Schalick and Elizabethtown graduate Samuel Gerstenbacher placed 2nd in the Penn Relays Open 5,000 Friday night at Franklin Field and destroyed his PR.

Gerstenbacher ran 14:06.23, finishing just two meters behind winner Ben Flanagan, the former Michigan runner. Flanagan ran 14:04.90.

Gerstenbacher’s previous PR was 14:21.79, which he ran at Princeton earlier this month. Before that it was 14:54.79 from 2019 in the York (Pa.) Twilight Meet. So he’s now lowered his 5,000 PR 48 ½ seconds in 28 days.

The races at Princeton and Penn are his first track 5,000s since May of 2019, his senior year at Elizabethtown.

On Friday, Gerstenbacher came through 200 meters in 33.26 and then reeled off his next 12 laps in 69.95, 66.80, 66.65, 68.68, 69.33, 70.26, 69.60, 68.03, 69.50, 69.66, 66.28 and 58.28. So he closed in 2:04.56 for his final 800. Flanagan closed in 57.18 and 2:03.35.

Also in the race were Haddon Township graduates Jacob Dinerman [14:33.28] and Luke Petela [14:36.83]. Dinerman lowered his 5,000 PR from 14:39.76, which he ran two weeks ago in Edison, and Petela lowered his PR from 14:37.63, which he ran in Albana in May of 2019.

The Clayton girls ran the fastest time by a South Jersey 1,600-meter relay team in 20 years Friday and placed 6th in the Penn Relays Championship of America.

Clayton ran 3:44.67, No. 3 in South Jersey history and No. 12 in state history. It’s the fastest time by a South Jersey school since Willingboro ran 3:44.64 in 2002.

The Clippers finished behind only three schools from Jamaica and one each from Maryland and New York.

Unfortunately, full splits are not available, but Bridge Program seniors Ariel Sharpe, Arianna Sharpe and Amirah Sharpe along with Kelsey Thomas shattered the Gloucester County record of 3:47.39 that they set on Thursday at Penn to qualify for the Championship race.

The only schools in state history to run faster are Union Catholic (four times), Columbia (three times), Willingboro (twice) and Montclair and Plainfield (once).

Clayton’s time is No. 6 in the U.S. this year according to the MileSplit national database. Both of Willingboro’s times in 2001 and 2002 came at Nationals, so it looks like Clayton’s time is the fastest ever run by a South Jersey school at Penn.

Here’s the all-time state sub-3:45 list:

3:35.90 … Union Catholic, 2015
3:38.92 … Union Catholic, 2017
3:40.36 … Columbia, 2013
3:41.03 … Montclair, 1998
3:41.19 … Columbia, 2014
3:42.54 … Columbia, 2010
3:42.59 … Union Catholic, 2016
3:42.97 … Union Catholic, 2019
3:43.3h … Plainfield, 1981
3:43.94 … Willingboro, 2001
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:44.67 … Clayton, 2022
3:44.9h … Columbia, 1980

The Cherokee girls overcame a near disaster to place 4th in the Championship of America 3,200-meter relay Friday at the 126th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Junior Kelsey Niglio was tripped with about 100 meters to go on her leadoff leg when a runner from Holmwood Tech of Christiana, Jamaica, fell to the track, but Niglio bounced back up quickly and was able to handoff to sophomore Kerry O’Day in fifth place. Niglio still managed to split 2:17.23.

Despite the mishap, Cherokee ran an outdoor school-record 9:17.77 and finished 3rd among U.S. schools. Edwin Allen of Frankfield, Jamaica, won the race in 8:54.58, followed by Cuthbertson of Waxhaw, N.C. [9:04.67], and Union Catholic of Scotch Plains [9:06.14]. Holmwood was unable to finish the race.

O’Day split 2:25.86, freshman Megan Niglio 2:20.59 and senior Nicole Clifford anchored in 2:14.10.

Cherokee’s time is No. 12 in South Jersey history outdoors and No. 5 in Burlington County history.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey list:

9:00.51 … Haddonfield, 2021
9:05.62 … Lenape, 2012
9:05.83 … Lenape, 2008
9:06.30 … Haddonfield, 2008
9:10.32 … Haddonfield, 2000
9:12.30 … Haddonfield, 2019
9:15.61 … Ocean City, 2014
9:15.19 … Lenape, 2007
9:15.92 … Haddonfield, 2015
9:16.57 … Seneca, 2017
9:16.79 … Haddonfield, 1999
9:17.77 … Cherokee, 2022
9:18.22 … Kingsway, 2016
9:18.37 … Haddonfield, 2019
9:18.57 … Seneca, 2018
9:18.71 … Lenape, 2011
9:18.93 … Haddonfield, 2018
9:18.94 … Lenape, 2006
9:19.15 … Wilson, 2002
9:19.68 … Kingsway, 2017

Lumberton’s Greg Foster, sitting in second place through four jumps, popped an outdoor PR on his fifth attempt to win the long jump Friday morning at the 126th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Foster became the first long jumper from New Jersey to win at Penn in 19 years, since Edgewood’s Anthony Miles won the 2003 meet with a 24-6 ½ leap. Foster’s 24-11 is No. 5 in meet history.

Uroy Ryan of Jamaica College in Kingston had jumps of 24-2 ½, 24-2 ¼ and 24-1 ¾ through four jumps, and Foster’s best was a 23-5 ¼ at that point. But he sailed 24-11 on his fifth attempt with a legal wind of 1.4 meters-per-second to take the lead.

Ryan hit 24-1 ½ and 24-9 on his last two jumps and Foster, a senior at Lawrenceville School, fouled on his final attempt, so Uroy finished with five of the six-best jumps of the competition, but Foster took home first place.

Foster’s PR is a 25-4 ½ from Ocean Breeze Nationals in March. His previous outdoor PR was 23-6 from a home meet last week.

Foster’s 24-11 ranks 8th in state history. He broke the Mercer County outdoor record of 24-0 set at the 2018 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington by A’nan Bridgett of West Windsor-Plainsboro South.

All-Time New Jersey Long Jump List
26-6 … Carl Lewis [Willingboro], 1979
25-2 ½ … Anthony Averett [Woodbury], 2013
25-0 ½ … Corey Crawford [Indian Hills], 2010
25-0 … Justes Nance [Blair Academy], 2015
25-0 … William Spearmon [Woodrow Wilson], 1996
24-11 ½ … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains], 1977
24-11 ½ … Anthony Miles [Winslow Twp.], 2002
24-11 … Darius Pemberton [Hackensack], 1993
24-11 … Greg Foster [Lawrenceville School], 2022
24-8 ½ … Gerard Reynolds [Willingboro], 1989
24-8 … Isaac Samuels [Willingboro-Kennedy], 1983

Monmouth freshman Sebastien Reed ran the 2nd-fastest 5,000 in school history Thursday night at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Reed, a Pitman High School graduate, ran 14:15.94, missing the school record by only three seconds.

His time is No. 7 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference so far this year.

Nick Pellegrino from Marlboro High School set the record of 14:12.67 in 2004 at the IC4A Championships at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Reed broke his PR of 14:22.05, which he set indoors at Boston University in February. That’s also No. 2 in school history. Reed’s previous outdoor 5,000 PR was a 14:50.44 earlier this month at Lehigh.

In addition to his two No. 2 rankings in the 5,000, Reed is the Monmouth school record holder in the 3,000 indoors [8:10.69], and he’s No. 3 in the 10,000 [30:21.10]. He’s also run 1:56.49 for 800 meters this spring.

Rancocas Valley’s Sanai Jenkins, Anabella Chin, Jya Marshall and Kasey White ran 3:58.08 and won the Large-School 1,600-Meter Relay at the 126th annual Penn Relays Thursday at Franklin Field.

R.V.’s time was 21st-fastest of more than 400 schools and 3rd-fastest among New Jersey schools, behind only Clayton [3:47.39] and Scotch Plains-Fanwood [3:50.69].

The Red Devils qualified for the Philadelphia Area Championship race, scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday.

Sanai Jenkins and Anabella Chin ran the first two legs – splits not available – followed by Jya Marshall [59.67] and Kasey White [58.43].

Rancocas Valley won by 50 meters over Washington Township, which was second in 4:05.64.

R.V. also won the Large-School 4-by-4 in 2019, the last time the meet was held, with Sheriyah Nutt, Brianna Snowden, Alyssa Leak and Chin.

The Clayton girls ran the 9th-fastest 4-by-4 in South Jersey history Thursday and qualified for the Penn Relays Championship of America.

Ariel Sharpe, Arianna Sharpe, Kelsey Thomas and Amirah Sharpe ran 3:47.39 to win the South Jersey Small-School 1,600-Meter Relay by 150 meters, break the meet record by 7 ½ seconds, post the 3rd-fastest time among more than 400 U.S. teams.

Clayton will race in the Championship of America at 5:05 p.m. on Friday.

Clayton destroyed the meet record of 3:54.82 set in 2010 by Willingboro’s Asia Goode, Patrice Rowe, Tiye Saran Mutazz and Vanessa Arientyl. The Clippers nearly ran under the Large-School meet record of 3:46.94 set in 1995 by Camden’s Tynisha Revels, Medina Salaam, Alishia Lawson and Aisha Lawson.

The time is fastest in state history by a Group 1 school, breaking the mark of 3:48.91 set by Penns Grove at the 2013 Meet of Champions.

Clayton also broke the Gloucester County record of 3:48.7, set in 1999 by Washington Township.

Ariel Sharpe led off with a 58.06 split, followed by Arianna Sharpe’s 53.55. Thomas split 61.43 and Amirah Sharpe anchored with a 54.36. The Sharpes are Bridge Program seniors. Thomas is a junior.

Camden placed second in 4:11.64.

The only schools to run faster than Clayton were Hydel of St. Catherine, Jamaica [3:39.34], Holmwood Tech of Christiana, Jamaica [3:41.95], Bullis School of Potomac, Md. [3:43.59], Paul Robeson of Brooklyn [3:44.36] and Edwin Allen of Clarendon, Jamaica [3:45.29].

Clayton’s time is No. 20 in state history, but only 10 schools have run faster: Union Catholic (5 times), Columbia (4 times), Willingboro (3 times) and Montclair, Plainfield, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Camden, Winslow Township, Trenton and Eastern (once each)

Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-3:50 list:
3:43.94 … Willingboro, 2001
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
3:46.67 … Winslow Twp., 2018
3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
3:47.30 … Willingboro, 2003
3:47.39 … Clayton, 2022
3:47.41 … Winslow Twp., 2017
3:47.4h … Camden, 1978
3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
3:48.00 … Wilson, 2001
3:48.17 … Wilson, 2006
3:48.6y … Camden,, 1978
3:48.78 … Lenape, 2014
3:48.7h … Washington Twp., 1999
3:48.87 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
3:48.91 … Penns Grove, 2013
3:49.25 … Lenape, 2015
3:49.2y … Camden, 1979
3:49.30 … Winslow Twp., 2004
3:49.43 … Willingboro, 1997
3:49.53 … Willingboro, 1998
3:49.63 … Winslow Twp., 2016
3:49.93 … Willingboro, 2009

And the all-time New Jersey sub-3:48 list:
3:35.90 … Union Catholic, 2015
3:38.92 … Union Catholic, 2017
3:40.36 … Columbia, 2013
3:41.03 … Montclair, 1998
3:41.19 … Columbia, 2014
3:42.54 … Columbia, 2010
3:42.59 … Union Catholic, 2016
3;42.97 … Union Catholic, 2019
3:43.3h … Plainfield, 1981
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:44.9h … Columbia, 1980
3:45.12 … Trenton, 2001
3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
3:46.67 … Winslow, 2018
3:46.73 … Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 2021
3:47.08 … Union Catholic, 2018
3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
3:47.39 … Clayton, 2022
3:47.41 … Willingboro, 2001
3:47.41 … Winslow Twp., 2017
3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
3:47.7h … Columbia, 1982
3:47.7h … Trenton, 1983
3:47.94 … Columbia, 2009

The Rancocas Valley and Clayton girls ran two of the fastest 400-meter relay times of nearly 500 high schools at the 126th annual Penn Relays Thursday morning, and both advanced to a championship race on Friday.

Seniors Anabella Chin, Jya Marshall and Olivia Smith and junior Kasey White ran 48.84, the 13th-fastest time overall and second-fastest among New Jersey schools behind only Union Catholic, which ran 47.96.

The Red Devils qualified for what’s now called the International 400-Meter Relay Championship, which is for the nine-fastest schools that don’t qualify for the Championship of America race.

The cut-off for the Championship of America was Union Catholic’s 47.96. The nine schools in the International race all ran between and 48.17 and 49.24. R.V. will line up in lane nine. That race is scheduled for 4:16 p.m. Friday.

Rancocas Valley’s time is its fastest this year. RV ran 49.06 at the Woodbury Relays.

Clayton ran 49.61, 18th-fastest among all 495 schools and 3rd-fastest among New Jersey schools behind Union Catholic and R.V.

Freshman Miyana Johnson and bridge program seniors Arianna Sharpe, Amirah Sharpe and Ariel Sharpe ran for Clayton, which qualified for what’s now called the National 400-Meter Relay Championship. The nine-fastest schools that don’t qualify for the C-of-A or International race qualify for the National race. Clayton will be in lane six. That race is scheduled for 4:08 p.m. Friday.

Clayton will be chasing its school record of 48.72 which it set last year at the Tri-County Conference Championships at Kingsway.

Hammonton junior Emma Peretti recorded the four-best discus throws of her life and placed 8th at the 126th annual Penn Relays Thursday morning.

Peretti entered the competition with a PR of 120-5 from last year’s Atlantic County Championships at Buena and a season best of 119-9 from last weekend’s Woodbury Relays.

But after a foul on her first throw, she finished the first round with throws of 123-1 and 128-11 to qualify for the finals, where she opened with a 122-6 and a 124-3.

Peretti averaged 124-8 on her four legal throws, so her average throw Thursday was more than four feet beyond her lifetime best coming into the meet.

Cedricka Williams of Holmwood Tech in Jamaica won the event with a throw of 177-2. Williams and Peretti were the only competitors with four throws of at least 122 feet.

Peretti’s 128-11 is the top throw by any South Jersey discus thrower at Penn in nine years, since the 2013 meet, when three hit 130 feet – Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard was 3rd [156-5], Kingsway’s Tara Daniels 9th [131-10] and Millville’s Ashleigh Weems 10th [130-1].

Peretti was the top New Jersey finisher. She finished behind three girls from Jamaica, three from Pennsylvania and one from Virginia.

Her throw is No. 5 in Atlantic County history and only two feet out of third.

146- 5 … Kim Warren [Atlantic City], 2006
143- 3 … Mercedes Hicks [Atlantic City], 2006
130-9 … Michaela Pomatto [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2021
129-0 … Julia Bannan [Holy Spirit], 2021
128-11 … Emma Peretti [Hammonton], 2022

Nicole Clifford’s electrifying anchor leg led the Cherokee girls to a 3,200-meter relay win at the 126th annual Penn Relays Thursday morning and a berth in Friday’s Championship of America.

On a cold morning at Franklin Field, Clifford split 2:14.49, and Cherokee placed first in the first of two large-school races in 9:21.19, winning by 40 meters.

Cherokee’s time was 4th-fastest from among two small-school races and two large-school races. The 12-fastest schools from those four races advance to the Championship of America at 3:55 p.m. Friday.

This will be Cherokee’s first Championship of America relay in the program’s history. It’s been quite a year for Cherokee, which won the Meet of Champions and Nike Regionals in cross country and finished among the top four in three relays at Armory and Ocean Breeze nationals indoors.

Junior Kelsey Niglio led off with a 2:18.25 split that put Cherokee in the lead, and the Chiefs were never farther back than second the rest of the race. Sophomore Kerry O’Day ran 2:24.26 and freshman Megan Niglio 2:24.21 to set up Clifford, who got the stick even with the anchor from Shenendehowa of Clifton Park, N.Y.

Clifford moved into the lead on the first backstretch, and Cherokee wound up winning by 40 meters over Morgantown (W.V.), which passed Shenendehowa for second in 9:29.45.

Clifford’s split was fastest in the race by more than three seconds. The only faster split in any of the four races was recorded by Union Catholic anchor Peyton Hollis, who ran 2:12.53. Union Catholic won the first of the two small-school races in 9:13.08.

Cherokee ran 9:07.27 indoors at Ocean Breeze Nationals, No. 2 in South Jersey history.

Here are the 12 qualifiers for the Championship of America race:

9:13.08 … Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, N.J.
9:13.89 … Edwin Allen, Middlesex, Jamaica
9:19.75 … Cuthbertson, Waxhaw, N.C.
9:21.19 … Cherokee, Marlton, N.J.
9:23.48 … Holmwood Tech, Christiana, Jamaica
9:26.88 … Penn Charter, Philadelphia
9:29.45 … Morgantown, W.V.
9:30.43 … Shenendehowa, Clifton Park, N.Y.
9:30.76 … Penncrest, Media, Pa.
9:32.13 … Padua Academy, Wilmington, Del.
9:33.41 … St. John’s College, Washington, D.C.
9:37.28 … Middletown South, Middletown, N.J.