Another controversial officiating ruling today, this time at the South Jersey Group 4 1,600 at Washington Township.

Kyle Rakitis and Jackson Braddock locked up in a race that produced the two-fastest times ever run at any New Jersey sectional meet. with Kingsway’s Rakitis edging U.S. No. 6 Braddock of Southern Regional by 6-100ths of a second.

But Braddock was disqualified for impeding Rakitis, who was racing to his outside down the final homestretch., removing Braddock’s performance from the record books and preventing two more classic showdowns at states and the Meet of Champions between two of New Jersey’s best milers ever.

Was it a good call? Watch the video, provided to MileSplit by Jennifer Braddock, and you decide: https://nj.milesplit.com/videos/490872/finish-to-boys-sj-group-4-1600m

Kingsway junior Kyle Rakitis ran the 2nd-fastest 1,600 or mile in South Jersey history Friday evening, nipping U.S. No. 6 Jackson Braddock at the line at the South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at Washington Township.

Rakitis won the race in 4:08.58, finishing 7-100ths of a second ahead of Southern Regional’s Jackson Braddock, who ran 4:08.65. The race was run in perfect conditions but after all the runners had to wait through a long weather delay. Braddock ran 4:06.25 last month at the Ocean County Championships at Jackson Liberty.

The times would have been the two-fastest ever run at any New Jersey sectional meet, but Braddock has been DQ’d for forcing Rakitis out on the final straight, and the official results have been updated to move Cherokee sophomore Patrick Ditmars into second place .

In any case, Rakitis’s time is second-fastest in South Jersey history behind only Brett Johnson of Ocean City, whose 4:08.51 full mile in 2009 in a meet at Monmouth University in West Long Branch converts to 4:07.07 for 1,600 meters.

His time is also No. 23 in state history and fastest by a New Jersey junior since Chris Marco of Toms River South ran 4:07.31 at the 2012 Meet of Champions at Old Bridge.

Rakitis’s previous PR was 4:10.15, which he ran at Holmdel three weeks ago. Before May, his PR was 4:17.39 set indoors at Ocean Breeze in March. His outdoor PR was 4:28.66 from June of 2019 before he missed the entire 2020 season.

He broke the long-standing Gloucester County record of 4:10.24 converted from a mile, set in 1979 by Gateway’s Mike Mantini.

With his performance, Rakitis broke a 38-year-old state sectional record.

New Jersey legends J.J. Clark and John Carlotti shared the record for previous fastest 1,600 or mike at a New Jersey sectional meet.

Clark of Columbia ran 4:10.2 to win the North Jersey Section II Group 4 race at Mendham in 1982 and Carlotti of Bernards matched him with a 4:10.2 to win the Central Jersey Group 1 race in 1983 at South Plainfield. Both were run at 1,600 meters.

The previous overall South Jersey sectional and S.J.-4 record was 4:12.43, run by Bill Dolan of Clearview in 2014.

Here’s a look at the fastest 1,600 / mile times in state history, with 1,600s converted using the usual method:

3:59.8h … Marty Liquori [Essex Catholic], 1967
4:03.29 … Edward Cheserek [St. Benedict’s Prep], 2013
4:03.49 … Robby Andrews [Manalapan], 2009
4:05.01 … Sean Dolan [Hopewell Valley], 2019
4:05.69 … Ben Malone [Pascack Valley], 2013
4:07.07 … Jim Nielsen [Bernards], 1984
4:07.66 … Joe Rosa [West Windsor-Plainsboro North], 2011
4:07.68c … Jackson Braddock [Southern Regional], 2021
4:07.70 … Jim Rosa [West Windsor-Plainsboro North], 2011
4:08.07 … Pat Schellberg, Delbarton, 2010
4:08.10 … John Carlotti [Bernards], 1983
4:08.1h … Roger Jones [Ramsey], 1977
4:08.51 … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2021
4:08.74c … Chris Marco [Toms River South], 2012
4:08.79c … Craig Forys [Colts Neck], 2007
4:09.2h … Steve O’Connell [Millburn], 1976
4:09.3h … Kevin Byrne [Paramus Catholic], 1977
4:09.36 … Steve Schadler [Bergenfield], 1984
4:09.55c … Liam Tansey [Morris Hills], 2009
4:09.72 … Stephen Lewandowski [Mountain Lakes], 2012
4:09.80 … Matt Mitchell [CBA], 1988
4:09.98 … Chris Lear [Pingry], 1992
4:10.02 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
4:10.24 … Drew Maher [Shore Regional], 2018
4:10.40 … Drake Anzano [CBA], 2016

Let’s not forget Rakitis broke a pretty good school record. Tom Cooke ran 4:11.84 to place fifth at the 2012 Meet of Champions at Old Bridge – the same race Marco ran his 4:07.

Huge race Friday for Absegami senior Diamond McLaughlin, who moved into the all-time South Jersey top-25 in the intermediate hurdles.

McLaughlin won the South Jersey Group 3 400-meter intermediates at Delsea in 1:01.24, a personal best and the fastest time at the S.J. Group 3 meet in 20 years.

McLaughlin’s time is fastest at the South Jersey Group 3 meet since Danielle Myricks of Willingboro set the meet record of 1:00.1 hand-timed in 2001.

Her time is 5th-fastest in South Jersey sectional history and fastest in any group in 15 years, since Krystal Cantey won her fourth straight title in Group 4 in 1:00.12.

Here’s a look at the top 10 times in all groups in South Jersey sectional history:

1:00.12 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], SJ-4, 2005
1:00.1h … Danielle Myricks [Willingboro], SJ-3, 2001
1:00.6h … Mandie Dulin [Shawnee], SJ-4 1997
1:01.23 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], SJ-4, 2006
1:01.24 … Diamond McLaughlin [Absegami], SJ-4, 2021
1:01.2h … Katrina Sye [Buena], SJ-2, 1999
1:01.32 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp.], SJ-3, 2016
1:01.3h … Vernick Smith [Wilson], SJ-3, 1998
1:01.49 … Carly Pettipaw [Lenape], SJ-4, 2015
1:01.54 … Helena Leyrer [Buena], SJ-2, 2012

McLaughlin won the race by six seconds and lowered her PR from 1:01.68, which she ran last weekend at the Atlantic County Championships at Buena.

Her time is No. 25 in South Jersey history and moves her up from fifth to fourth on the all-time Atlantic County list with the fastest time in eight years.

1:00.26 … Helena Leyrer [Buena], 2012
1:00.55 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
1:00.58 … Andrea Olsen [Buena], 2013
1:01.68 … Diamond McLaughlin [Absegami], 2021
1:01.42 … Natalie Edwards [Pleasantville], 1995
1:01.73 … Joshonda Johnson [Absegami], 2016

Click here for the all-time South Jersey top-50: https://sjtrackblog.com/2021/05/27/smoking-double-for-absegamis-diamond-mclaughlin-who-moves-into-the-n-j-top-10-in-two-events/

McLaughlin also PR’d in the flat 400 with a 56.99 for second behind Triton senior Neveah Lorjuste, who ran 56.98. McLaughlin’s previous 400 PR was a 57.12, also from the Atlantic County meet.

Lorjuste’s previous PR was 57.25 from the 2019 state Group 3 meet at Central Regional in Bayville. She’s Triton’s first sectional champion since Jessica Loeonaco won the South Jersey Group 3 discus in 2008 and first on the track since Claudine Evangelista won her third straight 800 title and also the 1,600 in 2000.

Pennsauken sophomores Bryce Tucker and Premier Wynn went 1-2 in the 400-meter intermediates Friday at sectionals.

Tucker ran 55.31 and Wynn a big personal-best 56.51 to give Pennsauken 18 big points in the first event of the Central Jersey Group 3 meet at Jackson Liberty High School. Wynn edged Alexander Lawes of Brick Township by 4-100ths of a second for second place.

Tucker is the top-ranked intermediate hurdler in New Jersey with a 54.28 at the BCSL Championships at Pennsauken. Wynn’s previous PR was 57.05. Pending the other sectional meets, Pennsauken could now have the top two sophomores in the state.

This is the first 1-2 sectional finish for Pennsauken in 16 years, since Kent Carpenter won the javelin at 182-4 and Justin Oliver was second with a 176-7. 

Shawnee grad Kristen Niedrach blew away her 800 PR by more than a second Thursday evening at the Stumptown Twilight Invitational in Portland, Ore.

Niedrach ran 2:07.85 off a slow-ish early pace, out in 64.2 and back in 63.6. Her previous PR was 2:08.88 at the same meet two years ago in July of 2019. Although she PR’d at 1,500 meters earlier this spring with a 4:22.06 at the Portland Twilight meet at Griswold Stadium in Portland in April, this was her first 800 since August of last year, when she ran 2:11.47 in a meet at Nijmegen Atletiek, Atletiekbaan Brakkenstein, Nijmegen.

Niedrach’s time is fastest this spring by a South Jersey high school graduate, a fraction of a section faster than Sterling graduate and University of Virginia junior Sydney Coppolino, who ran a personal-best 2:07.96 three weeks ago in Raleigh, N.C.

Niedrach graduated in 2012 from Shawnee, where she had PRs of 2:21.55 for 800 meters at the 2010 Group 4 sectionals at Egg Harbor and 5:01.86 for the 1,600 when she won the state Group 3 indoor title at the Bubble in Toms River.

Niedrach competed collegiately for Cornell, where she ran 2:10.28 and 4:22.45

competes these days for the Bowerman Track Club in Portland.

Cherry Hill East Johnnie Jackson, a former one-time NCAA champion for Louisiana State, hit a PR this spring and has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month.

Jackson, 27, threw a PR 237-1 at a recent meet at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge, snapping his four-year-old PR of 235-3, which he threw in Eugene in June of 2017.

It was only Jackson’s second meet since April of 2019. He opened the 2021 season with a near-PR of 235-1 in a meet at Irwin Belk Stadium on North Carolina A&T’s campus in Greensboro, N.C.

Jackson’s best throw in 2018 was 219-0 in a meet in Baton Rouge and his best in 2019 was 224-0 in a meet in Meadville, Pa., so he’s already far beyond where he’s been the last few years.

With his 237-1, Jackson surpassed the qualifying standard of 236-2 for the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month in Eugene.

Jackson’s throw is best ever by a New Jersey native and ranks him 12th among U.S. men this year and No. 61 in U.S. history.

Jackson wasn’t an elite thrower in high school. He had PRs of 48-4 1/4 in the shot put when he placed 3rd in the 2012 Olympic Conference Championships at Washington Township and 155–2 in the discus when he placed 7th at the state Group 4 meet at Old Bridge later in 2012.

As a freshman at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, he first competed in the hammer on March 29, 2014, throwing 179-0 to win a meet at Cowley County College in Arkansas City, Kansas. He threw 189-11 by the end of his freshman year and placed second at the NJCAA National Championships in Mesa, Ariz., less than three feet behind winner Brady Grunder of Iowa Central Community College.

He improved to 208-6 as a sophomore at Coffeyville and again placed second at nationals, this time to Sergio Guiro of Cowley at Hutchinson, Kansas.

At LSU, he threw 217-1 as a junior and then as a senior he threw 235-4, taking sixth at NCAAs. He won the NCAA title in the weight throw indoors at College Station, Texas.

At the U.S. Trials at Hayward Field, Jackson will throw at 12:05 p.m. on Friday, June 18. The finals are at 4:25 p.m. that Sunday, June 20.

Jackson also has a discus PR of 183-9 from a meet in Columbia, S.C., in May of 2017 and was ranked as high as 66th among U.S. men in 2017, which is the last time he threw the discus competitively. His PR in the indoor 35-pound weight throw is 77-3 1/2 from a meet in Birmingham, S.C., in January, 2017.

 

It’s sectional weekend with South Jersey athletes heading for four sites to compete for berths at the state championships.

On Friday and Saturday, South Jersey Groups 1 and 4 are at Washington Township, South Jersey Groups 2 and 3 at Delsea, Central Jersey Groups 1 and 4 at Long Branch and Central Jersey Groups 2 and 3 at Jackson Township.

Here are some handy links to help you enjoy this weekend’s action!

Girls program with meet records and all-time team winners: Click here.

Boys program with meet records and all-time team winners: Click here.

S.J. Group 1-4 entries: Click here.

S.J. Group 2-3 entries: Click here.

C.J. Group 1-4 entries: Click here.

C.J. Group 2-3 entries: Click here.

Who’s where? You can find out in the official spring classifications: Click here.

Rules and regulations are all here in the NJSIAA spring track regs: Click here.

Order of events: Click here.

N.J. Milesplit Sectional Hub: Click here.

 

Missed this one over the weekend, but congrats to Willingboro High School graduate Kenady Wilson, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in the high jump!

Wilson, a freshman at North Carolina A&T, cleared 5-9 3/4 at the NCAA East Preliminaries at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville and placed 10th overall. The top 12 from each of two regions advance to the NCAA Championships June 9-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Nine jumpers cleared 5-11 1/2 and eight cleared 5-9 3/4, but only three of those eight advanced, and Wilson made the cut because she didn’t have any misses at either 5-7 3/4 or 5-9 3/4. 

If she had one miss at 5-7 3/4 she would have missed out on nationals. If she had a miss at 5-9 3/4 there would have been a jumpoff with Jordan Fields of South Carolina for the 12th qualifying spot.

Wilson cleared 5-8 several times at Willingboro and then hit a PR of 5-8 3/4 in her final high school meet, the 2019 National Scholastic Championships in Greensboro, N.C. (at what is now her home track), which is No. 8 in South Jersey history.

This is Wilson’s first year of outdoor college track, and she won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title In Greensboro earlier this month with a PR 5-10 1/2 before getting her NCAA qualifier this past weekend. So her high school and college PRs were both recorded at the same track.

Wilson is now ranked No. 43 among all U.S. women.

The North Carolina A&T web site does not list any school records, but according to Athletic.Net, which goes back to 2008, Wilson’s jump is the best by a North Carolina A&T woman since at least 2008.

The women’s high jump is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EST Saturday at Hayward Field.

 

Rancocas Valley graduate Erika Kemp qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5,000 Saturday with a monster PR in Attleboro, Mass.

Kemp ran 15:10.10 in the Platinum PT Qualifier at Bishop Feehan High School, easily getting under the qualifying standard of 15:20.00. She’s already qualified for the 10,000 at the Trials.

The former North Carolina State All-America came into this month with a PR of 15:28.69 from the 2019 Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. She lowered it to 15:26.18 two weeks ago in Irvine, Calif.

The Trials run from June 18 through June 27 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The first round of the women’s 5,000 is scheduled for 8:54 p.m. EST on June 18 with the final following at 8:40 p.m. EST on June 21. The 10,000, with only one round, isn’t until 6:44 p.m. on June 26.

Kemp’s time is No. 10 among U.S. women this year, No. 34 in the world and No. 51 in U.S. history. 

It’s also No. 4 ever among New Jersey natives. We put together an all-time New Jersey top 10., with the runners listed here with their hometown and high school and where and when they ran their PR:

14:51.42 … Josette Norris [Tenafly H.S.], Irvine, Calif., 2021
15:02.27 … Marielle Hall [Mount Laurel, Haddonfield H.S.], Azusa, Calif., 2019
15:05.38 … Julie Culley [Lebanon Township, North Hunterdon H.S.], London, 2012
15:10.10 … Erika Kemp [Mount Holly, Rancocas Valley Regional H.S.], Attleboro, Mass., 2021
15:11.27 … Sarah Pagano [Ringwood, Immaculate Heart Academy], Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 2018
15:18.06 … Dana Giordano [Bernardsville, Bernards H.S.], San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 2020
15:18.53 … Ashley Higginson [Colts Neck H.S,], Palo Alto, Calif., 2015
15:22.98 … Amy Van Alstine [Midland Park H.S.], Palo Alto, Calif., 2014
15:23.71 … Anne Marie Lauck [Glen Gardner, North Hunterdon H.S.], Sacramento, Calif., 2000
15:35.97 … Nicol Traynor [Basking Ridge, Ridge H.S.], Palo Alto, Calif., 2014

Kemp, who has a 10,000 PR and Olympic Trials qualifier of 31:35.63 from last year, also PR’d this month at 1,500 meters with a 4:16.41 at Icahn Stadium in New York. Her previous 1,500 PR was 4:17.84 in Portland, Ore., in 2018.

Let’s take a deeper look at Rowan’s 4th-place finish at the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Greensboro.

Rowan placed fourth with 41 points, finishing behind only Wartburg College of Waverly, Iowa, which scored 54 points, and two Wisconsin schools – Eau Claire with 49 and Oshkosh with 48. Another Wisconsin school, La Crosse, was fifth with 39 points.

This is the 10th time Rowan has finished in the top 5 at Division 3 nationals. Only four schools have recorded more top-5 finishes: Lincoln of Lower Oxford Township, Chester County (29 times), Wisconsin La Crosse (29), North Central of Naperville, Ill. (18), and Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio (13).

Rowan won the meet five years in a row from 1980 through 1984 and was 2nd in 1978 and 1979, 3rd in 2018 and 5th in 1998.

Rowan’s 41 points at this year’s meet are their most since they won the 1984 team title with 114 points. Not sure what the scoring system was back then but that’s a lot of points!

Here’s a look at all of Rowan’s top-10 finishers:

1978: 2nd [35]
1979: 2nd [44]
1980: 1st [61]
1981: 1st [58]
1982: 1st [119]
1983: 1st [97]
1984: 1st [114]
1985: 8th [27]
1996: 9th [17]
1997: T8th [25]
1998: 5th [35]
2012: 8th [23]
2018: 3rd [27]
2021: 4th [41]

Here’s how Rowan scored:
200-METER DASH [8 points]: Jah’mere Beasley [Sterling], 2nd [21.18]
400-METER RELAY [2 points]: Julian Pratt [Camden], Donovan Clement [Deptford], Jah’mere Beasley [Sterling], Nana Agyemang [Parsippany], 7th [41.22]
1,.600-METER RELAY [10 points]: Amara Conte [Ferris], Hunter Barbieri [Egg Harbor], Justin Bishop [Mainland Reg.], Francis Terry [Sterling], 1st [3:11.81]
TRIPLE JUMP [10 points]: Ahmir Johnson [Wissahickon], 1st [49-7]
JAVELIN [8 points]: Dan McAleavey [Howell], 1st [206-6]
JAVELIN [3 points]: Julio LeBron [Memorial-WNY], 6th [192-6]

All of Rowan’s points other than Pratt’s 4-by-1 relay leg came from underclassmen. Beasley is a potential scorer in the 100 as well as the 200 and Johnson in the long jump as well as the triple jump.  Beasley missed the 100 final by 5-100ths of a second and Johnson missed the long jump final by one-quarter of an inch (and Agyemang by 1 1/2 inches). So there’s no reason to think a year from now the Profs can’t make a run at their first national title since 1984.

Johnson became Rowan’s first-ever triple jump national champion. The 4-by-4 won for the fifth time (1984, 1985, 2011, 2012).

Congrats to Rowan coach Dustin Dimit and his exceptional coaching staff, which includes Olympians Milton Goode (high jumpers) and Norm Tate (horizontal jumpers, hurdlers, sprinters) as well as Ryan Gebhardt (javelin), Eric DuBois (distance), Liz Madden (throws), Sam Maniglia (multis) and John Oberg (vaulters)