From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.

Today: Christopher Manzo, Egg Harbor Twp.

It was a wild year for half-milers in South Jersey, with Peyton Shute, Dominic Bassey and Bobby Poplau all running sizzling sub-1:53 times. So it was easy to overlook Christopher Manzo, but the Egg Harbor Township senior finished his season as a Meet of Champions medalist.

Manzo had an outstanding junior year, PR’ing at 1:55.93 at the Meet of Champions along with a 49.85 at sectionals last spring.

His focus this spring was on the 800, and he put together a series of fast races, including a 1:54.39 for 3rd place at South Jersey Group 4 sectionals, a PR 1:54.04 for 6th at states and then 1:54.33 for 6th at Meet of Champs. He also won the Atlantic County title at Buena in 1:57.94, edging Pleasantville junior Melvin Lewis and Cedar Creek senior Matthew Winterbottom, who both also ran sub-2.

Manzo’s 1:54.04 broke the school record by 2-100ths of a second. Eric Barnes ran 1:54.06 at Group 4 states in 2016 on EHT’s home track off English Creek Road.

Between Meet of Champions winner Ishmael Ishmael Muhammad, Pleasantville’s Clark twins, legendary Sam Summerville from the 1970s and several others, the all-time Atlantic County 800 top-10 is a very tough list to break into.

But Manzo made it into the No. 9 spot, knocking Barnes off the list. He’s Atlantic County’s fastest half-miler since Muhammad set the South Jersey record 1:48.52 at the 2014 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.

Manzo will continue his education and track career at St. Joe’s.

Atlantic County All-Time 800 List
1:48.52 … Ishmael Muhammad [Oakcrest], 2014
1:49.27 … Isaac Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:50.30 … Jacob Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:51.74y … Sam Summerville [Holy Spirit], 1976
1:52.24 … Ford Palmer [Absegami], 2009
1:53.09 … James Wyner [Mainland Reg.], 2004
1:53.52 … Aaron Johnson [Oakcrest], 2009
1:53.62 … Joe Lewis [Pleasantville], 1998
1:54.04 … Christopher Manzo [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2024
1:54.05 … Nolan Kier [Hammonton], 2009

Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard easily advanced to the shot put finals Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene.

This is the 6th time and 5th in a row Woodard has reached the finals at U.S. Outdoor Nationals and her 2nd straight Trials final. She’s never not reached a final in 12 indoor or outdoor national meets.

Woodard was one of 24 competitors in the qualifying round Friday, with the top 12 earning a trip to the finals. She threw 59-11 ¾ on her 2nd throw, placing her 6th overall and comfortably within the top 12.

The cutoff to advance to the final was 58-1. Throws from Friday don’t carry over to the final.

Woodard opened with a 58-2 and followed that with the 59-11 ¾ and a 59-2 ¼. The 59-11 ¾ missed being her 43rd lifetime 60-foot throw.

Woodard is No. 16 in U.S. history with her 63-7 ¾ in Eugene in June of 2022. She’s 24th in the world this year with a 60-11 ¼ at indoor Nationals in Albuqurque in February..

Including both outdoor and indoor meets, Woodard has competed at the U.S. Championships 11 times previously and never finished worse than 9th. She’s been 3rd three times, 4th once, 5th once, 6th twice, 7th twice, 8th once and 9th once.

The final is scheduled for 8:50 p.m. Saturday.

Jessica Woodard U.S. Championships History
2024 Outdoors [Eugene]: ???
2024 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 4th, 60-11 ¼
2023 Outdoors [Eugene]: 5th 60-3 ¼
2023 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 3rd, 57-11 ½
2022 Outdoors [Eugene]: 3rd, 63-7 ¾
2022 Indoors [Spokane], 3rd, 61-4 ¼
2021 Outdoors [Eugene], 7th, 57-11 ¾
2021 Indoors [cancelled]
2020 Outdoors [cancelled]
2020 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Outdoors [Des Moines]: 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Indoors [New York]: 7th, 57-11 ½
2018 Outdoors [Des Moines]: 9th, 58-0 ¾
2018 Indoors: DNC
2017 Outdoors [Sacramento]: 8th, 57-5 ½

When is a race not really a race?

When it doesn’t matter how fast – or slow – you run.

Pleasantville’s Nia Ali, who missed the 2021 Olympic Trials to have a baby, began her quest to make this year’s U.S. Olympic team Friday by advancing to the semifinals of the 100-meter hurdles at the Olympic Trials in Eugene.

With the slowest time of her life.

There are three rounds of the hurdles at the Trials in Eugene, and in Friday night’s first round there were four quarterfinal races and 29 total runners. According to the pre-determined qualifying rules, the first five hurdlers in each of the four races plus the next seven-fastest qualify for Saturday’s semifinals.

But when two runners scratched, it left seven runners in each of the first heats and six in the final race. With 27 qualifying spots and 27 entries, everybody advanced.

Yeah, it seems ridiculous. They ran four races and didn’t eliminate anybody. Why not just cancel the first round? Who knows? Maybe they’re trying to replicate the three rounds of the Olympics.

But when Ali was in the paddock preparing for the third heat, she realized that a runner in the fourth heat – Alex Gochenour-Brondyke – had scratched. That meant she would move on to the semis unless she got hurt or DQ’d.

So she jogged.

Her official time was 20.38 seconds – about six seconds slower than the next-slowest hurdler and eight seconds slower than the fastest.

Ali, interviewed by 1987 NCAA 800-meter run finalist Lewis Johnson on Peacock, said jogging the race was a last-minute decision after she had a sub-par warmup. She said running non-competitively was the best thing for her overall chances of making the team.

Masai Russell [12.35], Alaysha Johnson [12.37] and Tonea Marshall [12.41] all ran faster Friday night than Ali has run this year.

The semis are scheduled for 8:04 p.m. Saturday. The top two in each semifinal plus the next-two fastest qualify for the final, scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday.

Ali has reached the finals at U.S. Nationals eight times – 5th in 2011, 8th in the 2012 Trials, 3rd in 2013, 8th in 2014, 3rd in the 2016 Trials, 8th in 2017, 2nd in 2019 and 1st last year.

She’s bidding to become the first South Jersey woman to win consecutive U.S. titles since Carol Lewis in the long jump in 1985 and 1986.

Ali won the Olympic silver medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and then won the world championships in Doha, Qatar, in October of 2019.

She’s now 35 but still among the fastest hurdlers in the world.

Ali ran 12.44 in Gainesville in April, the 6th-fastest time of her life and 6th-fastest in the world this year and No. 2 among Americans coming into the Trials.

Her 12.30 in Monaco last summer is 9th-fastest in world history and 3rd-fastest among U.S. women.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.

Today: Samia Ghazaz, Absegami

Samoa Ghazaz just kept getting faster and faster in the 800 until she ran a eye-popping 2:13.09 for 6th place at the Meet of Champions to finish her breakout season.

Ghazaz is a 1st-year sophomore who showed signs of promise indoors, where she ran 5:13.29 at Group 3 sectionals and 2:18.05 at states. But outdoors, she came into her own, PR’ing in both the 1,600 and 3,200 in her final races. She ran 5:06.10 at sectionals and placed 7th at states with a 2:16.66, earning a wild card to the MoC, where she dropped that 2:13.09 and placed 6th as the No. 22 seed.

That time made her the No. 4 sophomore in New Jersey this year, and fastest in South Jersey in nine years, since Seneca’s Kayla Martin ran 2:11.88 and Lenape’s Megan Quimby ran 2:12.78 back in 2015. She broke the 27-year-old Atlantic County sophomore class record of 2:13.18, set by Katrina Sye of Buena at the 1997 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.

Although Ghazaz’s focus was the 800, she also had success at 1,600 meters, and her 5:06.10 made her the 3rd-fastest sophomore in South Jersey this year and it was fastest by an Atlantic County soph since Mainland’s Alyssa Aldridge ran 4:55.83 in 2016.

Her 800 is No. 4 in Atlantic County history – Mainland rising senior Sofia Day is No. 3 at 2:12.55 when she won the state Group 3 title last month. Day and Ghazaz are the two-fastest returners in South Jersey heading into 2025.

2:09.2h … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1999
2:10.57 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2009
2:12.55 … Sofia Day [Mainland Reg.], 2024
2:13.09 … Samia Ghazaz [Absegami], 2024
2:14.20 … Bridget Flynn [Holy Spirit], 2012
2:15.34 … Julianna Catania [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2015
2:16.00 … Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 2017

Aliya Garozzo from Sicklerville and Paul VI advanced to the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles Thursday evening at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

Garozzo ran 58.12 and placed 5th in the 4th of five heats at Hayward Field. The first five finishers in each qualifying race advance to the semis.

https://results.usatf.org/2024Trials/

Garozzo, who recently completed her junior year at Penn, needed a big finish to move on to the 2nd round. On the final turn, she trailed Vanessa Watson of the University of Florida by about five meters and needed to get past her to advance. But she finished very strong, catching Watson over the 10th and final hurdle and finishing very strong to the line, easily snagging the final auto qualifier in her race.

Watson came off the 9th hurdle at 46.15 and Garozzo at 46.87. But Garozzo covered the 75 meters from the 9th hurdle to the finish line – 35 meters from hurdle 9 to 10 and 40 meters from 10 to the finish – in 11.25 seconds to 14.07 for Watson.

Garozzo is the Penn school record holder with her 56.34 from her win at the Ivy League Championships at Princeton on May 5.

The semis are scheduled for 8:41 p.m. Saturday. The first two finishers in each of three races plus the next three-fastest advance to the final, which is the final event of the Trials, at 8:29 p.m. Sunday.

Garozzo is the 3rd-fastest intermediate hurdler ever from South Jersey, behind only Tonya Lee of Rancocas Valley [55.78 in Walnut, Calif., in 1996] and Krystal Cantey of Winslow Township [56.21 in Gainesville in 2007].

Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.

Today: Lloyd Shambry, Gateway

Lloyd Shambry’s 10.56 at Group 1 sectionals was the 6th-fastest 100 in Gloucester County history and while there was no wind gauge at Pennsauken it put him at No. 18 in South Jersey history under any conditions.

Note to meet directors: Get a wind gauge.

Shambry came into the season with a PR of 11.10 from his 5th-place finish at last year’s state Group 1 meet in Somerset. After placing 4th at indoor states at 55 meters in 6.63, he first broke 11 seconds at Spartan Sprint Night at Deptford, where he placed 2nd to Delsea’s Julian Conigliaro’s 10.87. Shambry ran 10.73 in the trials at sectionals before his breakthrough 10.56 in the final, where he ran 2nd to Malachi James’ historic 10.18.

At states, Shambry was in the middle of a 1-2-3-4 South Jersey finish, finishing behind James and Florence’s Barone VanKline and just ahead of Paulsboro’s Malachi Streeter.

Shambry also placed in the 200 at sectionals, although he focused only on the 100 at states.

All-Time Gloucester County 100-Meter Dash
10.21 … Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp,.], 2024
10.47 … James Brown [Glassboro], 2009
10.53 … Todd Dutch [Washington Twp.], 2001
10.55 … Evan Corcoran [Kingsway], 2022
10.56 … Yashahya Brown [Washington Twp.], 2024
10.59 … Lloyd Shambry [Gateway], 2024
10.60 … Robert Page [Kingsway], 2008
10.60 … Shawney Kersey [Woodbury], 2009
10.60 … Thomas Hampton [Clayton], 2019
10.65 … Dorian Bryant [Kingsway], 2003
10.65 … Mar-quel Davis [Deptford], 2017

After a two-day break (why do the Trials just stop for two days in the middle? Anybody know?), the U.S. Olympic Trials resume Thursday with Winslow Township grad Tionna Tobias and Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo both in action.

The versatile Tobias, from the University of Iowa, will make her Olympic Trials debut not in the heptathlon – the event she won at the Big Ten Championships last year – or in the high hurdles – where she has speedy 13.11 PR – but in the long jump.

Tobias PR’d at 21-4 ¼ with a legal wind on her final jump at the Pepsi Relays in Gainesville back in March. That broke her PR of 21-0 ½ from an indoor meet in February in Albuquerque, N. Mex.

The top 12 jumpers Thursday will advance to the final. Tobias is ranked 20th among U.S. women this year, although it’s a safe bet that none of the 19 ahead of her were competing in so many other events. Sticking to just the long jump at the Trials gives Tobias a rare luxury of focusing on one event.

The long jump starts at 9:18 p.m. Thursday and the final is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. Saturday.

Garozzo runs in her first Trials at 9:49 p.m. Garozo is racing in the 4th of five sections of the 400-meter hurdles. She’ll be in Lane 7, two lanes over from two-time Olympic gold medalist Dalilah Muhammad , who starts in Lane 5.

The top five finishers in each of the five races plus the next two-fastest advance to a three-race semifinal. The top two in each semifinal race plus the next three fastest advance to the final.

Garozzo had a remarkable breakthrough season as a Penn junior, capped by a 56.34 win in the Ivy League Championships at Princeton. That’s 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey native, behind only world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin [50.68 in 2022], Rancocas Valley’s Tonya Lee [55.78 in 1996] an Winslow’s Krystal Cantey [56.21 in 2007].

Garozzo, who’s from Sicklerville, rran 1:00.16 as a high school junior in 2019 when she placed 5th at Greensboro Nationals but lost her senior year to COVID. She ran a limited season in 2021 as a Quaker freshman but dipped under a minute in the spring of 2022 with a 59.76 at the Ivy League Championships, where she placed 2nd (and finished just ahead of Princeton’s Arianna Smith of Pennsville). She was limited by injuries to just three meets last spring but opened this season with a monster 57.97 PR in Gainesville before her 56.34 last month.

Other New Jersey athletes competing Thursday include Hopewell Valley’s Sean Dolan and Tim McInerney of CBA in the 800, Jameson Woodell of Hunterdon Central and Rutgers and Ryan Matulonis of Seton Hall Prep and Penn in the 400-meter hurdles, Sam Mattis from East Brunswick in the discus, Travis Mahoney of Old Bridge and Temple in the 5,000, Rider’s Teagan Schein-Becker ion the first round of the women’s 1,500 and McLaughlin in the intermediates.

On Friday, Pleasantville’s Nia Ali runs the 100-meter hurdles at 8:23 p.m., Cherry Hill East’s Johnie Jackson competes in the hammer throw at 7:30 p.m. and Jessica Woodard of Cherokee throws the shot at 10:15 p.m.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.

Today: Jonnelle Lewis, Kingsway

When you’re a sprinter in South Jersey, it’s easy to get overlooked since there’s just so much talent and so much depth. But Lewis had an outstanding junior year for Kingsway, with PRs of 11.90 and 24.80.

Lewis was one of only nine sprinters in New Jersey to run sub-12, sub-25 and sub-59 this year and one of four in South Jersey, along with Timber Creek’s Naylah Jones, Pennsauken’s Sianni Wynn and Winslow’s Olivia Okaro. That’s very good company.

Lewis PR’d with an 11.90 and 24.80 at Group 4 sectionals and 58.24 at the Gloucester County Championships. She’s the No. 3 returner in South Jersey in the 100 (behind Ryan Jennings and Wynn), No. 6 in the 200 and No. 14 in the 400 (which she only ran three times).

Lewis is Kingsway’s fastest sprinter at 100 or 200 meters since 1984 and Denise Liles, who was a member of the U.S. Under-20 national team that raced at World Juniors (now World Under-20’s). She’s the Dragons’ fastest at 400 meters since Thailia Cooper, who ran 56.24 to win the 2013 state Group 3 meet.

At sectionals, Lewis was joined by juniors Camryn Stanard and Naveya Hall and senior Kay Wiscount on the 2nd-place 4-by-4, which ran 3:59.57, and on the 5th-place 4-by-1, which also included sophomores Kennedy Braithwaite, Lariah Miles and Alicia Criscitello and ran 49.86.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.

Today: Emir Canli, Junior, Delran

Canli was South Jersey’s top underclassman in both the long jump and high hurdles this year with a 22-9 ½ and a 14.22, both at the Meet of Champions. He was South Jersey Group 2 sectional champ in the long jump and runner-up in the hurdles and also took 2nd in the hurdles at the state meet.

Canli broke Delran school records in both the long jump and high hurdles and became only Delran’s 3rd sectional champion in the last 20 years, joining high jumper Charlis Hall [6-4 in 2017] and Miekel House in the 100 in 2019 [10.80].

The only faster Burlington County underclassman in the last 10 years in the 110 highs is Eric Foster of Willingboro with a 14.04 last year. It was Foster that edged Canli for the S.J. Group 2 title this year. Cannli’s 22-9 ½ is 3rd-best by a Burlington County underclassman in the last decade, behind R.V.’s Iverson Clement [23-0 ½ in 2017] and Palmyra’s Kwinten Ives [23-1 ¼ in 2022].

In all, Canli was over 22 feet in five meets this year and at 14.32 or under three times.

Canli’s twin brother, Deniz, also had an outstanding year, including a 49.80 in the 400 that makes him the No. 8 junior in South Jersey. He also long jumped 20-10 ½, which makes him the No. 5 underclassman. His 400 time is fastest by a Delran quarter-miler since Brondon Jenkins ran 48.73 to win the 1994 state Group 2 title.

In South Jersey Group 2, Emir Canli was the top junior in the high hurdles, long jump and triple jump, and Deniz Canli was the top junior in the 100, No. 2 in the 200, No. 3 in the 400 and No. 3 in the long jump.

When Curtis Thompson locked up his 2nd straight Olympic Trials javelin title and 4th U.S. title in six years, I started wondering how many other New Jersey athletes won four national track titles since the inception of a U.S. track championship meet in 1876.

I enlisted the help of New Jersey track historian Jim Lambert, and between the two of us – and also drawing on the posthumous assistance of New Jersey track legend Ed Grant – we came up with what we believe is a complete list of every New Jersey native that’s won at least four national titles.

This isn’t as easy task because it’s very difficult to get information on some of the multiple winners from the 19th Century and early 20th Century. Some of these guys grew up in New Jersey and went to high school in New Jersey but never competed for their high school because HS track wasn’t a thing yet.

For instance, I had never heard of Platt Adams before, but he grew up in Newark and attended Newark High – which became Barringr – around the turn of the century. He won an incredible 11 U.S. titles in various events, including the “pole vault for distance.”

There’s a guy named Elmore Harris who won four U.S. titles in the 220, 440 and 200 hurdles in the 1940s and is listed in various published accounts as hailing from Long Beach, N.J., although after about an hour on the case I discovered that while he did live in New Jersey he actually went to high school at Dover State in Normal, Ala.

What’s amazing about all this is that Thompson is one of only five New Jersey men to win the same event four times – and one of only three since 1950. The others are Carl Lewis in both the 100 and long jump, Dennis Mitchell in the 100, Almonesson’s Mel Sheppard in the 880, Eulace Peacock in the pentathlon and Adams in the pole vault for distance.

Pretty good company!

And Thompson is only 28 and at the top of his game, and he’s not going away.

So here’s our working list of four-time U.S. champions from New Jersey. If you notice any names missing please let us know in the comment section.

And thanks to Lambo for his help with this!

Men
13 … Carl Lewis [Willingboro]
100-Meter Dash: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1990
200-Meter Dash: 1983, 1987
Long Jump: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1991

11 … Platt Adams [Newark High / Barringer]
Long Jump: 1908, 1911, 1912, 1914
Triple Jump: 1907, 1908, 1912
Pole Vault for Distance: 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915

8 … Eulace Peacock [Union]
100-Meter Dash: 1935
Long Jump: 1935
Pentathlon: 1933, 1934, 1937, 1943, 1944, 1945

5 … Marty Liquori [Cedar Grove / Essex Catholic]
Mile: 1969, 1971
5,000-Meter Run: 1975, 1977, 1978

5 … Mel Sheppard [Almonesson, Brown Prep (Philadelphia)]
880-Yard Run: 1906, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912

4 … Dennis Mitchell [Winslow Township, Edgewood High School]
100-Meter Dash: 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999

4 … Curtis Thompson [Florence]
Javelin: 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024

4 … Andy Stanfield [Jersey City, Lincoln High]
100-Meter Dash: 1949
200-Meter Dash: 1949, 1952, 1953

3 … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School]
110-Meter Hurdles; 1978, 1979, 1980

3 … Al Blozis [Garfield, Dickinson]
Shot Put: 1940, 1941, 1942

3 … Charlie Pratt [Palmyra]
Decathlon: 1957
200-Meter Hurdles: 1955, 1956

Women
6 … Keturah Orji [Mount Olive]
Triple Jump: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022

4 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro]
Long Jump: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986

5 … Joetta Clark [South Orange, Columbia]
800-Meter Run: 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994

5 … Hazel Clark [South Orange, Columbia]
800-Meter Run: 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009

4 … Ajee Wilson [Neptune]
800-Meter Run: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019