Millville’s Leah Howard, one of the top javelin throwers in the country, opened her senior year with a monster throw at the Spartan Relays at Deptford.

Howard threw 146-2, two feet shy of her PR of 148-2 from last year’s state Group 4 meet at Franklin High. That’s No. 6 in South Jersey history and No. 16 in state history.

This time last year, Howard had never thrown farther than 123-3. But she hit 132-10 at Woodbury, 134-10 at the South Jersey Elite at Delsea, 134-7 at the Cape-Atlantic Championships at Bridgeton, 138-6 at Group 4 sectionals at Buena and that 148-2 at states before placing 2nd at the Meet of Champions with a 135-3 and then hitting 141-8 at the American JavFest in East Stroudsburg, Pa.

So her 146-2 is her 2nd-best throw ever. Unfortuantely, the timing company that worked the Spartan Relays did not include field event series in their results, which is ridiculous.

Last year, Howard ranked 16th nationally according to the MileSplit database. Her throw Saturday is No. 14 nationally according to MileSplit.

All-Time South Jersey 140-Foot Javelin List
168- 6 … Brielle Smith [Oakcrest], 2018
160- 8 … Maria Jimenez (Vineland), 2012
152- 9 … Katherine Johnston (Haddonfield), 2012
152- 4 … Jill Shaner (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2009
148- 8 … Caitlin Cielo (Eastern), 2002
148- 2 … Leah Howard [Millville], 2022
146- 7 … Victoria Imbesi (Our Lady of Mercy), 2008
145- 0 … Brielle Smith (Oakcrest), 2017
143-11 … Ayana Culhane (Absegami), 2016
142- 6 … Kaela Schrier (Cherokee), 2016
142- 1 … Alexa Gardner [Hammonton], 2018
141- 6 … Lindsay Minch (Pennsville), 2010
141- 5 … Kelly Yanucil (Bordentown), 2013
141- 1 … Tumelo Nwanma (Vineland), 2016
141- 0 … Jocelyn McRae (Millville), 2006
140- 8 … Julianne Foering (Rancocas Valley), 2016
140- 1 … Caitlin Ciello (Eastern), 2002
140- 0 … Melissa Lake (Cherokee), 2011

Great start for the Timber Creek girls sprint team, which set a school record of 1:41.90 in the 800-meter relay Saturday at the Spartan Relays at Deptford.

That’s the No. 1 time in the state after the first week of competition.

Sophomore Ryan Jennings led off for Timber Creek, followed by sophomore Billie Frazier, Chloe Jones and Naylah Jones.

Timber Creek’s previous school record was 1:42.98, which they ran at the 2015 Woodbury Relays.

The time is No. 29 in South Jersey history, and considering the early date and the cold, blustery conditions, that’s a heck of a performance.

Timber Creek ran unpressed, beating 2nd-place Winslow by about 3 ½ seconds. Winslow ran 1:45.26.

The Chargers also won the 400-meter relay in 48.96 with Jennings, junior Nyla Jones, Chloe Jones and Naylah Jones. That’s also No. 1 in the state.

All-Time South Jersey 800-Meter List

1:38.43 … Winslow Twp., 2018
1:39.21 … Eastern, 2003
1:39.59 … Winslow Twp., 2012
1:39.67 … Winslow Twp., 2019
1:40.25 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
1:40.30 … Winslow Twp., 2017
1:40.46 … Eastern, 2019
1:40.62 … Winslow Twp., 2003
1:40.72 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
1:40.5h … Woodrow Wilson, 2006
1:40.91 … Winslow Twp., 2004
1:41.10 … Washington Twp., 1999
1:41.1h …. Camden, 1995
1:41.33 … Camden, 2009
1:41.2h … Willingboro, 1994
1:41.40 … Winslow Twp., 2005
1:41.2h … Camden, 2006
1:41.54 … Willingboro, 1999
1:41.56 … Highland, 1998
1:41.59 … Eastern, 2002
1:41.70 … Paul VI, 2019
1:41.5h … Pleasantville, 1995
1:41.5h … Woodrow Wilson, 2005
1:41.81 … Willingboro, 1995
1:41.7 … Wilson, 2008
1:41.85 … Deptford, 2015
1:41.86 … Willingboro, 2000
1:41.87 … Camden, 2001
1:41.88 … Winslow, 2013
1:41.90 … Timber Creek, 2023
1:41.91 … Winslow, 2018
1:41.97 … Moorestown, 1999
1:41.9h … Willingboro, 2003

Millville graduate Daniel Fenton, a junior at Monmouth, PR’d Saturday in the 400-meter hurdles in a meet at Fairfax, Va.

Fenton placed 2nd in the George Mason Ebanks Invitational in 53.49, shaving more than half a second off his previous PR of 54.04. Fenton ran 54.04 in April of 2021 in a meet on his home track in West Long Branch.

Fenton – seeded 5th – placed 2nd to St. Joe’s senior Kyle Magee from Chalfont, Pa., and Central Bucks South in Warrington. Magee ran 53.13.

His time is No. 3 in the Colonial Athletic Conference, behind Northeastern’s Cory Gaither (51.98) and North Carolina A&T’s Akeem Lindo of East Orange (52.05).

Huge breakthrough race Saturday for St. Augustine’s Sincere Rhea, a Miami junior, who not only ran a big PR with legal wind in the 110-meter hurdles on his home track, he edged three-time Big East champion Terrel Williams of UConn in a matchup of two of the nation’s top hurdlers.

Rhea won the hurdles at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational at Cobb stadium in Coral Gables in 13.74 racing into a 1.2-meters-per-second wind. Williams ran 13.76 for second place.

Rhea’s wind-legal PR was 13.89, which he ran in the trials of the Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Ill., as a Penn State sophomore in May of 2021, and matched in a meet in Baton Rouge, La., last April. He ran a heavily wind-aided 13.72 two weeks ago in Coral Gables – that was with a 4.1 mps tailwind. Anything over 2.0 mps disqualifies a performance in the 100, 200, high hurdles or horizontal junms from record and list consideration.

That 13.74 equals the No. 4 performance in Miami history and is fastest since Artie Burns ran 13.70 at the 2016 NCAA East Preliminary Round meet in Jacksonville. Burns was the Steelers’ 1st-round draft pick in 2016 and has spent the last seven years playing cornerback with the Steelers, Bears and Seahawks.

Of the three athletes ahead of Rhea on the all-time Miami list, two are from New Jersey. Trenton’s Devon Hill set the school record of 13.35 at the 2012 ACC Championships in Charlottesville, and Cory Nelms of Neptune, who ran and played briefly for the Raiders in 2012, ran all-time Miami No. 2 13.65 at the 2010 NCAA East Prelims in Greensboro, N.C.

Rhea’s 13.74 ranks No. 26 in the world this year, according to the World Athletics performance list, and No. 13 in the U.S.

 

Another hanmmer PR for Rutgers-Camden senior Emily Hilt, one of the top throwers in NCAA Division 3.

Hilt, a Kingsway graduate, threw 178-3 (twice) Friday at the Osprey Open in Galloway Township. She hit her previous PR of 178-1 at a meet at Widener two weeks ago.

She improved on her No. 4 ranking in Division 3, only 10 inches behind No. 3 Brooke Buckhannon of Baldwin Wallace.

Hilt had a lifetime best of 172-0 coming into this season from a meet last May in New Haven, Conn. She didn’t throw the hammer as a freshman, and her PR as a sophomore was 155-1, so this is the start of only her third season specializing in the hammer.

Hilt had a very consistent series Friday in poor conditions, with throws of 178-3, 173-1, 167-2, 168-10, 167 and a second 178-3.

She averaged 172-1 on her six throws, good enough to rank among the top 10 throwers in Division 3.

Cinnaminson’s Austin Gabay, a junior at Duke, PR’d at 1,500 meters Friday on his home track in Durham, N.C.

Gabay ran 3:45.96 at the Duke Invitational. His previous 1,500 PR was 3:46.10 at the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in Raleigh. That was his last outdoor 1,500 (or mile).

Gabay’s 3:45.96 is the equivalent of a 4:04.04 full mile. Gabay’s mile PR is 4:06.70 this past indoor season in February at a meet in Lynchburg, Va.

The race was held in less than ideal conditions at Duke’s Morris Williams Track and Field Stadium – 90 percent humidity, steady rain and a cold 45-degree chill.

Gabay came through 300 meters in 44.48 and then split 61.50 and 60.71 before closing in 59.29. So that’s exactly 4:00-pace for the final 800 meters.

 

Chesterfield’s Olivia D’Aulerio ran a 400 PR and the #4 time in Haverford history this past weekend in a meet in Chester, Pa.

D’Aulerio, a freshman at Haverford who attended the Hun School in Princeton, ran 58.90 and placed 3rd at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener. Swarthmore’s Rose Teszler won the race in 58.26.

D’Aulerio’s previous PR was a 59.08 last May in a meet at Lawrenceville. She only ran one 400 as a senior at Hun, focusing mainly on the 100 and 200, which she swept at the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Championships in Pottstown.

She ran 59.17 indoors at Ocean Breeze, which is 2nd-fastest in Haverford history behind Christina Neilson’s school-record 58.38, set at the 2011 Centennial Conference Championships at Haverford. She finished the indoor season placing 4th in the 200 at the conference meet in Lancaster and 7th in the 60.

Neilson also holds Haverford’s outdoor 400 record at 57.13 from the 2011 Centennial Conference outdoor meet in Allentown. D’Aulerio’s 58.90 is just 7-100ths of a second out of the No. 2 mark, 58.83 by Isabel Thornberry last May at Collegeville. No. 3 on that list is a 58.85 by Aileen Keogh at the 2007 conference meet at Haverford.

D’Aulerio is also captain of Haverford’s soccer team and was an all-state player for Hun in the fall of 2021.

Huge double PR meet over the weekend for Williamstown grad Anne Sasse, now a sophomore at Rowan.

Racing at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener in Chester, Pa., Sasse placed 3rd in the 800 in 2:17.86 after placing 3rd in the 1,500 in 4:45.11.

In the 800, she was the 2nd collegiate runner across the line and dropped her PR from 2:19.55, which she ran last April at a meet in Baltimore. That’s a nearly two-second drop.

In the 1,500, she lowered her PR from 4:49.11, which she ran last April in a meet also in Chester. She was also the 2nd collegiate runner in the 1,500. Her time converts to 5:06.12 for 1,600 meters or 5:07.92 for the full mile. Considering that her high school PR was 5:30.70, that’s an incredible result.

Sasse is No. 1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference in both the 800 and 1,500. She’s also No. 3 in the 5,000 with a 19:15.56 from a meet in Lexington, Va., last month. She’s No. 2 in NCAA Division 3 in the 800 and No. 42 in the 1,500.

Rowan’s web site lists the school record in the 1,500 as 4:43.76 by Holy Spirit’s Linda Vaughan in 1991, but that is wrong. Vaughan ran 4:42.0 at the 1989 Millersville Metric Invitational. And we found the Courier-Post article from April 30, 1989, that proves it.

In the 800, Collingswood’s Quinn Basewitz of Swarthmore PR’d with a 2:21.47, and in the 1,500 Widener’s Jaden Sweeley from Cherokee  PR’d at 4:55.48.

You can list incorrect information from 30 years ago and assume nobody will notice, but I will check that info every time and find those mistakes.

Dennisha Page blasted a 200 PR this weekend with the 2nd-fastest time in Rutgers history.

Page, a Wilson graduate who began her college career at Syracuse, ran 23.48 at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, lowering her PR from 23.55 from last spring at the same meet. The performance was wind-legal at 0.1.

The only faster time in Rutgers history is 23.07 by Williamstown graduate Gabrielle Farquharson at the 2016 Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Neb.

Other South Jersey women on the Rutgers all-time 200 top-10 are Bordentown’s Andrea Conaway at No. 6 with a 23.95 at the Metropolitan Championships at St. John’s in 1987 (listed incorrectly as 1988 on Rutgers’ website) and Egg Harbor Township’s Ajae Alvarez-Tyler at No. 8 with her 24.19 in Orlando in 2022.

Page is No. 9 in the Big Ten Conference in the 200, but the top 10 are all between 23.23 and 23.55.

She also anchored Rutgers’ 400-meter relay team, which ran 44.88, the No. 3 time in Rutgers history and fastest since the 2016 team – including Farquharson on the 2^nd leg – ran 44.46 at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln.

In his first lifetime 1,500, Brady Shute ran a mile PR equivalent this past weekend.

Shute, a Cornell sophomore from Woodbury, placed 2nd in the 1,500 at the UConn Dog Fight in Storrs, Conn., in 3:54.56. That’s the equivalent of a 4:13.32 full mile.

Shute ran 4:16.76 full mile indoors in January in a meet at Ocean Breeze. His high school PR was 4:18.07 for 1,600 meters in a prime-time meet at Haddonfield in May of 2021, so this is the equivalent of a five-second PR and a 6 ½-second outdoor PR.

UConn sophomore Alex Sauter won the race in 3:53.55.

Shute was in 3rd place with 400 to go but closed in 59.48 to pass teammate Colden Longley and finish 2nd overall. Longley was 3rd in 3:54.64.