Jalen Walker is picking up right where he left off last winter with some hot hurdling for the Monmouth Hawks track team.
Walker, a state champion in the 110 highs in 2010 running for Rick Craft at Burlington Township while attending Westampton Tech, won the 60-meter highs at the Lehigh Angry Birds Invitational at Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem, Pa., over the weekend with a season-best 8.10.
Walker led a 1-2-3-4 Monmouth sweep on the way to the team title.
Walker actually owns the five-fastest times in Monmouth history – you can check out the entire Monmouth record book, which is loaded with South Jersey alums, here.
Walker’s only loss so far this year was to teammate Geordan Ferguson at the Rutgers Invitational, where Ferguson ran 8.14 and Walker finished 2-100ths of a second back.
Walker has already qualified for the IC4As and is the top hurdler in the MAAC. He’s already won conference titles both indoors and outdoors.
This year’s MAAC championships are Feb. 21 at the 168th Street Armory in New York.
What a day for the legendary Booker family Sunday at the state relays!
In the morning at the Bennett Center in Toms River, coach Martin Booker’s Willingboro Chimeras outscored Haddonfield 44-40 to win the state Group 1 team title. And then Booker’s son, Martin Booker Jr., anchored Pennsauken’s 800-meter relay with a fast 1:32.82.
New Jersey track championships are nothing new for Booker. He was two-time state champ in the hurdles at Camden in the early 1980s before starring at Villanova. He won over a dozen indoor, outdoor and state relays championships while at Camden and has picked right up where he left off at Willingboro.
The state relays title was the 14th all-time for Willingboro. In state relays history, which goes back to 1966, no public school has won more boys state relays titles.
Here’s a list of Willingboro’s 14 titles, the last three of which are under Booker:
2015 … Group 1
2012 … Group 2
2005 … Group 3
2003 … Group 3
2002 … Group 3
2001 … Group 3
2000 … Group 3
1996 … Group 4
1990 … Group 4
1987 … Group 3
1986 … Group 3
1985 … Group 3
1983 … Group 4
1982 … Group 4
For a list of all-time state relays winners and records, click here.
Willingboro picked up three wins, with Zavian Bell, Kenny Brosier, Tyler Davidson and David Miller winning the 800-meter relay in 1:34.03, the shuttle hurdles with Yunisa Bakarr, Bell, Brosier and Michael Walker running 31.19 — 1-100th of a second ahead of Palmyra, and the shot put relay, with seniors Yeisont Medina (46-10 1/2) and Isaiah Marshall (45-5 1/4).
The Chimeras were also second in the 4-by-400 with Bell, Brosier, Davidson running 3:31.43 and third in the 4-by-800 in 3:31.43 with Yunisa Bakarr, Davidson, Miller and Michael Walker in 8:20.51,
Then there was Booker Jr., only a sophomore at Pennsauken.
Booker anchored Pennsauken’s winning 4-by-200 team, with juniors Marquan Jones and Ryan Wemegah and senior Brandon Harley.
Booker also helped Pennsauken pick up a point in the 4-by-4, teaming up with Jones, Harley and Wemegah to take sixth in 3:35.12.
Lenape’s record-setting sprint med team with coach Gerald Richardson.
The names change, the years go by and one thing never changes: Lenape always has fast middle-distance teams.
The Lenape girls put together a very fast relay double Thursday afternoon at the Bubble in Toms River, with the 1,600-meter relay team winning 4:01.68 and the sprint medley team 4:08.21.
Both marks are No. 1 in New Jersey this year.
Let’s start with Lenape’s sprint medley.
The team of sophomores Jasmine Staten and Megan Quimby and seniors Samantha Maynes and Carly Pettipaw ran 4:08.21.
Pettipaw led off in 59.5, followed by Staten (25.7) and Maynes (26.7) to set up Quimby, who anchored in 2:15.5.
–> The time is No. 4 in the U.S. so far this year, behind only Rush-Henrietta of New York (4:04.72 at the Dartmouth Relays), Oak Park, Ich. (4:07.41 at the MITS meet at Eastern Michigan) and Kellenberg, N.Y. (4:07.89 at the Millrose Trials at the Armory).
–> It’s also a state relays meet Group 4 and overall state relays meet record, breaking the marks of 4:08.84 set by Columbia last year.
–> It’s No. 4 in South Jersey history, behind Willingboro’s 4:01.41 in 2003, Haddonfield’s 4:03.93 in 2003 and Washington Township’s 4:04.38 in 2010.
–> It’s also No. 19 in state history and broke the indoor school record of 4:10.51 that Lenape ran in 2007.
Here’s a list of the all-time South Jersey indoor sprint medley top 15 times:
4:01.41 Willingboro, 2003
4:03.93 Haddonfield, 2001
4:04.38 Washington Twp., 2010
4:08.21 Lenape, 2015
4:09.27 Millville, 2008
4:10.01 Willingboro, 2004
4:10.17 Camden, 1995
4:10.18 Willingboro, 2005
4:10.43 Kingsway, 2013
4:10.51 Lenape, 2007
4:11.02 Lenape, 2006
4:11.19 Woodrow Wilson, 2005
4:11.61 Millville, 2009
4:11.66 Willingboro, 2006
4:11.93 Cherokee, 2012
Lenape’s outdoor sprint medley school record is 4:03.54, set when the Indians placed seventh at New Balance Nationals, earning All-America honors for Dana Cataldo, Kahmil Johnson, Kendra Johnson and Erika Griffith.
Then there was the 4:01.68 for the 1,600-meter relay, which isn’t quite as fast as the sprint medley but is still very fast for this early in the season.
Sophomore Jasmine Staten, junior Shannon Storms, senior Marissa Topolski and senior Carly Pettipaw ran 4:01.68, with Staten leading off in 60.1, Storms coming through in 60.8, Topolski splitting 61.2 and Pettipaw anchoring in 58.5.
Lenape’s time is No. 1 in New Jersey so far this year and No. 15 nationally. And while the Indians fell a few seconds shy of the meet record set last year by Columbia, they did post the No. 6 time in any group in meet history.
Here’s a list of all the sub-4:02 times in state relays history:
√ 3:57.35 Columbia, Group 4, 2014
√ 3:59.01 Columbia, Group 4, 1997
√ 4:00.75 Montclair, Group 4, 1998
√ 4:01.05 Columbia, Group 4, 2013
√ 4:01.39 Willingboro, Group 4, 1997
√ 4:01.68 Lenape, Group 4, 2015
√ 4:01.73 Union, Group 4, 2013
Full results from the state Group 4 girls results can be found here.
Devon Grisbaum on her way to a U.S. #2 10:09 at the Armory.
Devin Grisbaum of Ocean City opened up her indoor season the same way she finished her cross country season.
Running very fast.
Grisbaum, the XC Meet of Champions winner, won the 3,000 at the Hispanic Games over the weekend with a swift 10:09.80 over the banked 200-meter track at the 168th Street Armory.
Grisbaum outran a loaded field that saw six girls run 10:20 or faster. Second was Aaliyah Wajid of Dewitt Clinton in Brooklyn, who ran 10:16.11.
Her time is No. 2 in the U.S. this year, behind only the 10:08.44 run by Bella Burda of Arlington, N.Y., at the Rhode Island Classic in Providence on Dec. 27.
The Hispanic Games 3,000 produced six of the top 19 times in the country so far this indoor season.
Grisbaum’s time is No. 18 in state history and No. 2 in South Jersey history, behind only Megan Lacy’s 9:53.39 at the 2011 Princeton Invitational on Jadwin Gym’s flat 200-meter layout.
Here’s a look at the seven sub-10:30 3,000 times in South Jersey history:
So Grisbaum broke Sedberry’s school record by less than two seconds — or about 12/100ths of a second per lap.
Grisbaum’s previous fastest 3,000 on record was a 10:30.42 last May at the Rowan Open in Glassboro, where she was third behind Lauren Zodl of Pinelands (10:14.45) and Ocean City teammate Mary Kate Brelsford (10:22.17).
Jalen Walker is picking up right where he left off last winter with some hot hurdling for the Monmouth Hawks track team.
