Lenape junior Shelby Whetstone picked the right time for a three-second PR.

Whetstone lowered her PR from 2:18.74 to 2:15.56 and won the 800 Saturday morning at the South Jersey Group 4 meet at Washington Township.

Whetstone gapped the field, winning by 20 meters over top-seeded Raelynne Miller of Millville, who was second in 2:19.39.

Whetstone ran her previous PR last weekend at Haddonfield Distance Night. That was her first time under 2:21.

Whetstone is the fourth different Lenape girl to win the South Jersey Group 4 title in the last eight years following Emily McGee in 2011, Carly Pettipaw in 2015 and Megan Quimby in 2016.

Here’s a look at the South Jersey Group 4 sectional 800 winners going back to 1986:

2018 … Shelby Whetstone [Lenape] 2:15.56
2017 … Rachel Vick [Kingsway] 2:13.00
2016 … Megan Quimby [Lenape] 2:14.66
2015 … Carly Pettipaw [Lenape] 2:14.27
2014 … Julia DeSpirito [Shawnee] 2:13.75
2013 … Melana Hammel [Southern] 2:16.27
2012 … Julia DeSpirito [Shawnee] 2:15.81
2011 … Emily McGee [Lenape] 2:16.13
2010 … Chelsea Cox [Southern] 2:14.62
2009 … Jill Smith [Southern] 2:11.49
2008 … Jill Smith [Southern] 2:07.26
2007 … Danielle Tauro [Southern] 2:10.54
2006 … Danielle Tauro [Southern] 2:13.98
2005 … Danielle Tauro [Southern] 2:16.16
2004 … Lauren Lewis [Southern] 2:12.2
2003 … Lauren Lewis [Southern] 2:13.3
2002 … Lauren Lewis [Southern] 2:16.9
2001 … Lauren Lewis [Southern] 2:17.7
2000 … Claudine Evangelista [Tri.]2:16.8
1999 … Claudine Evangelista [Tri.]2:15.1
1998 … Claudine Evangelista [Tri.]2:15.6
1997 … Tara Debrielle [Ovbk.] 2:19.5
1996 … Latasha Taylor [W’boro] 2:19.2
1995 … Liz Moore [Shawnee] 2:17.0
1994 … Missy Whittaker [Shaw. 2:20.1
1993 … Missy Whittaker [Shaw.] 2:19.5
1992 … Krista Ferrera [Vineland] 2:13.4
1991 … Krista Ferrera [Vineland] 2:19.8
1990 … Monica Olkowski [Cherokee] 2:19.9
1989 … Monica Olkowski [Cherokee] 2:19.1
1988 … Nancy Goodall [Toms River East] 2:19.4
1987 … Chris Danks [Shawnee] 2:16.4
1986 … Kelly McDonnell [Toms River East] 2:18.2

Cinnaminson senior Kamron Kobolak extended his own Burlington County discus record by seven feet Friday with a 184-3 throw to win the South Jersey Group 2 meet at Delsea.

Kobolak’s previous PR and county record was a 177-6 at the South Jersey Invitational. He moved up to the No. 11 spot on the all-time South Jersey list, one inch out of 10th place.

This is not only Kobolak’s first career sectional discus win, it’s the first time he’s ever gotten a legal mark in a sectional discus competition. He didn’t throw the disc as a freshman or sophomore and fouled out of last year’s meet.

Kobolak won by 20 feet over Willingboro junior Manny Lewis, who recorded a massive PR of his own. Lewis took second with a 164-8 throw. His previous PR was a 147-7, also at the South Invitational. Lewis moved into the all-time Burlington County top 20 with the No. 6 mark in the history of the prestigious Willingboro program.

Kobolak just missed the meet record of 185-11 set three years ago by John Mooers of Middle Township.  

He joins James Davidson (1988) and Duane Sanders (2003) as the third Cinnaminson discus thrower to win a sectional title.

Here’s a look at all the South Jersey Group 2 discus winners going back to 1985:

2018 … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson] 184-3
2017 … Adam Hunt (Collingswood) 173-2
2016 … Adam Hunt (Collingswood) 164-9
2015 … John Mooers (Middle Twp.) 185-11
2014 … Nick Pulli (West Deptford) 168-10
2013 … Braheme Days Jr. (Bridgeton) 185-0
2012 … Braheme Days Jr. (Bridgeton) 170-8
2011 … Braheme Days Jr. (Bridgeton) 177-5
2010 … George Ebinger (Barnegat) 153-0
2009 … Kevin Hebron (Middle Twp.) 149-9
2007 … Steve Hague (Buena) 164-7
2006 … James Woodley (Schalick) 147-0
2005 … Kevin Glover (Gateway) 145-7
2004 … James Owens (Bridgeton) 145-0
2003 … Duane Sanders (Cinnaminson) 142-10
2002 … John Belknap (Haddonfield) 157-5
2001 … Omar Waliyyudin (Sterling) 156-2
1999 … John Spruill (Deptford) 153-5
1998 … John Spruill (Deptford) 160-5
1997 … Terrin Walker (Bridgeton) 154-4
1996 … Joe Howe (Delran) 157-9
1995 … Matt Klaus (Haddon Twp.) 166-9
1994 … Frank Moore (Middle Twp.) 158-4
1993 … Bill Duff (Delran) 146-3
1992 … Dave Sporel (Kingsway) 150-9
1991 … Lewis Pierce (Salem) 142-9
1990 … Chris Robinson (P.G.) 151-11
1988 … James Davidson (Cinnaminson) 152-4
1987 … John Skikus (Manchester) 147-7
1986 … Rob McMullen (NBC) 159-5
1985 … Rob McMullen (NBC) 140-8 

Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey list:

216-11 … Ron Dayne [Overbrook], 1996
199-  6 … Braheme Days Jr. [Bridgeton], 2013
197-  0 … James Plummer [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
192-  5 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], 2013
189-  7 … Ray Wilks [Bridgeton], 1995
185-11 … John Mooers [Middle Twp.], 2015
185-10 … Russ Willett [Penns Grove], 1985
185-  7 … Matthew Huckabee [Timber Creek], 2010
185-  5 … Ken Manahan [Deptford], 1976
184-  4 … Adam Hunt [Collingswood], 2017
184-  3 … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson], 2018
181-10 … Jason Winrow [Cumberland Reg.], 1989
180-  3 … Howard Clark [Pennsauken], 1998

And the updated all-time Burlington County list:

184- 3 … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson]
174- 4 … Dennis Norman [Cherokee], 1997
171-10 … Alex Lewis [Delran], 2000
171-10 … Steve Muse [Kennedy], 1984
171- 6 … Rashaun Graves [Willingboro], 2013
171-10 … John McNeill [Kennedy], 1976
170- 4 … Kurtis Johnson [Burlington Twp.], 1989
169- 8 … Ell Ash [Willingboro], 2004
169- 7 … Chuck Spinner [Willingboro], 1979
169- 2 … Greg Hardy [Kennedy], 1989
168- 3 … Tom VonReichbauer [Moorestown], 2000
167- 6 … Gil Winters [Willingboro], 1990
166- 0 … Geoff Smith [Shawnee], 1990
165- 4 … Barry Dickinson [Willingboro], 1981
164-10 … Ray Stinsman [Lenape], 2010
164- 8 … Manny Lewis [Willingboro], 2018
164- 2 … Donnell Hayden [Bordentown], 2007
163- 6 … Frank Allen [Holy Cross], 2008
164- 4 … Joe Howe [Delran], 1996
160- 6 … Luke Adams [Cinnaminson], 2018
160- 3 … Tom Vonreichbauer [Moorestown], 2000

Rancocas Valley senior Aaliyah Taylor won the 400 at sectionals in 2016 in 55.79. And on Friday? She won the 400 at sectionals in … 55.79.

Taylor, finally healthy after a difficult junior year, matched her lifetime outdoor PR Friday when she won the South Jersey Group 4 400 by a second over Eastern sophomore Jewel Ash, who ran 56.81.

Taylor ran 55.21 to win the 2017 Easterns title at the Armory, but the 55.79 is her outdoor PR and she’s now done it twice.

Taylor won Group 4 sectional and state titles indoors in the 400 and was third in the Meet of Champions. She placed second to Egg Harbor’s Lauren Princz in the 100 final Friday and will run the 200 on Saturday.

The 400 was very fast, with all six medalists running sub-59 and four girls under 58.

Burlington Township freshman Sheriyah Nutt registered two massive PRs and won the 100-meter dash Friday at the Central Jersey Group 3 sectional meet at Jackson Liberty.

Nutt arrived at sectionals Friday with a 100 PR of 12.63 from the BCSL Liberty Division meet earlier this month.

But she ran 12.45 to lead all qualifiers into the final, where she ran 12.21 and finished two meters ahead of second-place Emma Faivre of West Windsor.

Her time is fastest this year by a New Jersey freshman. Egg Harbor’s Lauren Princz has run 12.27.

Nutt’s time virtually ties the Burlington Township school record of 12.0 hand-timed by Tina Johnson in 1995. Her time is No. 11 in Burlington County history, just 2-100ths out of the top 10.

She’s the first Burlington Township girl ever to win an individual sectional title as a freshman, although Township did have two freshmen — Rachel Palacio and Janine Jones — on a 1,600-meter relay team that won the 1995 South Jersey Group 1 sectional title. Charmelle Brooks and Johnson were also on that team.

11.42 … Michelle Glover [Willingboro], 1981
11.61 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 1998
11.82 … Annie Johnson [Shawnee], 2011
11.95 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
12.05 … Any Ward [Moorestown], 2000
12.08 … Kim Hargrove [Willingboro], 1996
12.11 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009
12.11 … Nia Lawrence [Pemberton], 2012
12.15 … ReJeana Marigna [Palmyra], 2008
12.19 … Alivia Scott [Northern Burlington], 2016
12.21 … Sheriyah Nutt [Burlington Twp.], 2018
12.23 … Morgan Gordon [Rancocas Valley], 2009
12.24 … Aaliyah Courtney [Willingboro], 2012
12.25 … *Halimah Bashir [Willingboro], 2002

A few days ago we wrote about Shawnee sophomores Claire Hauser and Isabella Turner’s big 1,600-meter breakthroughs at Haddonfield Distance Night. That story is here.

That was nothing compared to what they did Friday.

Hauser and Turner both recorded huge PRs and finished 1-2 in the 1,600 at the South Jersey Group 4 meet at Washington Township.

Hauser ran 5:05.21 and Turner 5:06.15, edging Kingsway senior Kyle Anicic, who ran 5:07.11. Cherokee’s Kate Rathman made it three Burlington County sophomores under 5:10, taking fourth in a PR of her own – 5:09.86.

The 1-2 finish was the first for the Shawnee girls in any event at sectionals in 21 years, since Lisa Setter and Taylor Van Acker went 1-2 in the 1,600-meter run at the 1997 Group 4 sectionals in West Deptford. Setter won in 5:10.7 and Van Acker was second in 5:11.6.

Turner’s previous PR was 5:12.68 and Hauser 5:13.22, both last week at Haddonfield. The only faster time in South Jersey this year is the 5:04.50 that Seneca’s Sydney Warner ran Friday at the South Jersey Group 3 race at Delsea.

The only faster Burlington County sophomore in the last 10 years was Lenape’s Megan Quimby, who ran 5:02.04 at the 2015 District Cup.

Here’s our best attempt at an all-time Shawnee 1,600 list, with every time under 5:10:

4:56.81 … Julia Despirito, 2014
5:01.48 … Casey Doyle, 2008
5:01.5h … Liz Moore, 1993
5:03.69 … Nina Bendixen, 2015
5:03.8h … Deanna Germano, 1985
5:05.21 … Claire Hauser, 2018
5:06.15 … Isabella Turner, 2018
5:07.11 … Jenna Darcy, 1999
5:07.61 … Moran Arena, 2015
5:09.21 … Lisa Setter, 1997
5:09.46 … Kristen Niedrach, 2010

Jessica Woodard recorded the second-best shot put of the competition at NCAA Division 1 West Regionals Thursday to advance to the NCAA Championships next month.

Woodard fouled on her first attempt but threw 56-11 1/2 on her second and 54-4 1/2 on her third to finish behind only Arizona State senior Maggie Ewen, the defending NCAA champion, who had throws of 62-4 1/2 and 62-9 1/4.

The top 12 finishers from two regional meets advanced to NCAAs June 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Including the 12 qualifiers from the East Regional in Tampa, Woodard will be seeded sixth at nationals, although she’s only 5 1/2 inches out of second.

Woodard has a season-best of 59-3 1/2 from this year’s Big 12 meet and a career best of 60-2 3/4 from last year’s Big 12 meet.

Woodard, an Oklahoma post-grad senior out of Cherokee High School, is a five-time NCAA All-America in the shot. She’ll throw the discus on Friday and starts out as the No. 8 seed with a season-best of 190-9.

 

 

Despite running into a ridiculous headwind, Moravian freshman Zion Howard, a Moorestown graduate, posted the second-fastest qualifying time in the 200-meters Thursday in the NCAA Division 3 national championships.

Howard ran 21.79 into a 5.0 meters-per-second headwind.

That was just 1-100th off the fastest qualifying time in Thursday’s trials at La Crosse, Wisc. Jordan Johnson of Benedictine College in Illinois ran 21.78 into a 3.5 miles-per-hour wind.

Only three other sprinters were under 22 seconds on a day when the headwinds for the 200 trials were all over 3.5.

Howard ran within a quarter of a second of his PR of 21.52 set back in April at a meet at Muhlenberg College in Allentown that was run with a 1.5 meters-per-second assisting wind.

Howard finished first in the third of three heats of qualifying rounds, earning an automatic berth in the final.

Howard was only seeded 20th coming into the meet, making him the final entry in the event.

But he’ll be in a center lane for the final and only needs to beat one runner to earn All-America honors as a true freshman.

Howard didn’t run a lot of 200s at Moorestown. His fastest was a 22.32 at Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals last spring in Bernardsville.

The 200 final is scheduled for 2:40 p.m. Saturday at Roger Harring Stadium on the Wisconsin La Crosse campus, just across the Mississippi River from Minnesota.

Stockton University senior Kaitlyn Dermen, a graduate of Millville High, earned All-America honors Thursday when she placed fourth in the pole vault at the NCAA Division 3 Championships  in La Crosse, Wisc.

Dermen entered the meet seeded ninth.

The top eight finishers in each event earn All-America honors. Derman placed ninth at nationals last spring and was 12th at indoor nationals this past winter, so after two near-misses she’s now an All-America.

Derman entered at the opening height of 11-5 3/4 and cleared on her second attempt. She cleared 11-11 3/4 on her first attempt and 12-3 1/2 on her second.

By clearing 12-3 1/2 on her second try instead of her third, she placed fourth instead of fifth or sixth.

I would love to know how many track All-Americas Stockton has had, but Stockton doesn’t have a list or any history of Stockton track available on its athletics web site.

But Derman is at least the third Stockton pole vaulter to earn All-America honors. Kim Marino, a graduate of Middletown North, won the NCAA indoor and outdoor Division 3 titles in 2003 and was a five-time All-America, and Chelsea Vaughan of Southern Regional tied for third in 2016.

 

What a race for Aliya Rae Garozzo at sectionals!

The Paul VI sophomore won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 1:02.37, fastest time this year in South Jersey and No. 2 in the state.

Only West Essex senior Reanda Richards, the Meet of Champions 400 and 400IH runner-up last spring, has run faster with a 59.17 for third place at Penn.

Garozzo’s previous PR was a 1:03.36 at the Camden County meet, so that’s nearly a full-second jump. Before that she hadn’t broken 1:05. And she’s only run the event four times at major meets, so it’s quite an improvement in a short amount of time.

Her time is fastest by a South Jersey sophomore since Rachel Armstead of Millville ran 1:02.13 for sixth at the 2014 Meet of Champions.

Garozzo also ran a leg on Paul VI’s record-setting first-place 3:54.89 1,600-meter relay team, placed third in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.50 after a 15.43 in the trials and took fourth in the 400 in 58.20.

The 15.43 broke her high hurdles PR of 15.44 by 1-100th of a second, and she ran within 21/100ths of her 400 PR of 57.99, set at the Rowan Open earlier this month.

Garozzo’s 400IH time was fastest of all four non-public races

Junior Angela Bannan had a hand in 30 points, and senior Ayana Plummer had a hand in 25 more as the Holy Spirit girls won their first South Jersey Parochial B title Monday and Tuesday at Donovan Catholic in Toms River.

Bannan ran a personal-best 5:13.40 for second in the 1,600 and a PR 11:14.11 for second in the 3,200. She also ran 2:24.72 for fourth in the 800 and led off the winning 3,200-meter relay team.

Plummer was second in the javelin at 93-3, sixth in the 400 in 1:03.71 and ran legs on two relay teams — the first-place 4×4 and third-place 4×1.

Holy Spirit’s 1,600-meter relay win gave the Spartans an 88-84 win over St. Rose for the team title. Plummer led off, followed by junior Isabella Desario, senior Kayla Patitucci and junior Paige Sofield. That group ran a season-best 4:10.38.

Bannan, sophomore Jenna Bradberry, Patucci and Sofield ran 10:16.44 to win the 3,200-meter relay, and sophomore Melody Pugliese, Plummer, Patitucci and Desario ran 53.26 in the 400-meter relay. Sofield was also third in the 800 in 2:24.44.

In the field, Holy Spirit went 1-3 in the discus with junior Ariana Mack winning at 97-8 and freshman Julia Bannan third at 91-10. Bannan (31-3) and junior Mack (28-5) went 3-4 in the shot. With Plummer and Mack going 2-6 in the javelin, that’s 35 points in the throws.

In the nine years of outdoor parochial sectionals, the Holy Spirit girls are the first program that’s actually from South Jersey to win a sectional title. The S.J. Parochial B team title has belonged only to Pingry (five times), Oak Knoll (twice) and Benedictine Academy (once).

Holy Spirit is the first school from Atlantic County to win an outdoor girls sectional title since Pleasantville in Group 2 in 2002 and the first from the Cape-Atlantic Conference since Bridgeton in Group 2 in 2005.

The last time a non-public South Jersey girls program won any sectional title was 1977, when Paul VI won Group 3.