Lenape graduate Carly Pettipaw, now a senior at Delaware, finished her final indoor season in style with a big PR in the open 800 and a leadoff leg on the Blue Hens’ world-best 3,200-meter relay team.

Granted, the 4-by-800 is only run indoors in the U.S. and only contested in college meets, and it’s no longer contested at the indoor NCAAs. Still, according to the IAAF rankings, Delaware’s 8:45.08 at the IC4A/ECAC meet in Boston on Sunday is the fastest 4-by-800 in the world this year.

Delaware supplanted Lehigh, which ran 8:48.80, last month in Annapolis, Md.

The time is No. 25 in U.S. collegiate history. The full list appears below, courtesy of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association web site.

Pettipaw led off with a 2:11.8 leg out of the whole, followed by sophomore Sydni Stovall (2:13.5), senior Jeanette Bendolph (2:11.5) and junior Michaela Meyer (2:08.3).

Quinnipiac was a distant second, finishing 60 meters back in 8:56.10. Boston College (8:57.94), Loyola of Maryland (8:57.98), James Madison (8:58.56) and Cornell (8:59.32) all broke nine minutes as well.

Delaware posted the fastest qualifying time with an 8:51.60 with a slightly different lineup on Saturday, with Pettipaw splitting 2:10.70 on the leadoff leg. In the prelims, freshman Tina Capparell  ran with Pettipaw, Meyer and Bendolph.

The Blue Hens broke the school record in both races. It was 8:54.17 going into the weekend, with the team of Pettipaw, Meyer, Angie Spadaccini and Liz McGroarty last year. Delaware also ran under the school’s outdoor 4×8 school record of 8:55.47, set by McGroarty, Meyer, Spadaccini and Bendolph in 2017.

Delaware’s time is third-fastest in IC4A/ECAC history, behind only Boston College’s 8:43.06 from 2017 and Monmouth’s 8:44.57 from 2017. The B.C. time is listed as questionable, which indicates a likely technical error resulting in the race being less than 3,200 meters.

It’s been a big year for Pettipaw, highlighted by a 2:11.34 open 800 at the Navy Select Meet in Annapolis, Md., last month. That ranks her No. 2 in Delaware history indoors. Here’s the top 5:

2:09.61 … Jeanette Bendolph, 2018
2:11.34 … Carly Pettipaw, 219
2:11.58 … Liz Mcgroarty, 201
2:13.46 … Michaela Meyer, 2019
2:13.75 … Lindsay Prettyman, 2013

Pettipaw also broke school records in the 500 (1:14.71) and 600 (1:32.59) this winter. The previous marks were 1:14.87 by Cristine Marquez in 2008 and 1:37.11 by Meyer last year.

Before this winter, Pettipaw’s indoor PR was a 2:13.20 from sophomore year at IC4A’s on the same track. She has a PR of 2:09.75 outdoors from a meet at Towson last spring. That’s No. 4 in school history by less than two seconds off the school record of 2:08.12, set in 2014 by Linday Prettyman. She also anchored Delaware’s school-record 4:01.98 sprint medley team last spring.

In the intermediate hurdles, Pettipaw has been an IC4A medalist and run as fast as 1:01.14, which is third-fastest in school history.

Here are the top 25 colleges in the indoor 4-by-800, including only the best performance by each school. As you can see, Delaware’s time is seventh-fastest over the past 25 years.

ALL-TIME COLLEGIATE INDOOR 3,200-METER RELAY LIST
8:25.5h … Villanova, 1987 [Shawnee graduate Michelle DiMuro ran 3rd leg]
8:26.77 … Wisconsin, 1993
8:29.12 … Florida, 1986
8:30.58 … Alabama, 1992
8:33.50 … Virginia Tech, 2014
8:34.69 … Texas, 1992
8:34.82 … Tennessee, 2009
8:36.11 … LSU, 1985
8:36.53 … Kentucky, 1989
8:37.97 … BYU, 2012
8:38.71 … North Carolina, 1993
8:39.67 … Houston, 1988
8:40.74 … Providence, 1992
8:40.92 … Georgetown, 1992
8:41.16 … Indiana, 1990
8:41.61 … Virginia, 1985
8:42.79 … Purdue, 1984
8:43.06q … Boston College, 2017
8:43.46 … Princeton, 2017
8:43.49 … Baylor, 1991
8:44.21y … Florida State, 1982
8:44.22 … .Michigan, 1984
8:44.29 … Rice, 1989
8:44.57 … Monmouth, 2017
8:45.08 … Delaware, 2019

Freshman Iyanla Kollock sprinted herself into the Rutgers University record book Sunday in her first ECAC championships.

Kollock, a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Franklin Township, Gloucester County, placed fourth in the 60-meter dash final in 7.59, seventh-fastest time in Rutgers history and fastest ever by a freshman.

Kollock went into ECAC’s at Boston College with a PR of 7.62 from the trials of the Big 10 Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., last weekend. After a 7.65 in the trials made her the No. 7 seed going into the finals, she ran 7.59 to finish fourth and just 7-100ths of a second behind winner Kaitlin Salisbury, a Bucknell junior out of Hawthorne Christian.

Look at how Kollock’s PR has dropped this year:
7.83 … Jan. 12 [TCNJ Invite trials]
7.78 … Jan. 12 [TCNJ finals]
7.77 … Jan. 25 [John Thomas Classic trials]
7.75 … Jan. 31 [Mets trials]
7.69 … Jan. 31 [Mets finals]
7.62 … Feb. 22 [Big Ten trials]
7.59 … March 3 [ECAC]

Here’s the fastest times in Rutgers history (four of the top eight are from South Jersey sprinters!)
7.34 … Gabrielle Farquharson [Williamstown], 2016
7.41 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], 2006
7.43 … Oniesha Clarkee [Chase Collegiate, Waterbury, Conn.], 2019
7.47 … Tylia GIllon [Jackson], 2014
7.53 … Bria Saunders [Parsippany], 2018
7.56 … Michelle Gomes [University HS, Orlando, Fla.], 2010
7.59 … Jamie Walker [Haddon Heights], 2011
7.59 … Iyanla Kolock, 2019 [Our Lady of Mercy Academy], 2019

Cole Pschunder of Rutgers out of Eastern Regional High School ran a big 5,000 PR of 14:26.53 Saturday at the IC4As.

Pschunder, a Rutgers junior, took 15 seconds off his previous PR of 14:41.84 from the Big Ten meet two weeks ago. Before that, his 5,000 PR was a 15:21 at an outdoor meet last spring on his home track in Piscataway. Pschunder never ran a track 5,000 in high school or in college before last spring.

According to the timing site, Pschunder ran his 1,000s in 2:51, 2:51, 2:56, 2:59 and closed in 2:47, which is roughly 2:13 800 pace for the last five laps.

Pschunder, who also has a 4:11.99 mile to his credit this winter, moved up to No. 3 in Rutgers history in the indoor 5,000, behind only Manalapan High graduate Jim Casey, who ran 14:12.9 hand-timed in a meet at Jadwin Gym in Princeton in 1981 (and is now a NJSIAA Central Jersey sectional meet director), and Chris Banafato (from Bridgewater-Raritan), who ran 14:21.06 at the 2015 IC4A’s in Boston.

Only Casey has run faster than Pschunder’s time outdoors in Rutgers history. He ran 13:57 at the 1982 outdoor IC4As at Princeton.

Cole Pschunder is apparently the same person as Nick Pschunder, which is how he is listed in various results.

Moorestown graduate Natalie Cooper shattered a 19-year-old College of New Jersey 3,000-meter run record Saturday when she finished first at the All-Atlantic Region Championships in Ithaca.

Cooper, a senior at TCNJ, ran 9:54.59, winning by 20 meters over senior Laura Barreca of SUNY Geneseo. She broke the meet record of 10:03.53, set last year by Jaime Lord of RPI, and she broke the TCNJ indoor mark of 9:56.76, set in 2000 by Noel Whitall, a former star runner at Toms River East (and now a coach at Toms River North).

Cooper beat her 3,000 PR of 9:58.37, which she set at Boston University last month. Her time is No. 21 nationally in NCAA Division 3.

Cooper hit 400 meters in 80.65 in sixth place but gradually moved up with 200 splits of 38.1, 38.9, 39.5, 40.1 and 40.2 and took the lead right at the midway point of the race with a 39.9 eighth lap. She closed in 78 seconds for her final 400 to pull away from Barreca.

At Moorestown, Cooper’s 3,200 PR was 11:17.89, and her 9:54.59 converts to a 10:38.29 for 3,200 meters, so that’s a nearly 40-second improvement since high school.

Cooper is a four-time NJAC champ in track and cross country for the Lions and was an All-America in cross country this past fall.

Deptford High graduate Tyler Garland, only the No. 6 seed coming out of Friday’s trials, roared to a huge win in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the All-Atlantic Region Championships in Ithaca.

Garland, a Rowan sophomore, ran 8.45 in the trials, which left him racing out of lane 7 in the final. But he ran 8.33 in the final, winning by 2-100ths of a second over RIT sophomore Max Gloskey.

Garland was the state Group 3 champ in the 110-meter highs for Deptford in 2016. He competed for Rowan College at Gloucester County in 2017, where he was a JUCO All-America in the 110 highs, before arriving at Rowan last fall. With his PR of 8.24, he ranks 20th nationally in NCAA Division 3.

(Also, I love that @naseemsmith was the first person to retweet this blog post! With Garland and Smith, Deptford has built quite a hurdles reputation in recent years! Both are recent state Group 3 champs!)

Egg Harbor Township grad James Plummer, now a senior at Grand View College in Iowa, won his second national title Friday, his first in the weight throw.

Harbor, who never threw the 35-pound weight in high school, had the six-best throws of the NAIA Championships, including the winning heave of 71-6 1/2 on his second attempt at the Sanford-Jackrabbit Fieldhouse on the South Dakota State University campus in Brookings, S.D.

Plummer’s 71-7 1/2 broke the meet record of 71-3 1/2 set last year by Erik Escobedo of Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana.

He also had throws of 66-10 1/4 and 71-4 1/2 in the trials and then threw 68-11, 67-10 1/2 and 69-11 in the finals.

Second-place finisher Jacob Cornelio of Concordia in Nebraska was second with a throw of 65-1 3/4.

Plummer has a PR of 72-0 3/4 in the weight throw, so he threw within six inches of that on Friday. The 72-0 3/4 came last month at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships at Doane University Fieldhouse in Crete, Nebraska. He was the top seed in the event by more than two feet.

Plummer’s shot put PR is 56-4 from the same meet. He’s the No. 6 seed in the shot put on Saturday. He won the 2018 NAIA discus title last spring with a throw of 177-2 at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala. He has a discus PR of 203-3 and a shot put PR of 57-11 1/4

Plummer, the 2013 National Scholastic high school champ in the discus, spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Clemson University and was a multiple ACC medalist before competing unattached in 2016 and 2017 and then resurfacing at Grand View, a small liberal arts school in Des Moines, Iowa.

I would love to be able to tell you where Plummer ranks among U.S. men, but the USATF – the governing body for track and field in the United States – hasn’t gotten around to updating its 2019 performance list since Feb. 13!

Rowan senior Aspen McMillan ran within 8-100ths of a second of her personal-best and school-record time in the 60-meter high hurdles Friday in the TRIALs at the All-Atlantic Regional Championships in Ithaca, N.Y.

She’ll race in the final on Saturday, and she’s the top seed in the final by a whopping 32-100ths of a second over No. 2 seed Erin MacDougall, a senior at SUNY Geneseo in New York.

McMillan ran 8.80, breaking the meet record of 8.84 that she set in the trials at last year’s meet. She came back the next day to win the final in 8.88.

https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=1583

McMillan, a Kendall Park native and South Brunswick High graduate, set the Rowan school record of 8.72 last year, when she placed second in the NCAA Division 3 Championships in Birmingham, Ala., earning All-America honors. She’s also earned All-America honors twice outdoors as a member of Rowan’s 400-meter relay team.

She’s already ranked No. 3 in the U.S. this year in Division 3 with her 8.77 to win the New Jersey Athletic Conference title at Ocean Breeze last month.

Williamstown native Cameron Dobbins of Rutgers-Camden goes into the championship portion of the season doing some of the best sprinting of his life.

Dobbins won the 60-meter dash for the second straight year in a near-PR 6.93 and was a close second in the 200 behind Montclair State All-American George Alexandris with a PR 21.67 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet at Ocean Breeze.

The 21.67 broke the Rutgers-Camden school record of 21.80 that Dobbins set at least year’s NJAC meet, which he won.

He’ll contest both events and the 800-meter relay at the ECAC Division 3 Championships this weekend at the Armory. The NCAA Division 3 Championships follows in Boston later in March.

Dobbins ranks No. 23 nationally in the 60 with that 6.93 and he’s No. 11 in the 200 with that 21.67 at the Frank Colden Invite at Ursinus in Collegeville, Pa., earlier this month.

In the 60, Dobbins edged Rowan’s Julian Pratt from Camden High by 1-100th of a second. His PR and school record is 6.92 from the Gotham Cup last year at Ocean Breeze.

Dobbins had PRs of 10.99 and 22.55 outdoors at Williamstown High School and 6.53 in the 55.

Lenape senior Shelby Whetstone capped a terrific senior year of indoor track at the Meet of Champs with another big PR, the No. 1 time this year in South Jersey and a spot on the all-time Burlington County top-10.

Whetstone ran 2:16.88 at the Meet of Champs, lowering her PR from 2:18.63 from states. Her first sub-2:20 indoors came at the sectionals, so she actually lowered her personal-best from 2:21.11 to 2:16.88 — more than four seconds — in the span of 23 days.

That 2:16.88 is No. 8 in Burlington County history. Five of the top 11 times on the Burlington County all-time indoor list come from Lenape. The all-time Burlco list is below.

Whetstone ran 58.53 at states, and she’s one of only six middle-distance runners in New Jersey — the only one from South Jersey — to rank in the top 20 in the state this year on the MileSplit lists in both the 400 and the 800. Among the others are five-time Meet of Champs winner Victoria Vanriele of Governor Livingston and 600-meter run American record holder Athing Mu, who attends Trenton but races for a club team.

Here’s what that list looks like:

Athing Mu, Trenton [52.55, 2:03.98]
Victoria Vanriele, Governor Livingston [55.49, 2:09.18]
Leena Morant, Union Catholic [57.72, 2:13.08]
Trinity Eason, Woodbridge [58.20. 2:17.78]
Morgan Lyons, Ridge [58.27, 2:17.65]
Shelby Whetstone, Lenape [58.53, 2:16.88]

Here’s the all-time Burlington County list, with all times under 2:20 indoors:

2:12.46 … Monica Olkowski (Cherokee), 1990
2:13.51 … Emily Duffy (Lenape), 2011
2:14.12 … Carly Pettipaw (Lenape), 2013
2:14.6h … Michelle DiMuro (Shawnee), 1985
2:15.89 … Kayla Martin (Seneca), 2016
2:16.82 … *Mary Bohi (Seneca), 2009
2:16.85 … Megan Quimby (Lenape), 2017
2:16.88 … Shelby Whetstone (Lenape), 2019
2:16.93 … Julia DeSpirito (Shawnee), 2014
2:16.95 … Patrice Rowe (Willingboro), 2010
2:17.11 … *Miya Johnson (Lenape), 2007
2:17.23 … **Lisa Burkholder (Cherokee), 2004
2:17.0h … *Kimarra McDonald (RV), 2004
2:18.00 … *Lyndsy Horn (Seneca), 2009
2:18.30 … *Brittnee Bynoe (Willingboro), 2005
2:18.31 … *Holly McGarvie (Shawnee), 2004
2:18.54 … Allison Hawkey (Rancocas Valley), 2007
2:18.6h … Sue Walker (Shawnee), 1983
2:19.1h … *Tasha Minkins (Willingboro), 1992
2:19.38 … Katie Duffey (Lenape), 2009
2:19.50 … Moira Cunningham (Lenape), 2008
2:19.66 … Sarah Robbie (Cherokee), 2013
2:19.92 … Ariana Harrell (Pemberton), 2019

Whetstone was the South Jersey Group 4 champ at 800 meters last spring and state Group 4 champ as a sophomore and state runner-up in the 800 as a junior. She takes outdoor PRs of 55.67 and 2:14.92 into her senior year.

In the span of four races over a few weeks, Sarah Naticchia went from a six-minute miler finishing in the middle of the pack in a novice race to one of the fastest in the state.

This is another one of those crazy stories that makes track such a special and unique sport.

Naticchia, a Haddonfield sophomore who didn’t compete in track last year, ran the first 1,600 of her life at the Spike Shoe Holiday Festival at the Armory in mid-December, and she ran admirably, clocking 6:02.67 in the novice race, a fine time for any first-time miler.

Then it was off to the Ocean Breeze track in Staten Island a few weeks later for the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games, where she again ran a novice-class 1,600, but this time she ran away from the field in 5:42, a 20-second PR in her second career race.

Naticchia was entered in the 1,600 at sectionals, and all she did was run 5:16.49 — a 26-second PR – and out-race the field to earn the win.

Who’s even heard of a 26-second PR in a 1,600? That’s not even possible!

But yep, in her third lifetime 1,600 she won a sectional title. Sophomore teammates Payton Weiner and Olivia Stoner also medaled in the race, giving Haddonfield 16 points in the event on the way to 112 in their South Jersey Group 2 title.

Then it was off to states, where Naticchia PR’d again, this time running 5:13.84 and placing fourth, just six seconds behind winner Eliana Swell of Rumson-Fair Haven.

This is where the story gets even better.

Naticchia was the No. 18 seed in the 1,600 at the Meet of Champions, which would have gotten her in the fast heat and possibly set her up for yet another PR in this remarkable first year of track.

But Naticchia had other ideas. She and three of her teammates — Weiner and Allison and Lindsay Coleflesh, all sophomores — elected to run the 3,200-meter relay, with Naticchia and Lindsay Colflesh opting to focus on the relay and skip their individual events. Colflesh had qualified for M-of-C in the 800 by placing second at states.

Haddonfield wound up placing sixth in 9:42.17, finishing behind only one South Jersey school – Kingsway, who ran 9:40.30 for fifth.

Naticchia wound up as the second-fastest sophomore in New Jersey this year, behind only Emma McGill of Voorhees, who ran 5:03.36 for third at the Meet of Champions.

Here’s a wild guess: Naticchia won’t be running any more novice races!