Paul VI won the 1,600-meter relay in 3:54.89 Tuesday on Day 2 of the South Jersey Parochial A sectional championships at Donovan Catholic in Toms River.

The all-underclass team of junior Carly Schmidt, sophomore Aliya Rae Garozzo, junior Keyann’a Watkins and freshman Abigail Lutz upset No. 1 seed Union Catholic, which was second in 3:57.46.

The time is the fastest by a South Jersey non-public school in at least a decade and perhaps ever. That will take some research.

The time is also No. 3 in New Jersey this year, behind only Winslow, which ran 3:53.73 at the Penn Relays, and Union Catholic, which ran 3:54.38, also at Penn.

The only other South Jersey schools under 4:00 so far this spring are Rancocas Valley [3:56.09 at Penn] and Egg Harbor [3:59.87 at Penn].

 

Shawnee sophomores Isabella Turner and Claire Hauser finished 1-2 in the 1,600-meter run Monday night at the Haddonfield Distance Night.

Turner won the race in 5:12.68 and Hauser was second in 5:13.22.

Turner’s previous PR was a 5:14.59 at last year’s Burlington County Open. Hauser’s 5:13.22 is a season best and less than a second off her PR of 5:12.55 from Group 3 sectionals last year.

The times are No. 1 and No. 2 in Burlington County this year and No. 5 and No. 6 in South Jersey. Shawnee is the only South Jersey school with two girls under 5:15.

They also put Turner and Hauser in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in South Jersey Group 4 going into sectionals, behind only Kingsway’s Kylie Anicic, who has run 5:08.86. They’re also the top two South Jersey times this year by sophomores.

Cinnaminson senior Madison Edwards also PR’d, making it a 1-2-3 Burlington County finish with a 5:15.47. Her previous PR was a 5:17.08 at the indoor state Group 2 meet at the Bennett Center.

Rancocas Valley on Monday became the first South Jersey school to win the East Coast Relays sprint medley in 16 years when the Red Devils girls ran a South Jersey-best 4:09.47 at the 42nd annual East Coast Relays at Randolph High School.

The time is No. 2 in New Jersey this year.

R.V. is the first South Jersey school to win the ECR sprint medley since Woodrow Wilson in 2002. The only other S.J. school to win it in the last 30 years was Willingboro in 1998.

Sophomore Maya Primas (25.6) and junior Daryn Minus Vincent (25.5) handled the 200s, with senior Aliyah Taylor breaking the race open with a 55.3 split and senior Alanna Thompson anchoring in 2:18.2.

The time is R.V.’s fastest in 11 years, since the 2007 team ran 4:06.56 to win the Eastern Regional Relay Classic in Willingboro.

The SMR win was the first ever on the track for the R.V. program at the prestigious East Coast Relays. The Red Devils’ only previous wins at the ECR came in the field in 2014 — wins in the long jump and javelin relays.

 

 

Rancocas Valley on Monday became the first school to win back-to-back sprint medley titles in 17 years when they ran a South Jersey-best 3:32.48 at the 42nd annual East Coast Relays at Randolph High School.

The time is No. 7 in New Jersey this year.

R.V. ran 3:32.99 to win last year’s ECR SMR. The last to successfully repeat the sprint medley at the East Coast Relays was Suffern of New York in 2000 and 2001. The last New Jersey school to repeat was St. Benedict’s of Newark in 1995 and 1996.

Juniors Tai Matlock (22.4) and Caden Kennedy (22.8) handled the 200s for the Red Devils, and senior Daequan Jackson Swoope split 49.1 to set up junior anchor Ian Moore, who finished off the win with a 1:56.8 split.

This is the sixth straight year R.V. has run sub-3:33, which is a remarkable record of consistency, especially considering that when the streak began, three of the four legs from today’s group were in 6th grade.

No other school in New Jersey has run sub-3:33 in each of the last six years. Here are R.V.’s year-by-year times:

2018: 3:32.48
2017: 3:29.44
2016: 3:30.70
2015: 3:32.31
2014: 3:30.68
2013: 3:32.02

Pleasantville junior Quentin Bundy ran 55.84 to win the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and 1:56.25 to win the 800 at the Cape-Atlantic League Championships this weekend at Bridgeton.

Bundy is the first Cape-Atlantic athlete to run sub-56 for the intermediates and sub-1:57 for the 800 since Oakcrest’s Ishmael Muhammad, now at Villanova, back in 2014.

Bundy PR’d in the intermediates, breaking his previous PR of 56.38 just a week earlier in the Atlantic County meet. He ran very close to his 800 PR of 1:56.10, also from the county meet.

The 800 time is No. 2 in South Jersey this year, behind a 1:55.13 turned in by Haddonfield’s Derek Gess at the South Jersey Invitational. The 400IH time is also No. 2 in South Jersey behind county and conference rival Sincere Rhea of St. Augustine, who edged Bundy in the Atlantic County meet with a PR 55.63.

Bundy will race this weekend in the South Jersey Group 2 championships at Delsea.

Oakcrest senior Brielle Smith PR’d again in the javelin, this time with a massive 151-3 bomb to win the Cape Atlantic Championships at Bridgeton.

It’s the top throw by a New Jersey thrower in six years and No. 6 in the U.S., according to the Milesplit database. It’s also No. 4 in South Jersey history and No. 8 in state history with the current implement, which went into use in 2002.

Smith’s previous PR was a 150-7 at the Woodbury Relays in April, but she also had a 150-3 last weekend at the Atlantic County championships.

By surpassing 46 meters — 150-11 — Smith qualified for the USATF Junior Championships next month in Bloomington, Ind.

ALL-TIME S.J. JAVELIN LIST
160-  8 … Maria Jimenez (Vineland), 2012
152-  9 … Katherine Johnston (Haddonfield), 2012
152-  4 … Jill Shaner (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2009
151-  3 … Brielle Smith (Oakcrest), 2018
148-  8 … Caitlin Cielo (Eastern), 2002
146-  7 … Victoria Imbesi (Our Lady of Mercy), 2008
141-  6 … Lindsay Minch (Pennsville), 2010
141-  5 … Kelly Yanucil (Bordentown), 2013
141-  1 … Tumelo Nwanma (Vineland), 2016
141-  0 … Jocelyn McRae (Millville), 2006
140-  1 … Caitlin Ciello (Eastern), 2002
140-  0 … Melissa Lake (Cherokee), 2011

ALL-TIME N.J. JAVELIN LIST
160-  8 … Maria Jimenez (Vineland), 2012
155-  8 … Daina Pucurs (Demarest), 2004
155-  0 … Jamie Klein (Paramus Catholic), 2011
154-11 … Nia Barnes (West Orange), 2011
152-  9 … Katherine Johnston (Haddonfield), 2012
152-  4 … Jill Shaner (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2009
152-  3 … Shauntierah Douglas (Garfield), 2012
151-  3 … Brielle Smith (Oakcrest), 2018

Cherokee graduate Kaila Carter, a sophomore at The College of New Jersey, ran a massive PR of 14.29 in the 100-meter hurdles this week at the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Championships in Brockport, N.Y.

Carter lowered her PR from 14.63, which she ran placing third in the NJAC meet on her home track earlier this month.

Her time was wind-aided but ranks No. 7 in NCAA Division 3 going into the NCAA Championships.

Carter finished second to Rowan sophomore Darielle Cross, who ran a personal-best 14.24, No. 4 in NCAA Division 3.

Carter’s high school PR in the highs was 15.51 for fifth at South Jersey Group 4 sectionals in 2016.

Stone Caraccio wasn’t in the fast race. Until he made it the fast race.

Caraccio, a Kingsway sophomore, didn’t qualify for the seeded boys 1,600 Friday evening at the 11th annual Holmdel Twilight Series Royal Rumble because his PR was only 4:22.80 from just a week ago, when he won the Gloucester County meet at Delsea.

That’s fast. And very fast for a sophomore. But not quite fast enough to get him into the field of 15 for the elite race Friday night at Bob Roggy Stadium.

So Caraccio settled for the 21st and fastest section of the open 1,600 and proceeded to win it in a ridiculous six-second PR of 4:16.11 — fast enough to place sixth in the seeded race!

The time makes Caraccio the No. 12 sophomore in the U.S. and No. 1 in New Jersey. It’s fastest by a South Jersey sophomore since Ben Potts of Haddonfield ran 4:14.14 at the 2009 Meet of Champions. The last Gloucester County sophomore to run faster was Xavier Fraction of Washington Township, who went 4:15.66 at the 2010 Meet of Champions.

Tom Cooke set the Kingsway 1,600 record of 4:11.84 at the 2012 Meet of Champions. Caraccio is the fastest Kingsway miler since Noah Culbreath ran 4:16.01 at 2014 sectionals..

With Cooke, Culbreath and Caraccio, Kingsway has now had three runners whose last name starts with “C” go 4:16.11 or faster in the last seven years.

The various races at Holmdel Friday night produced the six-fastest 1,600 times in South Jersey this year, and all six runners recorded outdoor PRs.

In addition to Caraccio,

—> Bishop Eustace junior Connor Melko PR’d with a 4:16.20 for sixth in the elite race (his previous PR was 4:17.99 at last year’s Parochial A states;

—> Cherokee senior Justin Kelly ran 4:19.93 in the seeded race, an outdoor PR, although he has run faster (4:18.48) indoors;

—> Cherokee sophomore Christopher Spisak ran 4:20.96 in the seeded race, a nine-second PR from his previous PR of 4:29.76 set this past winter at the Bennett Center;

—> Kingsway senior Jonathan Connor ran 4:21.91 for sixth in the open race and a five-second PR;

—> Eustace junior Andrew Massaro ran 4:22.24, a five-second PR, and placed seventh in the open race.

Also:

—> Cherokee soph Ethan Wechsler ran 4:22.70 for a 12-second PR and a 24-second outdoor PR and was ninth in the open race;

—> Kingsway senior Joe Grandizio ran 4:23.04 in the elite race, missing his 1,600 PR of 4:22.68 by less than half a second.

Rowan junior Shai Mumford, a West Deptford graduate, ran a season-best 21.40 to win the 200-meter dash Thursday at the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Championships at Brockport, N.Y.

Mumford ran within 8-100ths of a second of his PR of 21.32, which he ran last year at another upstate New York meet — in Oneonta, N.Y.

Mumford out-sprinted Hamilton senior Eli Saucier of Hamilton (N.Y.), who was second in 21.47, with junior Alex Kainer of Stevens Institute another step behind in 21.53.

Mumford’s best time previously this spring was a 21.53 last month in a meet in Bethlehem, Pa.

The 21.40 ranks No. 10 in NCAA Division 3 this year. The times were PRs for Saucier and Kainer.

Mumford’s high school PR was a 21.72 to win the 2014 South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Buena.

Rowan senior Bobby Cooks ran a personal best and the fastest 110-meter hurdles time this year in NCAA Division 3 Thursday with a 14.05 to win the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships at Brockport, N.Y.

Cooks edged top-ranked Peter Girardi of St. John Fisher, who entered the day ranked No. 1 in Division 3 at 14.21 to Cooks’ 14.24.

Cooks, from McArthur High School in Pembroke Pines, Fla., broke his personal best of 14.09, set last spring at the NCC Gregory Final Qualifier in Naperville, Ill., as a junior at Aurora College in Illinois.

Cooks was the Division 3 runner-up indoors, finishing 4-100ths of a second behind Mount Union’s Mason Plant. He is ranked sixth in D-3 this spring at 14.33.

The race Thursday at SUNY Brockport produced the three-fastest times in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Behind Cooks, Girardi ran 14.08 and Storm Malone of SUNY Cortland of 14.12.