A little bit ago we wrote about Jewel Ash winning the 400 at the state Group 4 meet. Younger sister Jailya, a junior at Eastern just won the 55-meter hurdles, and she did it with a personal-best and the No. 2 time in the state this year.

Jailya ran 8.08 at the Bubble and ran away with the race, winning by a full meter over Hillsborough junior Kirstyn Schechter. 

The only faster hurdler in the state this year is Paramus Catholic senior Mariah Fede, who ran 8.02 to win Easterns earlier this month at the Armory.

Her time is No. 13 in South Jersey history and No. 18 in the U.S. this year according to the MileSplit national database and No. 8 among juniors.

Jewel Ash also medaled in the hurdles with an 8.38 for fourth place.

Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey list:

ALL-TIME S.J. 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 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2018
8.04 … Zonya Cross [Edgewood], 1983
8.05 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.06 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
8.08 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], 2019
8.10 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest], 1997

Eastern senior Jewel Ash started out the state Group 4 meet in style with her second straight win in the 400-meter dash.

Ash ran 57.89, her second straight meet under 58 seconds, and outran Hunterdon Central’s Katherine Loew, who placed second in 58.29 Millville soph Bryanna Craig, the national pentathlon champ last spring, was third in 58.71.

Ash won the state Group 4 title last year in 58.46 and ran a PR 57.69 to win the sectional race last weekend. So she ran only 2-10ths of a second off that on Saturday morning back at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Ash and her younger sister Jailya, a junior, are the top two seeds in the 55-meter hurdles, Jewel with an 8.15 and Jailya at 8.20. 

Jewel and Jailya are both also among the top seeds in the 55-meter dash, Jewel with 7.26 and Jailya at 7.31.

Rancocas Valley’s Aliyah Taylor won the state Group 4 title in 2018 and 2019 so it’s four straight years for South Jersey quarter-milers. Before that no S.J. girl had won the NJ-4 400 title since Nijgia Snapp of Oakcrest ran 55.33 in 2009.

Penn State freshman Sincere Rhea ran a PR in the 60-meter high hurdles Friday and advanced to the finals at the Big Ten Conference Championships.

Rhea, the national scholastic indoor champion last year for St. Augustine and outdoor Meet of Champions 400 winner, ran 7.76, the second-fastest qualifying time going into Saturday’s final.

 

That’s No. 2 in Penn State history and faster in 19 years!

Jaylan McConico, an Iowa senior, ran 7.72. McConico is ranks No. 2 in NCAA Division 1 at 7.60 from the Tyson Invitational earlier this month in Fayetteville, Ark. He’s the defending champion with a 7.79 from last year and a two-time NCAA qualifier.

Rhea’s 7.76 is No. 17 in NCAA Division 1 and moves Rhea ahead of Brithton Senior of South Dakota as the No. 1 freshman in the U.S. Senior ran 7.77 earlier this month at the Iowa State Classic in Ames Iowa.

Rhea’s previous PR was 7.81 at the Penn State National Open.

The Big 10 hurdles final is scheduled for 2:50 p.m. on Saturday. The meet is being held at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Rhea raced McConico last month in a meet in Lexington, Ky. McConico won in 7.72 and Rhea ran 7.86, which at the time was his PR.

In Penn State history, Rhea trails only Guy Rose, who set the school record of 7.69 in 2001. He’s also the outdoor school record holder in the 110 highs over the 42-inch barriers at 13.56. 

Rose, like Rhea, is a former New Jersey Meet of Champions winner. He won the 1998 title as a junior at Wayne Hills High in Passaic County, out-leaning Camden’s Danyne Brown before Brown beat him the next year. 

 

Rhea also ran 21.49 in the 200, missing the two-race final on Saturday on a photo finish. Justin Becker of Purdue also ran 21.49 and advanced. The official results inexplicably don’t show the times down to the 1,000th-of-a-second.

Holy Spirit sophomore Morgan Keil, who hadn’t broken 30 feet in the shot put until about two months ago, is now a state champion.

Keil threw a personal-best 34-8 1/2 to win the shot at the Parochial B state championships at the Bennett Center Friday afternoon.

She won by 6 1/2 inches over China Efobi of Mater Dei. Teammate Julia Bannan, a junior at Holy Spirit, was third with a throw of 33-9.

Keil had a PR of 27-1 1/4 last winter and first broke 30 feet at the Bennett Center a few days after Christmas with a 30-7 1/4. She extended her PR to 32-5 at the state relays, then 33-2 at the NJCTC freshman-sophomore meet earlier this month and then to 34-1 1/4 at a SJTCA meet earlier this week.

So she’s now PR’d at six of seven meets this winter, including four in a row.

Her mark is No. 3 among South Jersey sophomores this year and No. 2 in Atlantic County, behind another sophomore, Tey’ana Ames of Atlantic County Tech in Mays Landing, who threw 37-0 at Easterns.

It looks like Keil broke the Holy Spirit indoor school record of 34-6 that Bannan set on Monday when she was third at states.

She’s Holy Spirit’s first individual state champion since Asia Young in the 400 in 2016, although Holy Spirit did win the state title in the 4-by-4 at 4:13.74 in 2017 with Isabella Desario, Ayana Plummer, Christine Conaghy and Kristy Goff.

She’s also Holy Spirit’s first state indoor shot put champion ever and the first sophomore in school history to win an indoor state title.

Pitman graduate Alyssa Sanders won her first collegiate conference title earlier this week.

Sanders, a Rowan junior, ran 5:16.22 to win the mile Monday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze.

Sanders and teammate Dianne Ferraro [5:17.80] finished 1-2. Sanders finished second in the 1,500 at last year’s outdoor NJAC, behind Rowan senior Hannah Vendetta, her Panthers high school teammate.

Sanders ran within two seconds of her mile PR of 5:14.04, which she set at last year’s AARTFC Championships in Ithaca, N.Y.

A group of eight runners came through 800 meters, all between 2:39 and 2:40, but by the time the pack hit 400 to go, Sanders, Ferraro and Safiya Ratliff had separated, and with 200 to go it was just Sanders and Ferraro, who both closed in 38.4.

Sanders is No. 10 in the NCAA Division 3 Atlantic Region a week before the Atlantic Region Championships in Rochester, N.Y.

Daly cleared 6-0 3/4 on his first attempt but needed three tries to get over 6-2 3/4. He went over 6-4 3/4 on his first attempt and then on his eighth attempt of the day sailed over the bar at 6-6 3/4. Daly did take three tries at 6-7 3/4. 

Stockton’s indoor school record is 6-8 3/4, set in 2013 by Tim Miller from Pinelands Regional. The outdoor record is 6-11 3/4 by Paul Klemic of Mainland Regional in 2006. Klemic was the 2000 national scholastic outdoor champ with a 7-4 1/2, still the state outdoor high jump record and still the New Balance Nationals meet record. He was a two-time NCAA Division 3 national champion in the long jump.

Daly is tied for No. 3 in the Atlantic Region of NCAA Division 3 with Rowan jumpers Adonis McGee, a freshman from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, and Earnest Daniel, a junior from Kingsway.

At Florence, Daly only competed two years and only outdoors. He won the state Group 1 title as a senior in the spring of 2017 at Egg Harbor. He set his scholastic PR of 6-6 winning the Woodbury Relays.

Daly’s collegiate outdoor PR is 6-6 from last year’s AARTFC meet at Cortland, N.Y.

Senior James Coleman and junior Tyler Wilson combined for 28 points in the 55 and 400 and both ran on the winning relay team, and Audubon won the first indoor sectional championship in school history.

Audubon outscored second-place Woodbury 71-37 in a 1-2 Colonial Conference finish. Pitman was third (36), followed by two more Colonial Conference schools: Haddon Township (27) and Haddon Heights fifth (23).

The only previous sectional title for the Audubon boys came outdoors in 1974.

The Green Wave scored in every event other than the 55-meter hurdles. 

Coleman ran a personal-best 52.18 to win the 400 and lead an Audubon sweep. It was Coleman’s second career indoor 400. Wilson was second with an indoor-outdoor PR of 52.84. His previous PR was 53.55 indoors and over 55 outdoors.

In the 55, Coleman ran 6.79 for third and Wilson a personal-best 6.85 for fourth. Coleman’s PR was 6.98 from last week until he ran 6.92 in the trials, then he broke that in the final.

Senior Brandon Gregoire was third in the 400 with an indoor PR of 53.04, and he also took fourth in the 800 in 2:07.33 and fifth in the pole vault at 9-0 in what MileSplit shows as his first career pole vault competition.

Coleman, Gregoire and Wilson were joined by sophomore Aaron Myers on the 4-by-4 team. That group ran 3:35.96, only about a second off the indoor school record of 3:34.83 set at the 2017 Meet of Champions. 

Audubon also got a win from junior high jumper Aden Tomeo, who cleared 6-7. Here’s my story on his remarkable performance. Junior Timothy Knoll also scored, taking sixth at 5-4.

Audubon junior Aden Tomeo soars over high jump bar for FIVE-INCH PR, sectional title and near meet record!!!!!

Junior Zachary Williams ran a PR 4:32.02 for third in the 1,600 and added a fifth in the 3,200 in 10:10.52. His previous indoor 1,600 PR was 4:34.24. He’s run slightly faster outdoors (4:31.73).

In the shot, senior Jaquan Mellette placed fifth with a throw of 38-0. 

Julian Pratt never broke 11 seconds for 100 meters or 23 seconds for 200 meters in high school, but on Monday afternoon he broke the Rowan school record for the 60-meter dash.

His own record.

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

Pratt lowered the Rowan 60 record from 6.93 to 6.92 with his third career New Jersey Athletic Conference title at the NJAC Championships at Ocean Breeze. He set the school record 6.92 last year at the same meet when he placed second to Cameron Dobbins of Rutgers-Camden via Williamstown.

Pratt also won the 100-meter dash at the 2018 and 2019 NJAC outdoor championships. He’s been first or second at six straight NJAC title meets.

Pratt, a Camden High graduate, had PRs of 11.11 and 23.06 in high school. 

On Monday, Pratt ran 6.97 in the fourth of four 60 heats. Justin Percival of SUNY Farmingdale, racing the first prelim, led all qualifiers at 6.95.

Jah’mere Beasley, a Sterling grad and Rowan freshman, was the only other qualifier under 7. He ran a personal-best 6.98 in the second race of the trials. His previous PR was 7.02 on the same track earlier this month.

In the final, Pratt finished an instant before Beasley, Pratt in 6.92 and Beasley with another PR of 6.94. Percival ran third in 6.96. 

Pratt and Beasley are ranked No. 14 and No. 21 in NCAA Division 3 and they go into the Atlantic Region meet in Rochester ranked No. 1 and 3 in the region. Percival ran 6.94 last month at the Armory.

Before Pratt ran 6.93 last year, the school record in the 60 was 6.95, set by Freehold graduate Dave Benjamin in 2017.

Beasley’s 6.94 makes him the No. 4 freshman in NCAA Division 3

Beasley also won the 200 with a 22.22, which is No. 15 in Division 3 and No. 3 among freshmen. He has a college best of 22.21 from a meet at Ocean Breeze in January.

At Sterling, Beasley ran as fast as 21.30 outdoors, placing 4th in the Meet of Champions last spring. He never ran indoor track in high school, so this is his first season of running the 200 on a tight, banked one-lane track.

 

Robert Abrams won his third conference championship Monday, winning the NJAC mile title in 4:16.57 at Ocean Breeze.

The lead group of four runners came through 800 meters together in 2:10, but Abrams, a College of New Jersey senior from Cherry Hill West, threw out a 31.8 fifth lap to gap the field. With 400 to go, he had built a three-second lead, and he won by 12 meters over Ramapo’s Jason Rodriguez in 4:16.57. 

Abrams negative’d 2:10.0 and 2:06.6.

Abrams also won NJAC titles in the 5,000 on the track last spring (15:15.03) and in cross country this past fall (24:37.9 over 8K at Stockton University).

Earlier this month, Abrams ran an all-time TCNJ No. 3 4:12.53 mile at Boston University. He’s also run 8:42.38 for 3,000 meters this year.

Teammate Mike Zurzolo took third in 4:18.88 off a 63.9 final 400. That’s a monster PR for the former Cherokee runner. 

Zurzolo shaved 2 1/2 seconds off his mile PR of 4:21.30 from last month. Before that he had an indoor PR of 4:24.57 from last winter.  

Lenape graduate Kevin Lauer, a sophomore at Rowan, was 5th in 4:26.04.

Abrams and Zurzolo are ranked No. 2 and 6 in the mile in the NCAA Division 3 Atlantic Region, according to TFRRS. The NCAA Atlantic Region Championships are scheduled for March 6 at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.

 

Ronetta Hunter was sitting in 5th place at the MAAC Championships Sunday as she stepped to the shot put circle with one throw to go. Her best throw of her first five was a 44-7 3/4.

Here’s what the shot put standings looked like at the Armory with one throw left:

46-2 3/4 … Alexandra Preckajlo [Manhattan]
45-5 ……. Lasma Padedze [Manhattan]
45-4 1/4 … Jordan Wildermuth [Monmouth]
45-1 3/4 … Chibuzo Amonu [Monmouth]
44-7 3/4 … Ronetta Hunter [Rider]
44-6 ……. Mike Maples [Quinnipiac]

Hunter, a Rider senior and Burlington Township graduate, was enjoying a consistent series after opening the trials with a foul – 44-4 1/4, 44-7 3/4, 44-0, 44-5 3/4. With an indoor PR of 45-2 from ECACs last March at Boston University, she was only a few inches off her best indoor throw ever.

But then, on her final throw? She bombed a 46-4 to win by 1 1/4 inches over Preckajlo.

That’s not only her best indoor throw by over a foot, it’s only 1 1/4 inches off her outdoor PR of 46-5 1/4, set last spring in a meet at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Her winning throw moved her up to No. 3 in Rider history, behind only Wayne High graduate Jazmine Fenlator – the Olympic bobsledder – who threw 48-6 3/4 in 2007 and Red Bank Catholic graduate Fidele Junes, who threw 46-6 1/4 last year. Hunter is also No. 3 outdoors with her 46-5 1/4, behinds Junes (49-3 3/4) and Fenlator (48-8 1/4).

Hunter also scored a couple points in the weight throw with a PR 53-9 3/4. Her previous PR was a 50-10 3/4 in a meet earlier this month at Ocean Breeze. That 53-9 3/4 is No. 9 in school history.

Rider won its third straight team title, and it won by half a point over Quinnipiac, so without Hunter’s two PRs the 2020 MAAC Team Trophy would be residing right now in Hamden, Conn., instead of Lawrenceville, N.J.