It was a historic evening Thursday night for South Jersey distance medley teams at Bob Roggy Stadium in Holmdel.

Kingsway ran 10:25.44, Camden Catholic 10:26.90 and Rancocas Valley 10:33.63 at the Holmdel Twilight Series Penn Relays Qualifier, and although I still have some research to do it appears that it’s the first time ever that three South Jersey schools have run sub-10:35 in the same race.

Kingsway and Camden Catholic finished first and second, withWest Morris Central third in 10:31.49 and R.V. fourth. They’re the four-fastest times in New Jersey this year and No. 16, 18, 29 and 35 in the U.S., according to the MileSplit database.

Kingsway’s time is No. 19 in South Jersey history and third-fastest in Gloucester County history, behind two Washington Township times — 10:10.74 in 2000 and 10:19.11 in 2009.

Camden Catholic’s time is No. 22 in South Jersey history and a school record, and R.V.’s time is the Red Devils’ third-best ever, behind a 10:20.92 in 2015 and a 10:32.85 in 2016.

Penn Relays DMR and 3,200-meter relay high school acceptances will be announced Monday. Schools need to run 10:35 to be considered, but it generally takes a time considerably faster to be among the approximately 15 teams accepted into the one-race Championship of America final.

Camden Catholic’s splits: 3:13 for Richard Castañeda, 55 for Ray Derman, 1:59 for Denny Kelly and a 4:18 anchor for Matt Coffee.

 If anybody has splits for Kingsway or Rancocas Valley, please post them in the comments section!

Thanks!

Claudine Smith had a remarkable weekend competing at the Jamaican CARIFTA Trials in Kingston.

Smith, an Atlantic City senior, PR’d in both the high hurdles and triple jump and also competed in the long jump.

I wish I could tell you whether she made the Jamaican team for the CARIFTA Championships later this month, but I couldn’t find anything anywhere that explained how the national Under-20 is selected.

In any case, let’s take a look at Smith’s incredible weekend:

TRIPLE JUMP: Smith jumped 41-6 1/4, shattering the South Jersey record of 40-10 1/4 that Northern Burlington’s Ashley Edwards set at the 2014 New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

Smith’s previous PR was a 40-1 1/2, which she did twice – when she won the Rowan Open last May and then again when she placed fifth at indoor nationals last month.

Smith’s mark is No. 2 in the U.S. so far this spring, according to the MileSplit USA rankings, behind only Jasmine Moore of Mansfield Lake Ridge High in Mansfield, Texas, who went 43-5 at the Texas Relays in Austin.

Her mark is No. 3 in state history indoor or out, behind only Olympian and American record holder Keturah Orji of Mount Olive, who went 44-11 in the summer of 2013 at the IAAF World Youth Championships, and Charlene Cummings, who jumped 42-2 3/4 for Englewood in 1998.

Here’s the all-time state top-10:

ALL-TIME N.J. TRIPLE JUMP LIST
44-11 … Keturah Orji [Mount Olive], 2013
42-2 3/4 … Charlene Cummings [Englewood], 1998
41-6 1/4 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
40-10 1/4 … Ashley Edwards [Northern Burlington], 2014
40-9 1/2 … Iana Amsterdam [Essex Tech], 2013
40-7 3/4 … Kayla Richardson [Columbia], 2013
40-7 … Shenaie Herber [JFK Paterson], 2008
40-6 3/4 … Tiffany Bautista [Paramus Catholic], 2018
40-6 1/4 … Essence Mayers [Lakewood], 2011
40-6 … Mahogany Jenkins [Watchung Hills], 2018
40-6 … Jordan Fields [Columbia], 2016

If you add indoor marks, Stephanie McIntyre of South Brunswick moves into the No. 4 spot at 40-11 from the 2007 Easterns.

Smith placed second in the triple jump in Kingston, behind only Lotavia Brown, who jumped 42-4 1/2.

100-METER HURDLES: Smith placed fourth in the high hurdles in 14.04 after a 14.66 in the trials. That’s No. 9 in South Jersey history. Her previous 100 highs PR was 14.26 in the prelims of the state Group 4 meet last spring.

ALL-TIME S.J. 100-METER HURDLES LIST
13.65 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville), 2006
13.72 … Nichole Hill (Oakcrest), 1997
13.79 … Ste’yce McNeil (Winslow), 2012
13.84 … Lenaami Morton (Camden), 2016
13.85 … Carol Lewis (Willingboro), 1980
13.88 … Zonya Cross (Edgewood), 1983
13.98 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow), 2014
13.99 … Imani Gilliam (Pennsauken), 2004
14.04 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
14.04 … Jasmine Staten (Lenape), 2016
14.05 … Jasmine Waddell (Kingsway), 2011
14.07 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville), 1998
14.07 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], 2018
14.09 … Nichole Belcher (Wilson), 1992

LONG JUMP: Smith jumped 17-0 1/4 for eighth. She has a PR of 18-7 from sectionals last spring at Egg Harbor and actually has a 17-1 to her credit this spring from a Cape Atlantic League batch meet last week on her home track.

For the record, JAAA is the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, and CARIFTA is the Caribbean Free Trade Association.

The CARIFTA Games is an annual Olympic-style track championship meet dating back to 1972 featuring athletes from 26 Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Barbados, Bermuda, etc.

Competition is held for boys and girls in two age categories – under 17 and under 20.

The 48th annual CARIFTA Championships are scheduled for April 20-22 at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.

Samuel Gerstenbacher made his 2019 steeplechase debut at the Sam Howell Invite at Princeton over the weekend and ran a near-PR 9:16.15 for eighth place in a field of Division 1 and post-collegiate runners.

That’s less than five seconds off his PR and school record of 9:11.20, set at a last-chance meet at Swarthmore last May.

Gerstenbacher, a junior at Elizbethtown from Schalick, is No. 9 in NCAA Division 3 and tops in the Landmark Conference. He’s also No. 1 in the Landmark in the 5,000 with a 15:30.64 in a home meet last month.

Gerstenbacher, who grew up in Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, was named the Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week.

Fourteen girls and eight boys from South Jersey are headed to the Penn Relays to compete in their specialties!

The high school individual acceptances were announced Monday. Athletes had until midnight Saturday night to qualify. The qualifying window included only the indoor season and the first weekend of outdoors. For events not contested indoors (javelin, discus, intermediates), athletes are allowed to qualify using marks from last spring.

The full list of acceptances is here: https://pennrelaysonline.com/Registration/HSAcceptances.aspx

Acceptances for the 3,200-meter relay and distance medley will be announced next Monday.

The 125th annual Penn Relays, the oldest annual track meet in the world, is scheduled for April 25-27 at Franklin Field on the West Philadelphia campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Here’s a look at South Jersey’s 22 qualifiers:

BOYS
3,000-Meter Run
*Kevin Antczak, Mainland Regional [PR 9:18.59 (3,200 meters)]
*Martin Riddell, Haddonfield [PR 9:18.81 (3,200 meters)]

400-Meter Hurdles
Quentin Bundy, Pleasantville [PR 53.96]

Pole Vault
*Nico Morales, Delsea [PR 15-6]
*Marco Morales, Delsea [PR 15-0]

Long Jump
Jabari Higgs, Haddon Heights [PR 22-7 3/4]

Discus
*John Purvis, Winslow Twp. [PR 166-0]
Emmanuel Lewis III, Willingboro [PR 161-5]

GIRLS
3,000-Meter Run
Katy Storti, Bishop Eustace [PR 10:57.95]

400-Meter Hurdles
*Aliya Rae Garozzo, Paul VI [PR 1:01.41]
*Jewel Ash, Eastern [PR 1:01.71]

High Jump
*Tierra Hooker, Timber Creek [PR 5-10]
*Kambi Walker, Paul VI [PR 5-7]

Pole Vault
Lindsey Michie, Northern Burlington [PR 11-6]

Long Jump
***Leah Ellis, Millville [PR 19-3]
Tionna Tobias, Winslow Twp. [PR 19-11 1/2]

Triple Jump
Claudine Smith, Atlantic City [PR 40-1 1/2]

Shot Put
*Cydney Thomas, Haddon Heights [PR 46-1]
Alijah Caul, Sterling [PR 41-8]

Javelin
Brielle Smith, Oakcrest [PR 163-8]
*Kira Parsons, Millville [PR 120-6]
*Mya Pomatto, Egg Harbor Twp. [PR 129-7]

* – junior
** – sophomore
*** – freshman

La Salle senior Ariel Mitchell shattered the La Salle University 100-meter dash record Saturday at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton.

Mitchell placed sixth in a loaded 100-meter dash final in 11.96 with a legal wind. Her previous PR was 12.11 in the spring of 2017 at a meet at John Hopkins in Baltimore.

Mitchell broke the school record of 12.03 set in 2004 by Melissa Mastrangelo at the 2004 Atlantic 10 Championships at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass.

Mitchell now ranks No. 2 in the Atlantic 10, behind only Taylor Williams of George Mason, who ran a heavily wind-aided 11.78 last month in a meet at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Williams was aided by a 3.9 meters-per-second wind in that race. Her fastest wind-legal race this spring is a 11.88 at Miami last month.

Mitchell ran a 12.12 last year at a meet at Temple and wound up as an Atlantic 10 medalist, placing fifth after a 12.15 in the trials.

This past winter Mitchell set a La Salle school record of 7.58 for 60 meters.

The La Salle web site lists Mitchell as a graduate of Burlington Township High, but as far as I can tell she only ran at Township as a freshman and then spent three years at Lenape, where she had a PR of 12.46 and was the Burlington County Open champ as a sophomore and Olympic Conference champ as a senior.

Bryanna Craig’s first outdoor high school meet was an unforgettable one!

Craig, the Millville freshman, placed second in the heptathlon at the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School outside Los Angeles with 4,791 points – one of the highest scores ever recorded by a freshman and the highest score by a New Jersey girl in an in-season competition with the current javelin implement.

Record keeping can be difficult when it comes to the heptathlon, because there are no official high school class records, because of the 2002 javelin change and because MileSplit occasionally includes marks made during summer track competitions, which are not eligible for high school record purposes.

The listed national freshman record is 4,882 points by Jacqueline Johnson of Yuma, Ariz., in 2000. But that was made with the old javelin.

The national freshman record with the new javelin that wasn’t made in an open summer meet? I just don’t have a way of determining it. Nobody keeps this stuff.

Jack Sheppard’s U.S. track annual lists a national freshman record of 4,934 points by Tyra Gittens of Ensworth High in Nashville in 2014, but that was made in an AAU Region 6 qualifier, in early July, which is not a high school meet or an extension of the high school season and doesn’t qualify for the high school record book.

Ashlee Moore of Hamilton High in Yuma, Ariz., scored 4,573 points in 2011, which is the highest score I could find by a freshman in a real meet with the current javelin, but there certainly could be higher ones.

There is no official New Jersey state record, but it appears that the highest score ever recorded in an actual high school meet — not during a summer track AAU or Junior Olympic meet – is 4,931 points by Amber Williams of Roxbury in 2000. The South Jersey record looks like it would be 4,872 by Helen Wilks of Bridgeton, set in 1993.

However, those marks were made with the old javelin, which hasn’t been used since in high school competition 2001. So there is now a separate set of records for the javelin, and since multi-events outdoors include the javelin throw there are a separate set of records for the high school heptathlon as well.

So it looks like Craig has the highest score by a New Jersey girl since the javelin change. Tia Livingston of Union Catholic is credited in Jack Sheppard’s high school track annual with a 4,952 in 2015, but that was in a junior olympic summer meet. The general rule for high school performance lists is that the mark counts if it was achieved during the school year or in a meet that’s an extension of the school year, like the National Scholastic Championships, USATF Junior Nationals, Olympic Trials, etc.

It looks like the highest previous in-season heptathlon by a New Jersey girl was a 4,667 by Noel Jancewicz of Robbinsville in 2012. Interestingly, Livingston and Jancewicz were teammates at Penn.

Record or not, Craig’s performance was remarkable:

Here’s what it looked like:

Friday
100-METER HURDLES: 14.88, 858 points [3rd], 1.0 wid
HIGH JUMP: 5-3, 736 points [T2nd]
200-METER DASH: 25.60, 833 points [2nd]
SHOT PUT: 29-8 1/4, 467 points [6th]

Saturday
800-METER RUN: 2:23.25, 779 points [2nd]
LONG JUMP: 17-0, 609 points [1st] -1.0
JAVELIN: 103-11 3/4,509 points [5th]

Craig placed second at Arcadia. Jessica Swalve, a senior at Westmont High School in Los Gatos, Calif., won the event with a personal-best 4,807 points. She’s already signed with Cal Santa Barbara.

As Jim Lambert and I dig up more information and keep digging I’ll update this story. Record or not, this was a remarkable performance by Craig. Considering it’s the first weekend of April, it’s even more remarkable.

How high can she score at New Balance Nationals? It’s going to be fun to watch!

 

To say this race was close is an understatement.

Cameron Kee of Haddon Heights and Jayaire King of Willingboro opened the season with a couple very fast early performances in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles Saturday at the Don Danser Relays at Lenape.

They crossed the line together, both with fully-automatic times of 55.22. Tomahawk Timing’s photo reader had to go to the 1,000th-of-a-second to determine the winner, and that showed Kee in 55.213 and King in 55.219.

That’s a difference of 9-100ths of a second. Or a little less than one-third of an inch.

That’s close.

Kee and King turned in the fastest times in South Jersey on opening weekend and  No. 2 and 3 in the state, behind Liam O’Hara of CBA, who ran 54.85 at the Metuchen Relays.

Kee’s previous PR was 55.38 from last year’s Meet of Champions. He was South Jersey Group 1 champ and state runner-up.

King’s previous PR was 55.44 from his win at the South Jersey Group 2 sectionals last spring.

Those times are fast any time of the year. Only two intermediate hurdles ran as fast as 55.22 all last year – Quentin Bundy of Pleasantville ran 53.96 at nationals an Sincere Rhea ran 54.62 at states.

So for them to put those times out this early is awfully encouraging.

But they weren’t the only South Jersey boys to run fast in the 400 IH Saturday.

Rhea ran 56.37 at Buena, Micah Wood of Rancocas Valley ran a personal-best 56.63 at the Rebel Relays in Howell, Buddy ran 56.97 and Burlington City’s Darnell Williams ran 57.87 at Lenape.

That’s six boys already under 58 and five under 57, and it’s only the first weekend of April.

John Purvis sure opened the season in style.

Purvis, a Winslow Township junior, popped an 18-foot discus PR at the Jim Camburn Memorial Relays at Buena with a 166-0.

Purvis’s best throw last year was a 147-9, good for second at the South Jersey Group 3 sectionals at Delsea.

He topped that on his first throw Saturday with a 150-5, then PR’d again on his second throw at 162-8, then finished with his third PR of the series at 166-0.

That was the No. 2 throw of the weekend in New Jersey, according to the MileSplit data base, behind Matt Lange of Northern Valley, who threw 167-0 at the Fred McClain Throwers Invitational at his own track in Demarest.

Francesco Pinque of St. Augustine had the second-best throw of the day at 146-2, so Purvis had the three-best throws of the competition.

The Eastern girls put together one of the greatest relay triples in state history Saturday, and they did it on the first Saturday of the track season!

Eastern ran 59.52 in the shuttle hurdles, 1:40.46 in the 800-meter relay and 48.88 in the 400-meter relay at the Don Danser Relays at Lenape.

And that’s without English Gardner!!!

WOW!!!

Sophomore Jailya Ash and junior Jewel Ash ran on all three teams, with Analiese Bulgin on the shuttles team and the 4-by-100, Olivia Covington and Noelle Scott on the 4-by-2 and Dariyah Corbett-Collier also on the 4-by-1.

All three times are — by far — fastest in the state so far this year. But they’re much more than that!

Let’s start with the shuttle hurdles.

Eastern’s time is No. 6 in state history and No. 2 in South Jersey, behind only Edgewood’s 59.00 from the 1999 East Coast Relays in Morristown. That 59.00 at the time was a national record and was produced by Yvette Murray, Kierra Clemons, Pamela Richardson and Dennean Davis.

The 1:40.46 is No. 5 in South Jersey and inside the all-time New Jersey top-20 at No. 19, which is incredible enough at the end of the season. But the first weekend of April? It’s unheard of. It isn’t a school record, though. The 2003 Eastern team ran 1:39.21.

Eastern’s 4-by-100 doesn’t make the all-time South Jersey top-20 list but it’s not too far off. Eastern set the South Jersey record of 46.87 in 2003.

Eastern also won the DMR with Lauren Kenselaar, Teghan Sydnor, Kayla James and Kylie Dawson running 13:07.29 and the 4-by-800 in 10:22.00 with Kenselaar, James, Sierra Feeney and Kierstin Clem.

Let’s take a look at some lists:

ALL-TIME N.J. GIRLS SHUTTLE HURDLES  
58.30 … Union Catholic, 2018
58.39 … Union Catholic, 2015
58.74 … Union Catholic, 2017
59.00 … Edgewood, 1999
59.22 … Columbia, 2013
59.52 … Eastern, 2019
59.66 … Essex Tech, 2012
59.75 … Irvington, 2012
59.79 … Pennsauken, 1999
59.82 … Jackson, 2005
59.91 … Columbia, 2012

ALL-TIME S.J. GIRLS SHUTTLE HURDLES 
59.00 … Edgewood, 1999
59.52 … Eastern, 2019
59.79 … Pennsauken, 1999
1:00.14 … Buena, 2012
1:00.18 … Winslow Twp., 2014
1:01.17 … Woodrow Wilson, 2012
1:01.68 … Winslow Twp., 2002
1:01.6h … Woodrow Wilson, 2005
1:01.94 … Edgewood, 1998
1:02.0h … Moorestown, 1994
1:02.16 … Wilson, 2003
1:02.51 … Mainland Regional, 2018
1:02.59 … Paul VI, 2018
1:02.68 … Mainland Reg., 2018
1:02.86 … Edgewood, 2001
1:03.62 … Absegami, 2017
1:03.70 … Lenape, 2008
1:03.73 … Highland, 1998
1:03.79 … Camden, 2015

ALL-TIME NEW JERSEY 800-METER RELAY 
1:37.53 … Union Catholic, 2017
1:37.77 … Franklin Twp., 2003
1:38.42 … Franklin Twp., 2001
1:38.43 … Winslow Twp., 2018
1:39.04h … Montclair, 1980
1:39.21 … Eastern, 2003
1:39.54h … Montclair, 1981
1:39.59 … Winslow Twp., 2012
1:39.76 … Neptune, 2015
1:39.79 … Columbia, 2010
1:39.86 … Summit, 2017
1:39.94 … Piscataway, 2011
1:40.04h … Trenton, 1986
1:40.14h … Shabazz, 1986
1:40.23 … Union Catholic, 2018
1:40.30 … Winslow Twp., 2017
1:40.41 … Union, 2012
1:40.43 … Montclair, 1996
1:40.46 … Eastern, 2019
1:40.54h … Irvington, 1981
1:40.62 … Winslow Twp., 2003
1:40.62 … Columbia, 2009
1:40.64h … Montclair, 1979
1:40.64h … Montclair, 1998
1:40.65 … Piscataway, 2018
1:40.72 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
1:40.74h … Columbia, 1982
1:40.74h … Woodrow Wilson, 2006
1:40.74h … East Orange, 2007
1:40.80 … Union Catholic, 2015
1:40.84h … Plainfield, 1982
1:40.84h … Trenton, 1984
1:40.84h … Teaneck, 1989
1:40.91 … Winslow Twp., 2004
1:40.94h … Clifford Scott, 1988
1:40.99 … Union Catholic, 2014

ALL-TIME SOUTH JERSEY 800-METER RELAY
1:38.43 … Winslow Twp., 2018
1:39.21 … Eastern, 2003
1:39.59 … Winslow Twp., 2012
1:40.30 … Winslow Twp., 2017
1:40.46 … Eastern, 2019
1:40.62 … Winslow Twp., 2003
1:40.72 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
1:40.74h … Woodrow Wilson, 2006
1:40.91 … Winslow Twp., 2004
1:41.10 … Washington Twp., 1999
1:41.20 … Willingboro, 1994
1:41.33 … Camden, 2009
1:41.34h ….. Camden, 1995
1:41.40 … Winslow Twp., 2005
1:41.44h ….. Camden, 2006
1:41.54 … Willingboro, 1999
1:41.56 … Highland, 1998
1:41.59 … Eastern, 2002
1:41.70 … Wilson, 2008
1:41.74h ….. Pleasantville, 1995
1:41.81 … Willingboro, 1995
1:41.85 … Deptford, 2015
1:41.86 … Willingboro, 2000
1:41.87 … Camden, 2001
1:41.88 … Winslow, 2013
1:41.91 … Winslow, 2018

Princeton senior Carly Bonnet from Haddonfield won the 400-meter hurdles in a personal-best 1:00.01 Saturday at the Princeton Invitational on her home track.

Bonnet edged Addison Coy of Yale, who ran 1:00.25. Her time is No. 5 in Princeton history and fastest in five years, since Meghan McMullin ran 59.52 in 2014.

Bonnet’s previous PR was 1:00.60 last year at Heps. Her time is second-fastest in the Ivy League this year, behind only Penn’s Skyla Wilson, who ran 59.50 at the Texas Relays last month.

Bonnet ran 1:02.90 at Haddonfield when she won the state Group 2 title, so she’s now lowered her personal best nearly three seconds at Old Nassau.