Junior Logan Bromley and freshman Jack Tindall went 1-2 in the 1,600 and Cherokee edged Cherry Hill East for top South Jersey honors in the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals Friday in Toms River.
Toms River North scored 98 points to win the team title at the Bubble, and Cherokee topped Cherry Hill East 40-37 for 2nd place.
Bromley and Tindall both ran indoors PRs, Bromley with 4:21.37 and Tindall 4:22.81, which is fastest indoors by a South Jersey freshman, breaking the class record of 4:23.12 set by Haddonfield’s Derek Gess at the 2016 state Group 2 meet, also at the Bubble.
Cherokee senior Enzo Corona ran 4:25.74 for 5th place, giving Cherokee 20 of its 40 points in one event. Cherry Hill East seniors Brody Bogos and Brandon Lyons ran 3rd and 4th in 4:24.91 and 4:25.19, giving Cherokee and Cherry Hill East the top five spots in the race.
Bogos and junior Alvin Lin finished 1-2 in the 3,200 for 18 points for Cherry Hill East, Bogos in 9:39.79 and Lin 9:44.17. Cherokee senior Liam Tindall ran 9:44.25 for 3rd.
Kingsway senior Trevor Farrell cleared 13 feet on his 1st attempt to win the pole vault, with Egg Harbor junior Sawyer Schmidt and Cherokee senior Tobin Horwath 2nd and 3rd, both at 12-6. Farrell also ran a leg on Kingsway’s 3rd-place 4-by-4 team.
Washington Township senior John Santos ran 6.47 and Lenape senior M.J. Lincoln 6.48 for 2nd and 3rd in the 55.
Atlantic County Vo-Tech and Kingsway took 2nd and 3rd in the 4-by-4, junior J’Mar Boyer, junior Antony Gaitano, senior Mahkel Hall and senior Thomas Wodazak running 3:35.409 for Atlantic County and senior Donnel Tomlin, Farrell and Kameron White and junior Max Dyer 3:36.53 for Kingsway.
Rancocas Valley senior Jayden Rountree cleared 6-2 on his first attempt for 2nd place in the high jump.
Duke grad student Aliya Garozzo from Sicklerville and Paul VI ran a big 400-meter dash PR at Clemson Friday afternoon.
Garozzo ran 53.77 at the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson. That’s 9th-fastest this year in the ACC.
Her previous best was a 54.47 in qualifying at indoor Heps a year ago this month at Harvard’s Gordon Track as a junior at Penn. This was her 2nd 400 since transferring to Duke. She ran 55.24 earlier this month.
Garozzo’s main event is is the 400 hurdles, and she ran 56.34 at outdoor Heps at Princeton in May, which ranked 28th among U.S. women last year and is 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey woman. She went on to race at NCAAs and the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Just for fun, I put together an all-time South Jersey alumni 400-meter dash list, with Garozzo now in the No. 17 spot on the sub-54 list. Obviously, she’s much higher on the 400IH list, trailing only Rancocas Valley graduate Tonya Lee [55.78 in Walnut, Calif., in 1996] and Krystal Cantey of Winslow Township [56.21 in Gainesville, Fla., in 2007].
All-Time South Jersey Alumni 400-Meter Dash List [corrections welcome!]
50.66 … Nadia Davey [Bridgeton], 2003, Sacramento
51.70 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], June 13, 2014, Eugene, Ore.
51.72 … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], June 27, 1987, San Jose, Calif.
52.24 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], March 16, 1996, Westwood, Calif.
52.42 … Arianna Sharpe [Clayton], Feb. 10, 2023, Clemson, S.C.
52.77 … Eusheka Bartley [Highland], March 23, 1996, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.80 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], May 12, 2007, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
52.86 … Tina Johnson [Burlington Twp.], May 20, 2001, Bloomington, Ind.
53.01 … Halima Scott [Camden Big Picture Learning Acad./ Wo. Wilson], May 6, 2023, Williamsburg, Va.
53.20 … Gabrielle Farquharson [Williamstown], April 23, 2016, Atlanta
53.37 … Amirah Sharpe [Clayton], March 24, 2023, Tallahassee, Fla.
53.37 … Nylah Perry [Winslow Twp.], Feb. 24, 2024, Geneva, Ohio
53.45 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], Atlanta May 14, 2005
53.51 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], June 15, 1996, Raleigh, N.C.
53.64 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], June 21, 2008, Greensboro, N.C.
53.73 … English Gardner [Eastern], March 24, 2012, Los Angeles
53.77 … Aliya Rae Garozzo [Paul VI], Feb. 14, 2025, Clemson, S.C.
53.78 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], Feb. 23, 2019, Ann Arbor, Mich.
53.97 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], June 10, 2023, Franklin Twp., N.J.
Senior Dakota Jones won the hurdles, placed 4th in the 55-meter dash and ran on the 3rd-place relay, and the Washington Township girls won their second consecutive South Jersey Group 4 title Friday in Toms River.
Jones won the hurdles in a lifetime-best 8.16, which broke her own Gloucester County record of 8.27 set last month at Ocean Breeze. Before that, the mark was shared by Kingsway’s Delicia Sample in 2004 and Washington Township’s Lexie Fraction in 2014. Jones also came within 7-100ths of a second off the South Jersey Group 4 meet record of 8.09 set in 2019 by Atlantic City’s Claudine Smith.
Jones ran 7.54 for 4th in the 55 after a lifetime-best 7.53 in the trials. She joined senior Meciah Howell, sophomore Layla Beasley and freshman Nia’Leila Cuascut on the 4-by-4, which clinched the team title with its 4:07.99 for 3rd place.
Washington Township won sectionals last year 84.83-42 over Eastern. It was a lot closer this year, the Minutemen edging Eastern 51-49. Going into the 4-by-4, Washington Township had 45 points and Eastern had 39. Eastern won the relay in 4;00.98 to get to 49 points, but the Minutemen needed a 3rd place or better to win the team title outright, and that’s exactly where they finished, nearly four seconds ahead of 4th-place Southern Regional.
Vineland finished 3rd with 35 ½ points, Williamstown and Cherokee tied for 4th with 32, and Kingsway scored 27.
Washington Township picked up two huge wins in the field, with junior Cali Lacovara winning the pole vault at 10-0, tying her indoor PR, and Ella Karp won her 3rd straight shot put sectional title (indoor, outdoor, indoor) with a 41-7.
Beasley also placed 5th in the 800 with a 2:25.12 and Howell was 6th in the hurdles in 8.81.
For Eastern, junior Natalie Dumas picked up three 1sts and a 2nd. She won the 400 in 1:00.62, with senior Samantha Osei-Kyei 2nd in 1:00.94, won the 800 in 2:17.15, placed 2nd in the 1,600 in 5:10.91 and ran on the winning 4-by-4 with junior Adriana Marella, Osei-Kyei and senior Jasmine Davies.
Vineland scored 34 of its 35 ½ points in the three distance races. Senior Ashlynn Newton ran an indoor PR 11:32.05 to win the 3,200 and an indoor-outdoor 8900 PR 2:19.97 for 2nd in the 800, and senior Georgina Chalow ran a lifetime-best 5:06.36 to win the 1,600 (and break her own Cumberland County indoor record of 5:07.54 set last month at the Ott Center) and an indoor PR 2:22.23 for 3rd in the 800. Also for Vineland, senior Mackenzie Chalow-Moore cleared 9-0 for 5th in the pole vault.
Kingsway senior Jonnelle Lewis won the 55, lowering her PR from 7.30 to 7.24, and freshman Noemi Haller was 3rd in the 400 in 1:01.09. Lewis and Heller were joined by senior Camryn Stanard and sophomore Norah Brown on the 2nd-place 4-by-4, which ran 4:02.92.
Williamstown got 2nds from sophomore sophomorte Timia Waters with a PR 8.46 in the hurdles and junior Brynn Greenwood with 10-0 for 2nd in the pole vault and 3rds from junior Talia Dicristofaro with an 11:40.53 for 3rd in the 3,200 and senior Addison Inge with a 5-10 clearance in the high jump.
Cherokee junior Madeline Meder ran 11:37.50 and 5:11.73 and for 2nd in the 3,200 and 3rd in the 1,600.
Atlantic County Tech sophomore Brianna Growalt recorded 3rd-place finishes in both the 55 in 7.39 and the hurdles in 8.50.
Rancocas Valley senior Kendra Green threw 38-2 for 2nd in the shot put, and senior Milena Otoo cleared 10-0 for 3rd in the pole vault.
Cinnaminson’s Austin Gabay became the 8th South Jersey high school graduate to run sub-4 for the mile Friday afternoon in Boston.
Gabay, a senior at Butler, ran 3:59.19 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.
Gabay’s previous mile PR was 4:06.70 in February 2022 while running for Duke in a meet in Lynchburg, Va. But he did run 3:40.73 outdoors this past April in Durham, D.C., the equivalent of a 3:58.39 mile.
Gabay ran 60.04, 59.99, 60.39 and 58.79. He joined Westampton Tech graduate Rob Novak as Burlington County’s second sub-4 miler. Novak, who competed in track for Bordentown because Westampton doesn’t have a track team, ran 3:58.14 in Boston in 2012.
The last South Jersey miler under 4 minutes was Absegami’s Ford Palmer, who first went sub-4 in 2014 when he ran 3:57.61 in Raleigh, N.C., and most recently broke 4:00 when he ran 3:58.80 in West Long Branch in 2018.
Unbelievably, Butler’s web site does not have an all-time top-10 so can’t tell you where Gabay ranks in school history.
According to Gabay’s TFRRS page, he hadn’t run a mile in three years – since the 2022 ACC Championships in Blacksburg, Va.
Princeton’s Collin Boler from Delbarton High in Morristown also broke 4:00 for the first time in the same race and Brick graduate Damien Dilcher, a former Iona runner, PR’d at 3:54.32.
All-Time South Jersey Sub-4 List 3:56.79i….. Ford Palmer [Absegami HS], Boston, Feb. 14, 2015
3:58.14i …. Rob Novak [Bordentown HS], Boston, Feb. 11, 2012
3:58.62i …. Brett Johnson [Ocean City], Seattle, Feb. 9, 2013
3:59.19i … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], Boston, Feb. 14, 2025
3:59.35i …. John Richardson [Ocean City], Lexington, Ky., Feb. 2, 2008
3:59.85i …. Mark Sivieri [St. Augustine Prep], Boston, Jan. 28, 1994
3:59.91i …. Brian Gallagher [Sterling], Boston, Feb. 14, 1998
All-Time New Jersey Sub-4 Milers 3:49.44 … Edward Cheserek [St. Benedict’s], Boston, Feb. 9, 2019
3:52.2h … Marty Liquori [Essex Catholic], Kingston, Jamaica, May 17, 1975
3:53.16 … Robby Andrews [Manalapan], New York, Feb. 20, 2016
3:53.85 … Liam Murphy [Allentown], State College, Pa., Jan. 26, 2025
3:54.28 … Rob Napolitano [Red Bank Catholic], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:54.32 … Damien Dilcher [Brick], Boston, Feb. 14, 2025
3:54.60 … Marco Langon [Bridgewater-Raritan], Philadelphia, Jan. 25, 2025
3:54.92 … Ford Palmer [Absegami], Boston, Feb. 26, 2018
3:55.66 … Jeremy Hernandez [Clifton], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:56.39 … Sean Dolan [Hopewell Valley], Nashville, Feb. 11, 2022
3:56.75 …. Steve Slattery [Mount Olive], New York, March 6, 2006
3:56.9h … Ron Speirs [Paramus], Philadelphia, April 30, 1977
3:57.86…. Travis Mahoney [Old Bridge], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:57.89 … Ray Sellaro [North Hunterdon], State College, Jan. 29, 2022
3:58.00 … Zach Michon [Robbinsville], Boston, Feb. 11, 2023
3:58.02 … Craig Forys [Colts Neck], New York, Feb. 6, 2016
3:58.14 … Rob Novak [Bordentown], Boston, Feb. 11, 2012
3:58.4y … Roger Jones [Ramsey], Boston, Feb. 13, 1982
3:58.62 … Jim McKeon [Millburn], Johnson City, Tenn., Jan. 19, 1985
3:58.62 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], Seattle, Feb. 9, 2013
3:58.78 … Tim Gorman [Christian Brothers], Seattle, Feb. 11, 2017
3:58.90 … Ben Malone [Pascack Valley], Boston, Feb. 9, 2019
3:59.07 … Collin Boler [Delbarton], Boston, Feb. 14, 2025
3:59.18 … Jeramy Elkaim [Livingston], Seattle, Feb. 23, 2013
3:59.19 … Austin Gabay, Boston, Feb. 14, 2025
3:59.21 … Chris Hatler [Pope John XXIII], New York, Feb. 11, 2017
3:59.35 … John Richardson, Lexington, Ky., Feb. 2, 2008
3:59.43 … Rich Kenah, Fayetteville, Feb. 12, 2000
3:59.2h … Cliff Sheehan, Philadelphia, April 27, 1985
3:59.60 … Mike Kerrigan [Blair Academy], Swarthmore, Pa., May 14, 2007
3:59.74 … Colin Daly [River Dell], Boston, Feb. 15, 2020
3:59.84 … Edwin Klanke [St. Peter’s Prep], Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 2024
3:59.85 …. Mark Sivieri, Boston, Jan. 28, 1994
3:59.6h … Jim Crawford, Modesto, Calif., May 23, 1970
3:59.91 …. Brian Gallagher, Boston, Feb. 14, 1998
3:59.98 …. Christian Gonzalez, Boston, Jan. 27, 2012
Rowan’s Rajahn Dixon, a freshman from Eastern, smashed a 26-year-old school record in the 200-meter dash Friday in Boston.
Dixon ran 21.53 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, breaking the school record of 21.56 set by 11-time All-America Rich Dixon (no relation) from Dover, Del., at the 1999 NJAC Championships at the Armory.
Dixon’s previous 200 PR was a 21.88 last month at a meet at the Armory. His time is 3rd-fastest in NCAA Division 3 this year, behind Sam Blaskowski of Wisconsin-La Crosse [21.34 last month in La Crosse] and Dylan Doss of Illinois College of Jacksonville, Ill., earlier this month at a meet in Grinnell, Iowa.
At Eastern, Dixon ran 21.92 in February of 2023 at Ocean Breeze. His outdoor PR of 21.40 was set at the 2023 Camden County Championships at Haddon Township without a wind guage. His wind-legal high school PR was 21.57 at West Philly Nationals in June 2023. Dixon did not compete last year.
Also for Rowan, sophomore Eli Hendricks from Penns Grove ran 21.71 in a different section, dropping his PR from a 21.76 he ran at Ocean Breeze last week. He ran his outdoor PR of 21.45 this past May at Widener. He ran 22.27 at Penns Grove when he placed 3rd at the 2023 state Group 1 meet in Somerset.
Jah’mere Beasley of Sterling set the Rowan outdoor 200 mark of 20.91 in 2021 when he placed 6th at the 2021 NCAA Division 3 Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Dixon also anchored Rowan’s 1,600-meter relay team with a 47.07. The Profs ran a season-best 3:13.15, fastest so far this year in NCAA Division 3. senior Marquise Young from Sterling led off in 48.78, senior Nana Agyemang of Parsippany ran a 49.47 2nd leg and senior Samael Milevoix from Union County Vo-Tech ran a 47.86 3rd leg.
Pennsville’s Arianna Smith ran two hurdles PRs over the weekend at the Penn Classic at the Ott Center in West Philly.
Smith, a former Princeton and Rutgers athlete, won the 60-meter highs in 8.42 after leading qualifiers with an 8.47 in the trials.
Smith had a PR of 8.50 at Princeton, which she ran in the trials of the 2023 indoor Hepts in Hanover, N.H. That’s tied for the school record with two other women. She was only at Rutgers for the 2024 indoor season and three meets outdoors and had a best time in the 60 highs of 8.75. She shows up on this year’s Howard roster but hasn’t raced for Howard. She’s been racing with a “USA” affiliation so far this winter.
Smith went into this race at the Ott Center with a PR of 8.48 from a meet at Harvard’s Track and Tennis Center in early December. So she lowered it with both her 8.47 and 8.42.
Smith also won the 400 in 55.06. Her previous best was a 55.64 indoors in Orlando last March. Smith focuses on the intermediates outdoors and has a PR of 57.84, which she ran at Heps at Franklin Field in May of 2023 and remains the Princeton school record.
7.80 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], Albuquerque, 2014
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], Philadelphia, 1980
8.15 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.], Albuquerque, 2024
8.19 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], New York, 2022
8.19 … Shameeka Marshall [Oakcrest], 2005
8.25 … Ste’cye McNeil [Winslow Twp.], New York, 2015
8.29 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], 2024, Cambridge, Mass., 2024
8.30 … Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2022, Staten Island
8.34 … Shereese Price [Pleasantville], 2002, Syracuse
8.42 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], 2025, Philadelphia
Paul VI sophomore Grace Gutowski, junior Claire Magee, freshman Peyton Blake and junior Macy Huber ran the fastest distance medley by a South Jersey school this year Wednesday evening in West Philly.
Their time is No. 9 all-time on the Camden County performance list and No. 25 on the all-time South Jersey list. According to the MileSplit national database, it’s No. 12 in the U.S. this year.
Paul VI broke its school record of 12:30.53 set by Blake, senior Madison Eli, Gutowski and Huber at the state Parochial A meet at the Bubble last month.
Thanks to PVI coach Vin Cieslik for correcting the order of runners listed in the official results: Gutowski ran a 3:45.33 leadoff for 1,200 meters, Magee split 58.75 for 400 meters, Blake ran 2:26.33 on the 800-meter leg and Huber anchored in 5:09.23, holding off Upper Dub anchor Faith Castronuovo at the line. Castronuovo just ran a 5:03.02 full mile on the same track two weeks ago and she split 5:04.72 for 1,600 meters on her anchor leg.
Seneca graduate Julia Greeley tied the Lafayette pole vault record with a lifetime-best clearance at Ocean Breeze over the weekend.
Greeley, a Lafayette senior from Southampton, cleared 12-11 ½ at the Fastrack National Invite. That tied the record set by Elise Buffinton when she won the 2014 ECAC Championship at Boston University.
It’s No. 1 in the Patriot League.
Greeley’s previous indoor PR was a 12-5 ½ in a meet at Moravian University in Bethlehem last January.
Buffinton set Lafayette’s outdoor record of 12-5 ½ at the 2013 Penn Relays and matched it in 2014 at meets in Bethlehem and Annapolis, Md. Greeley is No. 2 on the Lafayette outdoor list with her 12-2 from a home meet in Easton last April.
At Seneca, Greeley won the 2020 state Group 2 championship indoors and had PRs of 11-0 indoors and 11-9 outdoors.
Rider senior Mariah Stephens, a graduate of Egg Harbor Township, popped the 2nd-best long jump in school history and nearly broke the school record in a meet over the weekend at Ocean Breeze.
Stephens PR’d with a 19-7 ½ on her final jump of a terrific series at the Fasttrack National Invite. That’s No. 7 in NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Region.
Afer opening with a foul, Stephens jumped 19-5 ¾, 19-2 ¼, fouled again, then hit 19-5 ¾ again before finishing with the 19-7 ½. She had the four-best jumps of the competition.
Stephens’ previous PR was an outdoor wind-legal 19-3 ¾ to win the long jump at the MAAC Championships last May in Lawrenceville. Her previous indoor PR was 19 1 ¼ at last year’s indoor MAAC meet at the Armory. So she recorded the four-best indoor jumps of her life in one meet.
The Rider school record is held by another former Atlantic County athlete, Holy Spirit graduate and Pleasantville native Asia Young. She jumped 19-8 ¾ at the 2018 indoor MAAC Championships, also at the Armory.
Rider’s outdoor record is 20-1 ¼ set by Raisa Thunig or Raisa Palleija – she’s listed in various places with two different last names – at a home meet in Lawrenceville in March 2023. Stephens is No. 3 on the all-time Rider outdoor list, behind Thunig / Palleija and Young, who jumped 19-5 ¾ at the 2018 outdoor MAAC meet at Lawrenceville.
Stephens is No. 1 on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference performance list in the long jump – nobody else is over 19 feet – and she’s also No. 2 in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.80, No. 3 in the triple jump (38-6) and No. 11 in the 60-meter dash (7.85)
A remarkable high school penathlon debut for Pleasantville freshman Isabella Alvarez at Ocean Breeze earlier this month.
Alvarez scored 3,266 points at the 10th annual Ocean Breeze Invitatioal on Staten Island, the 5th-highest pentathlon score in South Jersey history and the highest score in New Jersey history by a freshman.
Alvarez opened up with a 9.51 in the 60-meter hurdles (through 55 meter hurdles in 8.65) for 806 points, then cleared 5-3 on her 1st attempt for 736 points in the high jump and threw 34-2 ¾ for 558 points in the shot. She finished with a 17-4 ¼ long jump for 640 points and finished with a 2:44.16 in the 800, good for 526 points.
She PR’d in all but the long jump and high jump. She’s done 17-4 ¾ and 5-4 this year. Alvarez is No. 1 in Atlantic County this year in the long jump, high jump, shot put and hurdles. She’s No. 2 in South Jersey in the high jump, No. 5 in the long jump, No. 9 in South Jersey in the shot put and No. 10 in South Jersey in the hurdles. She’s the No. 1 freshman in New Jersey in the high jump and long jump, No. 2 in the shot put and No. 2 in the hurdles.
Her 5-4 is No. 3 on the all-time Atlantic County performance list, and her 17-4 ¾ is No. 6. She’s got Atlantic County freshman records in the hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot put.
According to the MileSplit database, Alvarez’s 3,266 is highest by any freshman in the U.S. this year and 4th-highest in the last 10 years.
Teaneck’s Fiona Carter had the previous New Jersey freshman record of 2,793 points in a meet at the Armory in 2019.
Millville’s Bryanna Craig set a national scholastic freshman heptathlon record of 4,958 points at Greensboro Nationals in the spring of 2019 but she never competed in a multi indoors as a freshman. Craig current competes for Purdue.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 