Absegami senior Diamond McLaughlin recorded a fantastic double Thursday at the Atlantic County Championships, running big PRs in winning both the 400 and 400 intermediates.

McLaughlin won the 400 in 57.12, lowering her PR from 57.63 from 2018 Group 3 sectionals at Delsea, and she won the intermediates in 1:01.68, a huge drop from her previous PR of 1:04.00 from the same sectional meet.

Her 400 time is No. 7 in New Jersey this year and No. 2 among South Jersey girls, behind only Clayton’s Amirah Sharpe, who ran 55.16 in April at the Metuchen Relays.

It’s No. 10 in Atlantic County history and about half a second off the school record of 56.61 set at the 2016 Group 3 sectionals at Central Regional by Joshonda Johnson.

Here’s the all-time Atlantic County top-10:

53.64 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
54.51 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1998
55.6h … Jeanette Palmer [Oakcrest], 1982
55.78 … Andrea Olsen [Buena Reg.], 2013
56.05 … Marcene Jack [Mainland Reg.], 2004
56.36 … Ajae Alvare-Tyler [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2008
56.61 … Joshonda Johnson [Absegami], 2016
56.94 … Ariyana Wilkes [Holy Spirit], 2017
57.11 … Maya Harper [Pleasantville], 2019
57.12 … Diamond McLaughlin [Absegami], 2021

McLaughlin’s 400IH time is No. 3 in the state this year, behind only Adelaide Asante of North Brunswick (1:01.13) and Sharpe (1:01.63), who both recorded those times in a meet at Thomas Edison Park in Edison last weekend.

McLaughlin’s intermediate hurdles time is No. 5 in Atlantic County history and fastest in eight years, since Andre Olsen of Buena ran 1:00.58 at the state Group 3 meet at South Plainfield in 2013. She broke the school record of 1:01.73 – set by Johnson at that same 2016 sectionals by 5-100ths of a second.

Here’s a look at all the Atlantic County girls who’ve run sub 62 seconds for the intermediates:

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

Click here for the entire all-time South Jersey top-50.

Absolute monster 100 for Lauren Princz Thursday at the Atlantic County Championships at Buena! 

Princz ran 11.76, lowering her PR from the 11.81 that she ran in June of 2018 when she won the New Balance Nationals freshman race at Belk Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.  

Princz’s time is No. 1 in New Jersey this year by more than a tenth of a second,  No. 9 in South Jersey history and breaks her own Atlantic County record.

Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey top-10. 

11.42 … Michele Glover [Willingboro], 1981
11.49 … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
11.57 … Patti Dunlap [Camden], 1979
11.58 … Bria Mack [Williamstown], 2017
11.61 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
11.63 … Dennisha Page [Woodrow Wilson], 2019
11.71 … Shakira Dancy [Winslow Twp.], 2017
11.73 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
11.76 … Lauren Princz [Egg Harbor Twp.],. 2021
11.77 … Aisha Morgan [Schalick], 1998

Click here for the all-time South Jersey top-50.

Princz also won the 200 in 24.62, her fastest this year. She’s run as fast as 23.90 when she won the 2018 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington in Mansfield Township.

Princz won both races unpressed, taking first in the 100 by nearly a second and in the 200 by 1 1/2 seconds.

Princz also contributed a 60.2 leg on Egg Harbor Township’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 4:06.71 and also included junior Alexa Ali, senior Julia Albeirco and senior Anne Rutledge, who ran a PR 57.63 for second in the 400. 

EHT also won the 400-meter relay, with sophomore Jayda Green, Rutledge and senior Mariah Stephens joining Princz. That team ran 49.58.

Despite Princz’s quad win, Mainland Regional won the girls team title, 162-125, over EHT.

Sterling graduate Jah’mere Beasley, who earlier in the day helped Rowan qualify for the 400-meter relay final, qualified in a second event later Thursday at the NCAA Division 3 National Championships.

Beasley began the day at Irwin Belk Stadium in Greensboro, N.C., by running a leg on Rowan’s 4-by-1. You can read about that here. https://sjtrackblog.com/2021/05/27/with-3-s-j-sprinters-rowan-4×1-posts-5th-fastest-qualifying-time-at-ncaa-division-3-championships/

Then Beasley posted the 2nd-fastest qualifying time in the 200-meter dash with a wind-legal 21.33 (0.6) to win the second of three heats. J.P. Vaught of Centre College in Danville, Ky., was the fastest qualifier with a 21.11 with a 1.3 wind. Beasley has run as fast as 21.18 this year. Vaught is No. 1 in Division 3 at 21.06.

The top two finishers in each of three heats plus the next two-fastest times advanced to the eight-lane final, scheduled for 2:50 p.m. Saturday. The heat sheet is not yet available for some reason but should be posted here when it is. https://tf.deltatiming.com/ncaa/2021-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships#d-2021-05-29

Beasley did not run on Rowan’s 4-by-4 team, which posted the 3rd-fastest qualifying time with a season-best 3:11.40 with freshman Amara Conte from Ferris High in Jersey City (47.81), sophomore Hunter Barbieri of Egg Harbor Township (49.45), junior Francis Terry of Sterling (46.61) and junior Justin Bishop of Mainland Regional (47.55). The Profs’ 4-by-4 will race in the final at 4 p.m. Saturday.

https://tf.deltatiming.com/ncaa/2021-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships/event/210527P024

Beasley has only the 100 trials on Friday. He’s run 11.48 this year and shares the No. 2 seed with Seth Holden of Wisconsin-La Cross. Top seed is Derrick Jackson of the Knox College Prairie Fire in Galesburg, Ill. Jackson has run 10.45.

The 100 trials are scheduled for 3:45 p.m. Friday. Results should be posted here.

https://tf.deltatiming.com/ncaa/2021-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships/event/210527P002

Washington Township graduate Isabelle Deal, a freshman at Ursinus College in suburban Philadelphia, earned All-America honors Thursday with an 8th-place finish at the NCAA Division 3 National Championships.

Deal, seeded No. 16, threw 135-1 on her sixth and final throw. That’s just 17 inches short of her personal best of 136-6, which she set when she won the Centennial Conference Championships on May 1 at Mulhenberg College in Allentown.

On Thursday outside Belk Stadium on the North Carolina A&T campus in Greensboro, N.C., Deal opened with a throw of 134-6 and then hit 122-6 and 128-9 to reach the finals. After a foul, she threw 123-5 before her 135-1.

Deal finished as the No. 2 freshman in the country, behind only Anna Swanson of St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn., who was second at 153-1.

I’d love to give you some context on Deal’s performance, but the Ursinus web site does not have a list of track All-Americans or NCAA placers.

Deal’s high school PR was 126-9 when she won the 2019 South Jersey Group 4 sectional title at her home track in Turnersville.

The Rowan men’s 400-meter relay team recorded the 5th-fastest qualifying time at NCAA Division 3 Nationals Thursday to advance automatically to Saturday’s final.

Freshmen Nana Agyemang of Parsippany, Jah’mere Beasley of Sterling and Donovan Clement of Deptford were joined by senior Julian Pratt of Camden for Rowan at Irwin Belk Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

Rowan ran within 19-100ths of a second of the school record of 40.82 set in 2003 by Ed Fortune of Queens,N.Y., Millville’s Matt Davis, Highland’s Jorge Santiago and Camden’s Tyree Jackson when they placed 3rd at NCAAs at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.

The top three teams in each of two heats plus the next two-fastest teams advanced to the final. Rowan had the 3rd-fastest time in the first of the two semifinal races.

The final is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Stockton University junior pole vaulter Lauren Preston cleared a personal-best 12-3 1/2 Thursday and placed fifth at the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

Preston earned All-America honors for her performance at her first NCAA meet.

Preston had just PR’d at 12-2 1/2 in her last meet, the AARTFC Championships at St. John Fisher in Rochester last weekend, to qualify for nationals. Her lifetime best as recently as March was 10-6.

Preston, who attended Conrad Weiser High School just outside Robesonia, Pa., cleared 12-1 1/2 on her second attempt and then 12-3 1/2 on her first attempt. She missed three tries at another PR of 12-5 1/2. The official results don’t show what height she entered the competition.

With a top-8 finish, Preston becomes Stockton’s fifth pole vault All-America, joining Kim Marino of Middletown North (2003, 2004), Rachel Joseph of Livingston (2010), Chelsea Vaughan of Southern Regional (2014, 2015, 2016) and Millville’s Kaitlyn Derman (2018). Five of Stockton’s 11 All-America selections have been vaulters.

At Conrad Weiser, Preston had a PR of 10-6 from the 2018 PIAA District 3 AAA Championships at Shippensburg.

Cherokee graduate Abby Gilmore, a senior at Olivet Nazarene, ran a lifetime-best 2:15.22 split to help the Tigers reach the finals of the 3,200-meter relay at the NAIA Track Championships.

Gilmore ran the third leg for Olivet Nazarene, which ran 9:12.80 in Wednesday’s trials, the second-fastest time going into Thursday’s final.

Gilmore earned All-America honors indoors when Olivet Nazarene placed sixth at the indoor NAIA Championships in Yankton, S.D., with a time of 9:32.45.

In Wednesday’s trials, Lindsey DiazDeLeon, Mady Rogers and Rachel Shepard also ran for the Tigers, Shepard anchoring in 2:17.20.  

The 4-by-8 final is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. on Thursday at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala. 

The top seed is Dordt University of Sioux Center, Iowa, which ran 9:09.52 on Wednesday. Olivet Nazarene will be in lane 6 for the final and Dordt in lane 4.

Gilmore is one of those remarkable stories that track and field presents us with once in a while.

Her 800 PR at Cheroke was 2:33.94, which she hit when she placed 35th at the 2017 South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at Egg Harbor.

Tonight, she tries to lead her college to a national title! 

 

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta advanced to the second round of the 800 on Day 1 of the NCAA Track Championships Wednesday.

Moronta, a freshman at Mississippi State, ran 1:49.84 to secure a wild-card qualifier into Friday’s second round. He placed 5th in the third of six heats of the 800 at the NCAA Championships East Regional at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville.

He locked up the sixth and final wild-card qualifying berth, advancing to the second round by 1-100th of a second.

The first three finishers in each of six heats advanced automatically and the next-six fastest runners also advanced.

The second round, which is NCAA Championship quarterfinal round, is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Friday. Twelve runners – the top three from each of three heats plus the next-three fastest – will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene June 6-9.

On Friday,Moronta will start in Lane 9 of the third heat in the quarterfinals. . 

Moronta is one of only seven freshmen still alive in the 800, and five of them are in his quarterfinal race Friday.

Moronta ran his PR of 1:49.33 two weeks ago at the SEC Championships at Texas A&M in College Station. This was his second lifetime race under 1:50.

Middle Township junior Keira Phillips ran the No. 9 400-meter hurdles time in the state this year Wednesday at the Cape May County Championships at Ocean City. 

Phillips won the 400IH in 1:04.44 in what appears to be her first major race this spring. It’s her first 400IH race on record since the 2019 Meet of Champions.

Phillips, 6th at the Group 3 states in 2019 with her previous PR of 1:05.03 ran XC this past fall but according to the MileSplit database didn’t run indoors in 2020 or 2021 and hasn’t run track since the spring of 2019. 

That makes Phillips’ time – especially in a highly technical event like the intermediates – even more impressive! 

Her time is No. 3 in South Jersey this spring, behind Clayton senior Amirah Sharpe (1:01.63) and Anne Rutledge of Egg Harbor Township (1:04.18). It’s fastest by any Cape May County runner since Rachel Stremme ran 1:03.82 to win the 2014 Cape-Atlantic Championships at EHT.

Phillips also won the 800 Wednesday unpressed by 40 meters with a time of 2:31.51. Her PR is 2:25.14 from 2019 Group 3 sectionals at Delsea.

Eastern senior Jailya Ash recorded a fast double at the Olympic Conference Championships Wednesday, winning the 100-meter dash in 12.45 and the 100-meter hurdles in 14.29 at Washington Township.

She’s the first Eastern girl to win the conference title in the 100 since Olympic gold medalist English Gardner in 2010 and the first to win the high hurdles since Tiffany Riggs in 1993. She’s the first Eastern girl to win two events at the conference meet since Trina Ragsdale won the high hurdles in 14.4 and the long jump at 17-1 1/2 in 1990.

The only other girls to double the 100 and 100 hurdles in the last 30 years are Winslow’s Cidae’a Woods in 2014 (12.06, 14.16) and Wilson’s Jamillah Nock in 2003 (11.8, 14.0). Nock was actually credited with a tie for first in the 100 with Cherokee’s Ariel Brockman.

Ash is already No. 1 in New Jersey this spring with a 14.28 in the high hurdles and No. 6 in New Jersey and No. 2 in New Jersey in the 100 at 12.14. She didn’t run the 200 Wednesday but has run 25.04 this spring, which is No. 8 in the state and No. 4 in South Jersey.