Egg Harbor senior Gabrielle Germann hasn’t long jumped a lot, but she’s jumped far. And this weekend she’s one of the top seeds in the showcase long jump at the Meet of Champions,

The long jump isn’t contested at the NJSIAA’s indoor sectional and state series, but it is held at the Meet of Champions, with athletes qualifying by mark and not by performance in a qualifying meet.

Germann hit 17-6 last spring at the Cape Atlantic Meet at Bridgeton and only jumped twice this winter but hit 18-4 1/4 at Easterns, good for second place to Pope John senior Bridget McNally.

That 18-4 1/4 is the best mark this winter by a South Jersey girl. Millville’s Bryanna Craig (18-1 1/4) and Timber Creek’s Tierra Hooker (18-1) are also well over 18 feet. Hooker, defending M-of-C champ in the high jump, isn’t long jumping on Sunday at Ocean Breeze, but Craig and Germann are.

Germann’s 18-4 1/4 is No. 3 in Atlantic County history and only 2 1/4 inches off the Atlantic County indoor record of 18-6 1/2, set in 2016 by Holy Spirit’s Asia Young. Atlantic City’s Claudine Smith was also well over 18 feet last year with an 18-5.

It’s also No. 16 in South Jersey history.

Germann is not just a long jumper.

She ran an indoor-outdoor PR 59.03 for third in the 400 at sectionals and then took sixth at states in 59.52. The 59.03 is fastest this winter by an Atlantic County quarter-miler.

She also ran 7.49 in the 55 and placed fourth at sectionals, then nearly made the dash finals at states, placing ninth overall in 7.50 and missing the final by 1-100th of a second.

And she ran with juniors Jaidyn Mulloy, Lauren Princz and Anne Rutledge on EHT’s fourth-place 4-by-4 team, which ran 4:09.60 for fourth at Group 4 sectionals.

ALL-TIME S.J. INDOOR LONG JUMP LIST
21-7 1/2 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
19-8 1/4 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow], 2016
19-8 ……. Cidae’a Woods [Winslow], 2014
19-7 1/2 … Helen Wilks [Bridgeton], 1993
19-3 …….. Leah Ellis [Millville], 2019
18-9 …….. Shameka Speed [Bridgeton], 2002
18-8 3/4 … Artrelia Turner [Wilson], 1984
18-7 1/4 … Shelly Bailey [Woodbury], 1982
18-6 1/2 … Tisifinee Taylor [Woodbury], 2002
18-6 1/2 … Asia Young [Holy Spirit], 2016
18-5 3/4 … Lindsey Walsh [Lenape], 2008
18-5 1/4 … Tacquaya Tobias [Our Lady of Mercy], 2011
18-5 …… Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2019
18-4 3/4 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], 1988
18-4 1/2 … Kristin Tricocci [Cinnaminson], 2004
18-4 1/4 … Gabrielle Germann [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2020
18-2 3/4 … Sable Loper [Woodrow Wilson], 2005
18-1 3/4 … Emily Carson [Haddonfield], 2013
18-1 ……. Jasmine Staten [Lenape], 2015

The Haddonfield girls continue to do things that very few – if any – girls track programs have ever done.

In their record-setting state championship on Sunday, Haddonfield won by the largest margin in meet history, and one of the reasons was a remarkable performance by its three milers.

Juniors Sarah Naticchia, Allison Colflesh and Payton Weiner all ran under 5:10 and finished second, third and fourth, behind Voorhees junior Emma McGill, who ran 4:59.15. Naticchia ran 5:07.21, Colflesh 5:08.31 and Weiner a personal-best 5:09.83.

Not only did that score Haddonfield 18 points in the one event, it made Haddonfield the first New Jersey school with three girls under 5:10 in the same indoor race since Mendham in 2013 with Reagan Kolakowski [5:03.98], Abby Seel [5:04.23] and Mackenzie Barry [5:08.61] in the North Section 2 Group 3 sectionals in 2013 at the Bennett Center.

No South Jersey school has done that in the last 20 years, although Lenape came very close in 2010 with Caitlin Orr [4:57.72], Natalia Occasion [4:58.48] and Amanda Restivo [5:11.42]

(I apologize to the Haddonfield program for this post being a few days late, but it took me a while to look up that last stat!)

Naticchia and Colflesh ran slightly faster at sectionals but this was Weiner’s first time under 5:10 indoors. Her previous indoor PR was a 5:12.74 at sectionals.

Naticchia also took third in the 3,200 in 11:10.36, and junior Lindsay Colflesh and junior Olivia Stoner went 2-5 in the 800, Colflesh in 2:16.62 – a huge PR – and Stoner in an indoor PR 2:22.82. Colflesh’s previous indoor 800 PR was 2:19.84. She’s gone as fast as 2:14.87 outdoors, last spring at states. Stoner ran 2:23.34 at sectionals.

So that’s 18 points in the 1,600, nine in the 800 and six in the 3,200 for 33 for the distance team.

There was much more to Haddonfield’s performance than its usual dominance in the long track races.

Senior Rachel Bonnet won the high jump at 5-2 on fewer misses over senior Nina Casselberry of Cedar Creek. It was Bonnet’s first time over 5-2 indoors and Casselberry’s first time over 5-2 indoors or outdoors.

Junior Robin Rosen cleared 10-6 for second place in the pole vault, behind only junior Julia Greeley of Seneca, who cleared 11-0.

Bonnet and Grace Kegler both placed in the hurdles, Bonnet in fifth in 8.90 and Kegler sixth in 8.93. It was the first time under 9.00 for both of them.

Haddonfield also placed fourth in the 1,600-meter relay in 4:10.73, with junior Grace Donch and freshman Maya Carey joining Lindsay Colflesh and Weiner.

Haddonfield’s 39-point margin of victory — 59-20 win over Rahway – is the largest in Group 2 meet history. The previous largest margin of victory was 34, when Buena beat Hopewell Valley 62-28 in 1999.

The team title was Haddonfield’s ninth overall but first since 2016. Only Columbia and Winslow, with 10 each, have won more.

Haddonfield won its first three state titles from 2000 through 2002 in Group 1 and then 2008 and four straight from 2013 through 2016 in Group 1. This year’s is the Bulldogs’ first in Group 2.

Georgetown freshman Alyssa Aldridge, a graduate of Mainland Regional, placed sixth in the 25-lap race at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, Monday in 16:43.26. She was the top freshman in the race.

Aldridge’s previous collegiate PR was an 18:17.93 outdoors at Princeton last spring. She ran 17:24.43 at New Balance Nationals as a Mainland sophomore in the winter of 2016 at the Armory.

She also ran 9:44.27 in the 3,000, just about two seconds off her PR of 9:42.24, which she ran at Boston University last month.

Her 5,000 time is No. 10 in NCAA Division 1 among freshmen and No. 1 among Big East freshmen.

This is Aldridge’s second year at Georgetown, but she’s a freshman for indoor track because she didn’t compete indoors last year.

I put together an all-time Georgetown indoor 5,000 list, which really shows just how incredible this program has been over the years.

Aldridge is less than one second per lap from the top-10 on an incredible prestigious list. How many other New Jersey women are on the list? Josette Norris of Tenafly is No. 2, Christi Constantin of Kittatinny Regional is No. 3 and Katie McCafferty of Oak Knoll Academy in Summit and Cathy Feeney of Wayne Valley are on there as well!

15:53.64 … Kate Landau, 1997
16:02.10 … Josette Norris, 2019
16:04.55 … Christi Constantin, 1993
16:04.71 … Samantha Nadel, 2015
16:04.84 … Paige Hofstad, 2018
16:05.98 … Melissa Grelli, 2008
16:10.96 … Emily Jones, 2011
16:14.13 … Marni Kruppa, 2001
16:20.79 … Mary German, 1991
16:21.16 … Audrey Belf, 2016
16:22.70 … Caryn Landau, 1994
16:24.25 … Haley Pierce, 2015
16:24.88 … Nicole Lee, 2004
16:25.29 … Elizabeth Brenden, 1988
16:27.81 … Regina Gonzales, 1997
16:28.93 … Natasha LeBeaud, 2006
16:31.76 … Lisa Ogrodnick, 2008
16:32.83 … Kristen Gordon, 1999
16:34.40 … Rochelle Sceats, 2010
16:35.35 … Sarah Cotton, 2016
16:36.52 … Autumn Eastman, 2016
16:37.81 … Sarah Scholl, 2002
16:37.81 … Joanna Stevens, 2014
16:38.32 … Madeline Perez, 2018
16:39.92 … Joline Staheli, 1996
16:40.63 … Katie McCafferty, 2009
16:41.37 … Emily Enstice, 2001
16:41.76 … Janelle Thomas, 1996
16:43.26 … Alyssa Aldridge, 2020
16:43.38 … Fran Lord, 1995
16:44.08 … Amanda Pope, 2002
16:44.0h … Catherine Feeney, 1991

Najeaya Singleton, a St. John’s sophomore from Vineland, threw a personal-best 46-8 3/4 Monday to place fourth in the shot put at the Big East Conference Championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Singleton had just set her PR of 46-2 3/4 in late January at the Metropolitan Championships at Ocean Breeze. Before that she had a PR of 43-11 3/4 from a meet in mid-January at Ocean Breeze.

As a freshman at St. John’s, Singleton threw 42-0 3/4 indoors and 42-0 outdoors. So she’s now added more than 4 1/2 feet to her collegiate PR since December.

School officials haven’t bothered to update the all-time performance list on the school’s web site since 2017, but updating from results on TFRRS.org from the last few years, it looks like she’s now No. 10 in school history indoors.

Singleton threw 46-2 3/4 indoors at Vineland and was a state indoor Group 4 champ. She threw 44-9 3/4 outdoors. She was also a Meet of Champions discus runner-up in the spring of 2018 and had a PR of 143-2.

Marquette freshman Zachariah Murray, a 2019 Haddonfield graduate, demolished his 400 PR Monday afternoon and placed fourth in the 400 at the Big East Conference Championships.

Murray ran 47.98 – his first time under 48 seconds indoors or outdoors – and placed second in the second of two races in the two-section final. He was the No. 2 freshman in the race, behind only Villanova’s Anthony Brodie.

He broke the school record of 48.24 set two weeks ago by Julian Wright at the Grand Valley State Big Meet Invite in Allendale, Mich. Before that the school record was 48.30 by Kyle Winter in a meet in South Bend, Ind., in 2012.

Murray’s time is fastest by any Marquette quarter-miler indoors or outdoors in 19 years and third-fastest in the program’s history behind John Rydeski, who ran 47.13 in a meet at East Landsing, Mich., in 1981, and a 47.57 by Marek Krawczyk in a meet at Madison, Wisconsin., in 2001.

Murray’s previous PR was a 48.41 at that same meet at Grand Valley State on Feb. 14. He ran 48.64 in Sunday’s trials.

At Haddonfield, Murray won the outdoor state Group 2 title last spring at 48.45 and PR’d at 48.11 with a third place in the Meet of Champions. His indoor PR was 49.24 from the Emerging Elite race at Nationals last March at the Armory, where he placed fourth.

For an incredible story about Murray and what he overcame to get where he is now, check out this story from last winter in the Courier-Post by Josh Friedman:

https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/sports/high-school/track/2019/02/14/haddonfield-high-track-zachariah-murray-non-hodgkins-lymphoma/2861213002/

Cherry Hill East graduate Maya Drayton, a Georgetown freshman, had a huge breakthrough couple days at the Big East Championships.

Competing at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, about six miles south of Lake Erie, Drayton on Monday won the first section of a two-section final in 54.78 and that time stood up for third place overall.

That appears to be the No. 7 time in Georgetown indoor track history and fastest since Abigail Johnson ran 53.64 for second at the 2010 Big East Championships at the 168th Street Armory.

Is it a Georgetown freshman record? There is literally no way to figure that out since the performances ahead of Drayton on the all-time Georgetown list go back as far as 1993. But it has to be close.

Drayton finished behind only juniors Leah Andrson of St. John’s (53.76) and Kiersten Walker of DePaul (54.66), who she didn’t even get a chance to race because they were in the second section of the two-race final. 

But it was a tremendous performance for Drayton, who came into the meet with a PR of 56.38 from a meet in January at Penn State, then lowered her PR to 55.34 in the trials.

Drayton’s time makes her the No. 11 freshman in NCAA Division 1. She appears to be the fastest freshman in the Big East in at least 10 years, or as far back as class stats are available on TFRRS.org, the national college performance ranking system.

Georgetown’s track web site has a “media guide” that believe it or not was last updated in 2009. I found the top women’s indoor 400 performances at Georgetown through and tried to update the list with all the sub-55 Georgetown times since 2009 — there haven’t been any, surprisingly – and came up with an all-time Georgetown indoor 400 list:

53.14 … Steffanie Smith, 1993
53.64 … Abigail Johnson, 2010
53.78 … Sasha Spencer, 2001
54.13 … Monica Hargrove, 2004
54.28 … Carron Allen, 2000
54.37 … Nickey Penado, 2001
54.78 … Maya Drayton, 2020
54.79 … Bridget Johnson, 1996
54.91 … Jennifer Bell, 1987

(Note to SIDs: UPDATE ALL-TIME PERFORMANCE LISTS)

At Cherry Hill East, Drayton didn’t run indoors, so this is her first season of indoor track, and the Big East was only the third meet of her life in which she’s contested an open indoor 400. She’s PR’d in each one.

Drayton’s outdoor PR at East was 56.00, which she ran this past spring at the state Group 4 meet, where she placed second to Shauntae Nelson of Piscataway, who’s now at U. Conn.

Drayton came back to place fourth in the 200 in 24.40 after setting a PR of 24.3 in the trials on Sunday.

Ashley Preston continued her perfect record at the Big East Championships with her third conference pole vault title in three tries.

Preston, a Delsea graduate and sophomore at Villanova, clear a personal-best 13-3 1/2 Sunday to win the Big East indoor title at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

As a freshman, she won last year’s indoor title at SPIRE at 12-7 1/2 and then won the outdoor title at Icahn Stadium in New York at 13-2 1/4.

Preston passed the first five heights and then cleared 11-11 3/4 on her second try and 12-3 1/2, 12-7 1/2 and 12-11 1/2 on her first try. When nobody else cleared 12-11 1/2, she had the event won.

She had the bar moved up to 13-3 1/2 and cleared it on her second attempt before three attempts at 13-5 1/4.

Preston’s 13-3 1/2 is No. 3 in Villanova history indoors and No. 7 on the overall all-time indoor-outdoor list.

Her previous PR was that 13-2 1/4 last spring. Her previous indoor PR was a 13-1 1/2 at a meet in January in Annapolis, Md.

Her 13-3 1/2 clearance is the best by a Villanova vaulter indoors or outdoors since 2015, when Alexandra Wasik cleared 13-10 at the Armory.

Preston trails only Wasik and Ashlyn Llernadi (13-5 3/4 in 2010) on the all-time Villanova indoor list.

Preston and Wasik are the only three-time Big East pole vault champs in Villanova history.

This fantastic Villanova track history book shows where Preston ranks among all-time Villanova athletes in Big East titles. Considering she’s only halfway through her sophomore year, she’s moving up rapidly!

 

Click to access pole_vault.pdf

The NJSIAA has released the preliminary performance list for the 52nd annual indoor Meet of Champions (42nd for the girls), which starts at 10 a.m. next Sunday, March 8, at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island, N.Y.

This will be the first time ever any NJSIAA track event has ever been held outside New Jersey, and it will also be the first time any NJSIAA track event has been held on a banked track … or a fast track.

It’s finally going to be an indoor Meet of Champions worthy of the incredible runners, jumpers and throwers that New Jersey always produces. It’s going to be fast!

Remember, the performance lists for the so-called Showcase Events – the events not contested at states – can be updated through noon Tuesday, and any winners from states can update their seed times up through noon Tuesday as well.

We’ll have lots more in the coming days about the Meet of Champions, including our exclusive all-time Meet of Champions performance list, which Jim Lambert and I put together and have been maintaining for several years.

But for now, dig in!

2020 indoor Meet of Champions performance list

And remember, you can watch the entire Meet of Champions live on MileSplit at this link!

Nico Morales lost his South Jersey pole vault record to his twin brother Marco earlier this year, but now he’s a state champion.

Morales, in only his third meet of the year, beat his brother for the first time since sectionals last spring and tied a meet record along the way.

Nico Morales cleared 15-6, matching his indoor PR and one inch off his overall PR, and Marco cleared 14-0 for third, and the amazing Morales brothers’ 16 points along with some clutch running by senior Noah Deckert, hurdling by Damir Lomax and throwing by junior Joe Metzger led the Crusaders to the state Group 2 championship.

The state indoor title is Delsea’s third in the last 10 years. Delsea, always strong in distance and the throws, also won Group 2 in 2011 and 2018.

Woodbury is the only Gloucester County school with more indoor state titles. The Thundering Herd has won five, all between 1969 and 1982.

Marco Morales broke the South Jersey record when he cleared 16-0 at Ocean Breeze earlier this month, and he broke the overall New Jersey sectional record last weekend when he cleared 15-8.

Both Morales brothers and West Deptford’s Dan Batdorf, who cleared 15-6 in 2008, came into the season sharing the South Jersey indoor record.

Marco Morales and Bob Green (Haddon Heights outdoors in 1992) are the only 16-footers in South Jersey history.

Nico Morales is tied for 9th in state history indoors at 15-6 and No. 4 in South Jersey history overall at 15-7.

Nico tied the Group 2 meet record of 15-6 set in 2013 by Craig Hunter of Robbinsville and matched in 2019 by Liam Landau of Pascack Hills.

But the Morales brothers definitely got some help Saturday!

Deckert had a strong double with 4:24.39 for second in the 1,600 and 9:41.60 for fifth in the 3,200. His 4:24.39 was an overall indoor-outdoor PR, breaking his mark of 4:28.17. He just broke 4:33 for the first time earlier this month. His 9:41.60 was just off his PR of 9:40.35 from last month.

Metzger threw 52-10 1/4 for second in the shot put, a little over a foot off his PR of 54-1 1/4 that he set last week. He never threw 50 feet before late last month.

Lomax barely got into the finals of the hurdles at sectionals after an 8.35 in the trials, but he bounced back with an 8.10 for second in the final and then ran 8.08 in the trials Saturday and matched his PR with an 8.04 in the final.

Deptford graduate Kiara Lester, a Penn State senior, won her first Big Ten Conference title Sunday with a personal-best time at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Lester ran 53.37 to win the first section in a two-section final. Chisom Nwoko of Illinois was second in 53.51 running out of a different race. 

Her time appears to be fastest by a Penn State woman since 2014, when Kiah Seymour ran 52.53.

Lester’s previous PR was 53.78 from last year’s indoor Big 10 meet, where she placed fourth. She ran her outdoor PR of 54.08 placing third in last year’s outdoor Big 10 meet in Iowa City. 

Lester ran 54.56 in the trials, only the sixth-fastest time going into the final. 

Trying to navigate Penn State’s horrible on-line “track yearbook” is a nightmare. It’s literally the worst platform I’ve ever seen. Give it a try for laughs: https://issuu.com/gopsusports/docs/2018-19_track_yearbook

But anyway, it looks like Lester is Penn State’s first indoor Big Ten 400 champ since Seymour in 2014 and fifth all-time along with Shana Cox (53.40 in 2008), Fawn Dorr (54.10 in 2009) and Seymour in 2014 (52.53) and 2015 (52.72).

At Deptford, Lester ran 55.72 outdoors and 55.83 and also long jumped over 18 feet. She was Meet of Champions 200 champ indoors in both 2015 and 2016.