 7-4 1/2. Klemic also holds Stockton’s long jump record at 25-2 at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, from when he won the first of his two consecutive NCAA Division 3 long jump titles.

 

Lenape graduate Alexa Woltjen, now a sophomore at North Carolina Wilmington, ran a huge 1,500 PR Saturday at the Colonial Athletic Conference Championships at James Madison University’s Sentara Park in Harrisonburg, Va.

After a 4:48.25 in the prelims on Friday, Woltjen ran 4:40.15 in the final. Her time is  No. 7 in Seahawks  history and fastest in five years.

Woltjen’s previous PR was 4:41.19 from a meet in Columbia, S.C., last month. 

Woltjen spent 2019 attending the University of Maryland, where she had a 1,500 PR of 4:46.76 from a meet in Charlottesville.

At Lenape, Woltjen ran 2:17.28 and 5:01.63 and placed seventh in the 2017 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.

Rowan freshman Jah’mere Beasley ran the fastest 200 in NCAA Division 3 this year Saturday in Glassboro.

And matched the school record along the way.

Beasley, a Sterling graduate, ran 21.18, and three other Rowan Profs dipped under 22 second as well.

Beasley, racing with a legal wind of +1.7, locked up with Ibrahim Ayorinde and Daniel Duncan of Princeton, Ayorinde winning in 20.88, Duncan clocking 21.06 and Beasley 21.18 at the Fast Times Before Finals at Rowan.

He bumped J.P. Vaught of Centre College in Danville, Ky., who previously held the No. 1 time in Division 3 at 21.25 from a meet at Mount Berry, Ga., back in March.

Beasley’s previous PR was a 21.30, which he ran on the same track last month. He also ran 21.30 at the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington.

Beasley tied the school record set by Glassboro High graduate Ali Ejaz in 2012 in the prelims of the NCAA Championships in Claremont, Calif. (Ejaz ran 21.31 for fourth in the final).

https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/2008/2/26/MTrackRecords.aspx?path=mtrack

His time is fastest by a New Jersey Athletic Conference sprinter in at least 10 years and probably much farther back, but those records aren’t available.

The meet record at the NJAC meet is 21.29, set in 2001 by Vineland High School graduate Robert Hargrove of William Paterson. 

https://njacsports.com/sports/2009/8/13/sidebar_425.aspx?path=motrack

Also under 22 for the Profs were another Sterling graduate, junior Francis Terry [21.77], junior Justin Bishop of Mainland Regional [21.79] and freshman Amara Conte of Ferris High in Jersey City [21.92].

This was Bishop’s first outdoor 200 in more than three years. He ran 22.60 in a meet at Rowan in April of 2018.

Terry and Conte ran in an earlier section than Beasley and Bishop, and their race was slightly wind-aided at 2.1. But they were PRs as well. Terry’s previous PR was 21.82 from a meet in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in April of 2018. This was Conte’s first collegiate 200. His PR at Ferris High was 22.87 at 2019 North 2 Group 3 sectionals at Middletown North.

Beasley tied the school record set by Glassboro High graduate Ali Ejaz in 2012 in the prelims of the NCAA Championships in Claremont, Calif. (Ejaz ran 21.31 for fourth in the final).

https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/2008/2/26/MTrackRecords.aspx?path=mtrack

If you add up the four 200 times you get 1:26.66. The school record is 1:25.46, set by Rich Forbes, Keith Thomas, Ronald Moore and Willie Lawson at the 1985 Penn Relays, when the school was known as Glassboro State.

Allison Colflesh, Peyton Weiner, Lindsay Colflesh and Sarah Naticchia teamed up Saturday to run the 9th-fastest distance medley in South Jersey history.

Haddonfield won the event at the Blue Devil Classic at Westfield High School in 12:06.82. 

That’s the 3rd-fastest time in school history and Haddonfield’s fastest since the 2014 team ran 12:02.37 at the Penn Relays.

Allison Colflesh led off in 3:38.5 for the 1,200 and Weinert split 61.9. Lindsay Colflesh followed with a 2:21.0 leg to set up Naticchia, who anchored in 5:05.9.

Haddonfield’s time is No. 3 in the country this year according to the Mile Split database, behind only Pioneer High of Ann Arbor, Mioch., which ran [11:59.79 last month, and McBain, also of Michigan, which ran 12:01.87 at a different meet last month at Northern Michigan Christian School.

Cherokee placed second in 12:31.63, No. 2 in New Jersey this year and No. 16 nationally.

Kelsey Niglio [3:47.6], Meghan Carroll [61.8], Erin Jackson [2:27.5] and Nikki Clifford [5:14.2] ran for Cherokee.

Here’s a look at all the sub-12:20 times in South Jersey history. Click here for the all-time South Jersey top-50.

11:53.15 … Lenape, 2012
12:00.64 … Ocean City, 2004
12:02.34 … Haddonfield 2000
12:02.37 … Haddonfield, 2014
12:04.39 … Lenape, 2010
12:05.39 … Ocean City 2005
12:05.98 … Sterling, 2017
12:06.73 … Ocean City 1994
12:07.21 … Lenape 2008
12:08.61 … Ocean City, 2014
12:10.75 … Sterling, 2016
12:10.76 … Lenape, 2017
12:12.24 … Millville, 2009
12:13.16 … Bishop Eustace, 2011
12:14.05 … Cherry Hill East, 2007
12:14.24 … Highland, 2004
12:14.61 … Lenape, 2013
12:15.42 … Ocean City, 2015
12:16.79 … Lenape, 2015
12:18.27 … Bishop Eustace, 1995
12:18.29 … Shawnee, 2012
12:19.26 … Woodrow Wilson, 2001
12:19.41 … Rancocas Valley, 2011
12:19.46 … Ocean City, 2013
12:19.60 … Shawnee, 2015
12:19.79 … Haddonfield, 2015

Rowan’s Amara Conte, Jah’mere Beasley, Justin Bishop and Francis Terry teamed up Saturday to run the fastest 4-by-4 in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Racing in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at Franklin Field, Rowan ran 3:12.35, finishing just behind Penn [3:12.16] and beating Division 1 schools St. Joe’s [3:15.63] and Villanova [3:17.34].

After Conte opened with a 49.01, Beasley split 48.20 and Bishop 47.06 to set up Terry’s 48.09 anchor leg.

Conte is a freshman from Ferris High in Jersey City, but there three other legs are from South Jersey – Beasley is a sophomore from Sterling, Bishop a senior from Mainland Regional and Terry a senior, also from Sterling.

Rowan’s previous-best time this spring was a 3:15.86 in a meet at West Chester University earlier this month with a lineup that included Terry leading off along with junior Hunter Barbieri of Egg Harbor Township, Conte and Vincent Delle of Old Bridge.

That time is No. 6 in Division 3 so far this year, and another Rowan 4-by-4 – 3:16.53 in Glassboro two weeks ago – is No. 9. That team included Barbieri, Conte, Bishop and Terry.

With their 3:12.35, the Profs knocked Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio, out of the top spot on the 2021 NCAA Division 3 list. Mount Union ran 3:13.43 at a meet at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.

Rowan’s time is just over two seconds off the school record of 3:10.10 set by Deptford’s Tommy Adams and Overbrook’s Ronald Moore along with Keith Thomas and Willie Lawson in 1985 when the school was known as Glassboro State. That quartet went on to win the NCAA Division 3 title in Granville, Ohio, in 3:11.57.

One thing about that 1985 team: I can’t for the life of me figure out where the Profs ran that 3:10.10 (and I covered them for the Gloucester County Times!). If you were on that team or remember the race, let me know! 

After a brief stay at Towson, Elisia Lancaster has resurfaced at Southern Illinois and has taken her track career to another level.

Lancaster, a Delsea graduate, began her collegiate career at Indiana State but it appears she never competed for the Sycamores.

She returned to South Jersey and was a six-time JUCO national champion in the discus, hammer and shot put competing for Rowan College-Gloucester County. The school’s web site doesn’t list any school records, but it looks like her best marks while at Rowan-GC were 182-2 in the hammer, 43-5 1/4 in the shot and 126-4 in the discus.

Lancaster spent the 2020 winter season at Towson and threw 41-4 in the shot and 64-9 in the weight throw, which is No. 6 in school history. She never competed outdoors for Towson.

Lancaster re-emerged at Southern Illinois this year and indoors she threw 64-7 3/4 in the weight throw, just off her Towson PR, and placed second in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She even competed in a meet at Indiana State in Terre Haute, where she began her collegiate career four years earlier.

This spring, Lancaster has finally gotten the opportunity to throw the hammer for the first time since the spring of 2019.

That 182-2 PR?

She blew it away in her first meet, throwing 188-0 in a home meet in Carbondale in March, then bombed a 199-0 throw a week later in a meet at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. She has since thrown 194-9, 194-8 and 197-10 in her last three meets.

Her 199-0 is No. 9 in school history.

Lancaster’s 199-0 is No. 2 in the Missouri Valley Conference, behind All-America teammate Shauniece O’Neal, who threw 211-2 last month.

Lancaster, a 2016 graduate of Delsea, had PRs of 39-8 in the shot and 124-5 in the discus for the Crusaders. She was a state medalist in the shot and a sectional medalist in the discus.

Southern Illinois has a long tradition as one of the top throwing programs in the country. Among the notable graduates are 2016 Olympic hammer thrower DeAnna Price and NCAA javelin champ Bob Roggy, a graduate of Holmdel High School and the former American record holder in the old javelin.

In her first outdoor collegiate race, Pennsville graduate Arianna Smith won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the Princeton Invitational Sunday.

Smith ran 1:02.88 despite being the only runner in the race. The cutoff for Princeton’s all-time top-10 is 1:02.07, so in her very first collegiate 400IH race she ran less than a second off the all-time school performance list.

https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/2012/5/10/205425944.aspx?id=618

Smith had not competed outdoors since June of 2019, when she placed 8th at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. A week earlier she won the Meet of Champions with a PR 1:00.13 at Northern Burlington, No. 5 in South Jersey history.

Big day for Bloomfield junior MarQuel Davis from Deptford High at the New Jersey Relays in Jersey City.

Davis easily won the 100-meter dash with a wind-legal 10.84 – second place was 11.19 – after an 11.03 in the trials.

That’s Davis’s second-fastest 100 race ever and his fastest since he won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference title with a 10.69 in Lakewood back in May of 2019.

It’s also fastest ion the CACC so far this year and the only time under 11 seconds.

This was actually his first open 100 since that race.

Davis has a 200 PR of 21.58 but hasn’t run one yet this spring.

Another Deptford athlete, senior Ja’haud Lowber, won the long jump with a personal-best 22-1 3/4 (no wind info listed) and also took second in the triple jump at 44-3 1/4. He’s gone as far as 47-2 1/2.

Also for Bloomfield, Willingboro grad Tyler Davidson, a senior, won the intermediate hurdles at 57.98.

Davis also anchored Bloomfield’s winning 400-meter relay team [43.04] and ran on the 2nd-place 800-meter relay team along with senior Samuel Keleekai of Rancocas Valley. Keleekai, Davis and Davidson all ran on Bloomfield’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:27.04.

Davidson and Rancocas Valley graduate Vincent Brown ran on Bloomfield’s 3,200-meter relay team [8:18.80], Brown and Rancocas Valley’s Isaiah Curbelo ran on the sprint medley and Brown ran on the DMR.

Bloomfield’s connection to South Jersey is assistant coach Jerome Robinson, the 1986 state Group 1 high jump champion for Bordentown.