Haddonfield’s Allison Colflesh, a freshman at Maryland, opened her collegiate XC career with an 11th-place finish at the Mount St. Mary’s University Duals.

Colflesh covered the 5,000-meter course in Emmitsburg, Md., in 19:48 and was Maryland’s second finisher, behind another freshman, Katie Altieri, who took eighth in 19:15.

George Washington swept the top five spots and outscored Maryland 15-61, with Maryland-Baltimore County third (85) and Catholic University of Washington, D.C., fourth (134).

For Catholic, Moorestown graduate Kate Inglis, a freshman, ran 20:59 for 21st place, and freshman Georgia Nussey, Colflesh’s former Haddonfield teammate, placed 39th in 22:36.

Delsea graduate Josh Awotunde threw a historic PR of 72-2 in the shot put Saturday in Italy, moving him up from 19th to 15th in U.S. history.

Awotunde, competing for Shore Athletic Conference, became the 15th U.S. thrower in history to reach 22 meters at the 2021 Meeting Città di Padova 2021, which is a World Athletics continental tour bronze level series event. Padova is about 25 miles west of Venice.

https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results/7155954/result

His throw is No. 30 in world history.

Awotunde won the event over Italian Zane Weir, who threw 70-11 1/2 for second place.

Awotunde’s previous PR was 71-7 3/4 when he placed fifth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., in June. His best throw coming into this year was 69-3 3/4 in April of 2019 in Los Angeles.

His 72-2 would have placed fourth in the Olympic Games in Tokyo last month.

Awotunde’s throw ranks him 6th in the world this year behind five 2021 Olympians, including four finalists.

Full series info for Awotunde was not listed on the World Athletics’ results page. Still working on that!

Highland graduate Ben Woodward, a junior at Rider, placed 7th Saturday in the Temple Invitational. He was Rider’s first finisher.

Woodard covered the 8,000-meter course at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia in 27:19, finishing just 17 seconds behind overall winner Christian Fitch of Temple.

“Woodward and the young guys really stepped up today,” Rider coach Bob Hamer said on Rider’s web site. “I’m really excited for Ben. He ran a really solid race today and we will work on building on this performance.”

Also racing for Rider were freshman Dakota Oyuela from Burlington Township, who placed 18th in 18:23 in his collegiate debut; Richie Castaneda of Camden Catholic, 21st in 28:35; and sophomore Gobi Thurairajah of Egg Harbor Township, 25th in 29:05.

Temple scored a perfect 15 points and Rider was second with 52 points.

In the women’s race, Sydney Watts of Chestnut Hill College, a freshman from Kingsway, opened her collegiate career by placing 14th in 25:55 over 6,000 meters.

Cinnaminson graduate Mike Ungvarsky ran 18:17 over 6,000 meters and placed sixth out of more than 100 runners Friday night at the Friday Night Lights Elon Opener at Elon (N.C.) University.

Ungvarsky finished 22 seconds behind overall winner Athanas Kioko of Campbell College. He was Duke’s fifth runner.

Duke outscored East Carolina 20-75 to win the team title.

In the women’s race, Lenape graduate Alexa Woltjen, a senior at North Carolina Wilmington and a transfer from Maryland, ran 15:09 over 4,000 meters to place 37th. 

Monmouth freshman Allie Pierontoni of Kingsway placed 8th Friday afternoon in the season-opening Lehigh Invitational.

Pierontoni ran 22:11 over Lehigh’s 6,000-meter course in Bethlehem (and briefly in Lower Saucon Township). 

She was Monmouth’s third runner, behind overall winner Sammi Ragenklint [21:33] and Mackenzie Jones [22:02].

Monmouth and Princeton both finished with 50 points. Instead of using a 6th-runner tiebreaker [which Princeton would have won], head-to-head matchups were used, and Monmouth won that 3-2. 

Shawnee graduate Kara Bonner, a senior at Lehigh, placed 16th in 22:20, finishing nine seconds behind Pierontoni. Bonner was Lehigh’s fourth runner, helping the Mountainhawks finish a close third with 57 points.

Also racing were Lenape grad and Rutgers sophomore Shelby Whetstone [66th in 25:08] and Ocean City grad Mickey Baker [68th in 25:31].

Lehigh’s Connor Melko opened his junior cross country season Friday with a 5th-place finish in a field of 130 at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem.

Melko covered the 6,000-meter course in 18:18, which is 4:54 pace on the hilly, winding, twisting course on Lehigh’s South campus, which is also partially in Lower Saucon Township.

Melko, a Bishop Eustace graduate, was Lehigh’s No. 1 runner on the short version of the Mountainhawks’ home course, which has twice hosted the NCAA Championships.

Lehigh scored 58 points, finishing second to Princeton, which won with 20 points.

Also under 19 minutes was Lower Cape May Regional graduate Will Berger, a junior at Rutgers. He placed 30th in 18:57.

Two Monmouth freshmen from South Jersey opened their careers in this race. Pitman’s Sebastien Reed placed 54th in 19:36 and Cherokee’s Nico Grilli followed eight seconds and four spots back.

Liam Duffy of Haddon Township, a junior at nearby Moravian, placed 65th in 19:55.

Delsea graduate Josh Awotunde finished the best season of his life when he placed fifth in the shot put over the weekend at the Profontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore.

Awotunde threw 69-8 1/2, missing the 70-foot barrier by just 3 1/2 inches. Awotunde reached 70 feet in four meets this year, culminating in a 71-8 when he placed fifth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June at the same Hayward Field facility.

That 71-8 ranks No. 44 in world history, 19 in U.S. history and No. 9 in the world this year. It’s the No. 12 throw in U.S. Olympic Trials history.

Pre was Awotunde’s first meet in six weeks, since he competed in three meets in Europe in late June and July, with a best throw 71-2 1/4 at the Gyulai István Memorial Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix at the Bregyó Athletic Center in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.

At Pre, Awotunde opened with a throw of 65-2 1/4 followed by a 65-2 1/2 before his 69-8 1/2. He fouled on his two remaining throws.

Awotunde entered the 2021 season with a lifetime best of 69-3 3/4 from a meet in Los Angeles in April of 2019, so he wound up surpassing that in five meets and on at least eight throws.

Megan Lacy placed 4th Sunday in the Gnar Gnar trail race in Oregon, qualifying for the U.S. national team that will compete in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thaland next year.

The race, held at the Mt. Hood SkiBowl resort, served as the USATF Mountain Running Championships, and the first four finishers form the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships, scheduled for Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February.

Lacy, a Cherokee High School graduate now based in Boise, Idaho, finished the challenging, mountainous course in 46:26. 

Grayson Murphy of Salt Lake City won the event in 43:22, and the next three runners all finished in the span of 15 seconds – Rachel Johnson of Lynchburg, Va., in 46:11, Bailey Kowalczyk of Nederland, Colo., in 46:22, and then Lacy.

Lacy finished 23 seconds ahead of the 5th-place runner, Anna Gibson of Teton Village, Wy.

The page on the USATF web site dedicated to the event not only does not include results but does not say how long the course is.  Not surprisingly, considering the entire USATF web site is a train wreck.

An article on web site trailriunner.com indicates the course peaks at about 5,000 feat but it’s not clear if the start or finish are at sea level.

The inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships is scheduled for Feb. 10-13 in Chiang Mai. The event was created to replace several overlapping trail championships – the World Mountain Running Championships, World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships and Trail World Championships.

Tom Cooke, a 2012 graduate of Kingsway, is closing in on the 4-minute-mile barrier.

Cooke ran 4:01.08 Thursday night at the Hotel Warner Mile at Henderson High School in West Chester, Pa.

Cooke placed third behind Brian Crimmins, who ran 3:58.73, and Villanova grad Casey Comber, who ran 4:01.10.

The field went out a little slow, with Comber at 60.61, Crimmins 61.02, Jeremy Hernendez 61.25, Cooke 61.40 and Dave Minors 61.49.

The pace quickened on the second lap, and Cooke came through in 2:00.68 but in fifth place after a 59.29. He ran 62.21 on his third lap but closed in 58.20 to pass Minors and Hernandez and finish inches behind Comber.

This was quite a field Cooke raced against.

Crimmins is a 1:48.67 half-miler, Comber has run 3:57.80 indoors (and 3:37.76 for 1,500 meters), Minors has run 1:48.53 and Hernandez – a Clifton High graduate – ran 3:55.66 indoors in 2019, making him the 6th-fastest miler in New Jersey history (see complete list below).

What was Cooke’s previous mile PR? I’m not sure he even has one. He ran 4:11.84 for 1,600 meters at the 2012 Meet of Champions, and that converts to 4:13.30. He ran briefly for Felician University in Lodi, N.J., but never ran a mile. According to the MileSplit database, he only raced a handful of times on the track, never ran a mile and only ran one 1,500 – a 4:13.92 in a meet at Rider in April of 2013. 

Here’s a look at the fastest mile times ever run by New Jersey natives. The list may be missing a couple times between 4:00 and 4:01.08 from before 2000 but it’s complete since then. If you know of any missing times please let me know! South Jersey runners in bold-face.

ALL-TIME New Jersey MILE LIST
3:49.44i … Edward Cheserek [St. Benedict’s Prep], Boston, Feb. 9, 2019
3:52.2h … Marty Liquori [Essex Catholic], Kingston, Jamaica, May 17, 1975
3:53.16i … Robby Andrews [Manalapan], New York, Feb. 20, 2016
3:54.28i … Rob Napolitano [Red Bank Catholic], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:54.92i … Ford Palmer [Absegami], Boston, Feb. 26, 2018
3:55.66i … Jeremy Hernandez [Clifton], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:56.75 … Steve Slattery [Mount Olive], New York, June 3, 2006
3:56.9h … Ron Speirs [Paramus], Philadelphia, April 30, 1977
3:57.86i … Travis Mahoney [Old Bridge], Boston, March 3, 2019
3:58.02i … Craig Forys [Colts Neck], New York, Feb. 6, 2016
3:58.14i … Rob Novak [Bordentown], Boston, Feb. 11, 2012
3:58.52 … Chris Hatler [Pope John XXIII], Nashville, Tenn., May 31, 2019
3:58.4h,i … Roger Jones [Ramsey], Boston, Feb. 13, 1982
3:58.62i … Jim McKeon [Millburn, Johnson City, Tenn., Jan. 19, 1985
3:58.62i … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], Seattle, Feb. 9, 2013
3:58.78i … Tim Gorman [Christian Brothers Academy], Seattle, Feb. 11, 2017
3:58.90i … Ben Malone [Pascack Valley], Boston, Feb. 9, 2019
3:59.18i … Jeramy Elkaim [Livingston], Seattle, Feb. 23, 2013
3:59.2h … Cliff Sheehan [Westfield], , Philadelphia, April 27, 1985
3:59.35i … John Richardson [Ocean City], Lexington, Ky., Feb. 2, 2008
3:59.43i … Rich Kenah [Montclair Immaculate], Fayetteville, Feb. 12, 2002
3:59.60 … Mike Kerrigan [Blair Academy], Swarthmore, Pa., May 14, 2007
3:59.6h … Jim Crawford [Ridge], Modesto, Calif., May 23, 1970
3:59.74i … Colin Daly [River Dell], Boston, Feb. 15, 2020
3:59.85i … Mark Sivieri [St. Augustine], Boston, Jan. 28, 1994
3:59.91i … Brian Gallagher [Sterling], Boston, Feb. 14, 1998
3:59.98i … Christian Gonzalez [Franklin], Boston, Jan. 27, 2012
4:00.01 … Ed Moran [Notre Dame], Falmouth, Mass., Aug. 9, 2008
4:01.08 … Thomas Cooke [Kingsway], West Chester, Pa., Aug. 12, 2021
4:01.67i … Jimmy Wyner [Mainland Regional], Boston, Feb. 7, 2009
4:01.79 … Karl Savage [Eastern], New Britain, Conn., June 10, 2003

English Gardner won her second Olympic medal Friday morning when her U.S. teammates placed second in the 400-meter relay in Tokyo.

Gardner, an Eastern High School graduate, ran the third leg on the 400-meter relay in the semis on Thursday. The U.S. ran 41.90 with the team of Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Gardner and Aleia Hobbs, the second-fastest qualifying time behind Great Britain’s 41.55.

On Friday, Oliver, Daniels, Jenna Prandini and Gabrielle Thomas ran 41.45 to take second in the final behind Jamaica, which set a national record of 41.02.

Jamaica’s time is 3rd-fastest in history, behind only the U.S.’s 40.82 at the 2012 World Championships in London and 41.01 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The U.S. time of 41.45 is No. 10 all-time and 3rd-fastest in U.S. history.

Gardner is the third New Jersey woman to medal in track in Tokyo this week. Athing Mu of Trenton won the 800 with a U.S. record of 1:55.21, and Sydney McLaughlin of Dunellen won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a world-record 51.46.

Gardner won the gold medal in 2016 when she ran the third leg on the U.S. team that ran 41.01. Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and Torie Bowie also ran on that team, and Morolake Akinosun also earned a gold medal for running in the semis.