In his first race in 13 months, Bishop Eustace graduate and Lehigh sophomore Conor Melko ran 14:47 to place second in an indoor 5,000 at Lehigh’s Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem.

This was technically a Lehigh cross country dual meet against Loyola of Baltimore. Lehigh won 16-47.

Melko and senior Michael Mitchell took turns leading the field before Mitchell took lead the lead with nine laps to go in the 25-lap race and won in 14:36.

Times in 100ths were not available listed in the results.

Melko, a Mickleton native, had never run an indoor 5,000 before. In his only previous track 5,000, he ran 14:47.53, placing 9th at the 2019 New Balance National Championships outdoors at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C.

Melko ran 1:56.47, 4:16.20 and 9:06.52 at Eustace. He was state Parochial B XC champ in the fall of 2018.

This was his first race since he ran a 1,000 in 2:35.27 in a dual meet against Lafayette on the same track in January of 2020. 

Delsea grad Nico Morales set an indoor pole vault PR Friday outside Cleveland.

Morales, a Rutgers freshman, cleared 15-7 on his third try at the B1G Indoor Invitational at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

His previous collegiate PR was 15-5 3/4 last month in a meet at Penn State. 

His previous indoor PR was 15-6, which he cleared five times at Delsea – three times as a junior and twice as a senior. Morales tied his overall PR of 15-7, which he set at the 2019 outdoor Tri-County Conference Championships at Delsea.

Morales’s 15-7 makes him the No. 2 freshman in the Big Ten, behind Chandlar Ifft of Wisconsin, who cleared 16-0 3/4 in a meet at the University of Iowa last month. 

With his 15-7 clearance, Morales moves into the No. 9 position on the all-time Rutgers indoor list.

Toni Glatz, a Delsea graduate now running for Mississippi, clocked a personal-best 55.91 in the 400 at the Razorback Invitational at the Randall Tyson Track in Fayetteville.

That’s No. 16 in school history but No. 6 excluding over-sized tracks (longer than 200 meters).

Glatz destroyed her PR of 56.15, which she set outdoors as a sophomore at LIU Brooklyn in the spring of 2019. Her previous indoor PR was a 56.99 at the 2019 Northeastern Conference Championships.

Her fastest previous 400 at Ole Miss was a 57.23 a year ago this week at the Texas Tech Shootout in Lubbock, Texas.

Glatz also ran 12.24 and 24.30 outdoors. She has yet to compete outdoors for Mississippi. She’s run 7.92 indoors for 60 meters (while at LIU).

At Delsea, Glatz ran 25.17 and 57.47 outdoors – both at the 2017 sectionals on her home track at Delsea – and was a state medalist in both races. She ran 24.96 indoors in the trials of the 2017 Eastern’s.

Glatz’s father is former Triton hurdles star Anthony Acklin, who coaches sprinters at Mississippi. Acklin placed second in the 55-meter hurdles at the 2001 indoor Meet of Champions and third in the 110-meter highs at the outdoor Meet of Champions.

Williamstown’s Edwyn Pierre is enjoying a breakout junior year for Rutgers in the high hurdles.

Pierre came into this season with a 60-meter highs PR of 8.19 from a meet at Ocean Breeze in January of 2019.

He didn’t compete outdoors in 2019 or indoors or outdoors in 2020, so coming into January he hadn’t raced in two years.

But at a meet at Penn State’s Ashenfelter Track on Jan. 16 – his first race in 23 months – he ran a huge PR of 8.04, finishing just 16-100ths of a second behind Penn State sophmore Sincere Rhea, the 2019 national indoor scholastic champion from St. Augustine, who won the race in 7.88.

Pierre backed the 8.04 up with an 8.09 a week later in the trials of another meet at Penn State (then 8.13 in the finals) and then ran 8.12 last weekend, again in State College.

So Pierre has run four high hurdles races this indoor season and they’re all well under his previous PR.

Pierre now ranks 10th in the Big Ten this indoor season. Rhea ranks No. 3 with his 7.88 (which he’s run twice).

According to Rutgers’ media guide, Pierre’s 8.04 equals the No. 4 mark in school history and is fastest since Chais Hill of Highland ran 7.97 at the 2016 Big Ten Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

7.86 … Kyle Grady, 2010
7.91 … Dave Klics, 2004
7.97 … Chais Hill, 2016
8.04h … Ray Davis, 2010
8.15 … Ameer Wright, 2010

Pierre has outdoor PRs of 14.42 for the 110 highs (No. 8 in school history) and 52.71 for the 400 intermediates (No. 9 in school history).

(Interesting to note that four of the eight-fastest 400IH times in Rutgers history were recorded by South Jersey hurdlers: Delsea’s Aaron Younger set the school record of 50.65 in 2010, Lenape’s Steve Swern is No. 4 at 51.68, Delran’s Harran Williams is No. 7 at 52.19 and Pierre is No. 9.)

Erika Kemp will take a shot at the rarely run two-mile distance this weekend.

Kemp, a Rancocas Valley graduate, is in a loaded field for the two-mile run at the 2021 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, scheduled for Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College just outside Boston. The race is scheduled for 4:46 p.m.

Kemp has tremendous range, from 4:17.84 for 1,500 meters to 31:35.63 for 10,000 meters. Her strongest distance is likely the 5,000, but the two-mile should be right in her wheelhouse.

Her PR for 3,000 meters is a scalding 8:53.06 a year ago this week at the Armory, which is No. 37 in U.S. history and was No. 29 in the world in 2020.

Kemp’s last indoor race was a brilliant 15:14.76 for 5,000 meters in Boston late last February, which got her a No. 13 world ranking last year and is No. 17 all-time U.S. and No. 45 on the all-time world list.

Her last track race was a 10,000 outdoors in December in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., when she ran that 31:35.63, which is No. 28 on the all-time U.S. list and made her No. 21 in the world in 2020.

Although Kemp has run plenty of 3,000s, her last actual two-mileor metric equivalent was a 5th place in the 2013 Meet of Champions in South Plainfield in 10:40.95 in her senior year at R.V.

Kemp was the state Group 4 champ at 3,200 meters both indoors (10:46.63) and outdoors (10:43.02) at Rancocas Valley. She was a six-time All-America in the 3,000, 5,000 and XC at North Carolina State.

Among the others in the field Saturday in Boston are Emily Lipari, a two-time NCAA champ at Villanova who’s run 15:17.72 for 5,000 meters; Olympic steeplechase bronze medalist Emma Coburn; and three-time NCAA champ Dani Jones.

The two-mile run is rarely contested on the collegiate, national or internatonal level, but it is held occasionally.

Jenny Simpson set the U.S. record of 9:16.78 in Des Moines in April of 2018, and 33 U.S. women have run sub-10 minutes. That’s also the world record, not surprisingly because the 2M has probably never been contested outside the U.S.

The New Jersey alumni record is 10:16.30 by Bernards High School graduate Dana Giorano in Greensboro, N.C., in 2012. 

Another meet and another PR for Cherokee graduate Lucciano Pizarro, a freshman at Penn State. 

Pizarro heaved the 16-pound shot 55-1 1/2 Saturday at a Penn State Tai-Meet at the Ashenfelter Center in State College, Pa. 

Pizarro, in his first three college meets, has improved from 50-3 1/4 to 53-10 1/2 to 55-1 1/2.

Pizarro popped his 55-1 1/2 on his second throw in a meet against Rutgers and Maryland. He finished behind only two teammates – senior Ben Peterson (59-5 1/2) and freshman Duane Knisley (55-4 3/4).

Penn State has its first meet away from State College this weekend with the Big Ten Preview at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, which will host the Big Ten Championships later this month.

In her first meet in nearly a year, Delsea graduate and Villanova junior Ashley Preston won the pole vault in the Wildcats’ season-opening dual meet against Army. 

Preston, a three-time Big East pole vault champ, cleared 12-5 1/2 in the meet at Gillis Fieldhouse in West Point, N.Y.

Preston passed through 11-7 1/4, then cleared 12-1 1/4 on her third attempt and 12-5 1/2 on her third attempt.

The official results show Preston raising the bar to 20-5 1/2 and missing three attempts, but considering that that’s about 4 1/2 feet above the world record we’re going to assume it’s a typo!

 

It was Preston’s first meet since she won the Big East 2020 indoor meet at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, with a personal-best 13-3 1/2. Preston’s outdoor PR is 13-2 1/4 from the 2019 Big East meet at Icahn Stadium in New York – her last outdoor competition.

Preston ranks 3rd in Villanova history indoors and 4th overall with her 13-3 1/2 clearance from last March. She’s never lost at a Big East meet.

Mount Laurel native Marielle Hall got a lane in a fast outdoor 3,000 Saturday and ran 9:05.72 in a star-studded field.

Hall, a Haddonfield High School graduate and a 2016 Olympian at 10,000 meters, placed eighth in the race held at Brophy College Prep High School in Phoenix.

Canadian Gabriela Debuts-Stafford won in 8:38.51, and Colleen Quigley [8:40.23], Karissa Schwiizer [8:40.25] and Elise Cranny [8:40.33] were all within two seconds of the lead.

Hall ran her PR of 8:48.72 in Portland, Ore., in July, which was her last race. The 9:05.72 is her 3rd-fastest time. The race Saturday produced the eight-fastest times so far in the world this year.

Hall came through 1,000 meters in 2:56.7 and hit 1,800 meters in a very fast 5:18.9, which had her in the lead group and on 8:51 pace. But a 75 and a 77 hurt her sub-9 hopes before she closed in 74.

Hall has PRs of 4:32.77 in the mile, 15:02.27 for 5,000 meters and 31:05.71 in the 10,000. 

Former South Jersey sprinters Dennisha Page and Bria Mack finished 1-2 Sunday in the 60-meter dash at a Penn State Tri-Meet in State College.

Page, a sophomore at Rutgers from Wilson, won the race in 7.58 and Mack, a Maryland senior from Williamstown, was second in 7.62.

Aliyah Harrison, a Rutgers junior from Sterling, made it three South Jersey girls among the top six, finishing sixth in 7.93.

Page, a transfer from Syracuse, was competing in her first race for Rutgers. She ran within 8-100ths of her PR of 7.50, which she set for Syracuse at the Greg Page Relays in December of 2019 at Cornell University’s Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y.

Page’s 7.58 ranks No. 7 in Rutgers history. The school record of 7.34 was set at the 2016 Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio, by Williamstown High School graduate Gabrielle Farquharson.

Mack, a transfer from Florida, ran within 4-100ths of a second of her 60-meter PR of 7.58, which she ran on the same track in January of 2019.

Collingswood senior Josh Forrest ran 9:25.55 for a full two miles Saturday at the East Coast Invitational at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

Forrest ran 4:41.7 and 4:43.9 placed 10th overall. It was his first race since running 15:23.65 for 5,000 meters in October in an outdoor 5,000 in Edison.

Forrest has run mainly the 800 and 1,600 in his high school career on the track, and this was his first 3,200 or two-mile either indoors or outdoors.

A 9:25.55 converts to 9:22.27 for 3,200 meters, which would put Forrest at No. 26 in South Jersey history and No. 8 by a Colonial Conference two-miler. Here’s the all-time Colonial Conference sub-9:30 list:

8:58.81 ….. Jonathan Vitez [Haddonfield], 2010
9:10.4y ….. Ken Medlin [Haddon Township, 1970
9:11.1y ..… Mike Butynes [Sterling], 1970
9:11.2y ..… Mike Elder [Haddon Twp.], 1974
9:14.31 ….. Jimmy Daniels [Sterling], 2013
9:14.70 … Martin Riddell [Haddonfield], 2020
9:16.7y … Jim Smith [Haddonfield], 1980
9:22.27y … Josh Forrest [Collingswood], 2021
9:22.60 … Brian Goldberg [Haddonfield], 2004
9:24.21 … Owen Long [Haddon Twp.], 2016
9:26.43 … Dan Gough [Haddonfield], 1987
9:28.51 … Matt Mitchell [Haddon Heights], 2006
9:28.99 … Chris Platt [Haddonfield], 2002