From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Rider junior Mariah Stephens from Egg Harbor Township won her 10th, 11th and 12th individual conference titles over the weekend at the MAAC Championships on her home track in Lawrenceville.

Competing all weekend in cold, rainy conditions, Stephens won the 100 in 12.33, the long jump with a personal-best 19-4 [more on that performance here] and also won the triple jump with a 38-6 ¾. She was also 2nd in the 100-meter hurdles and ran a leg on the 2nd-place 4-by-100 relay team [47.68]. She also PR’d in the 100 meters in Saturday’s trials with a 12.13.

In addition to her 11 individual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles, Stephens has another first place on a relay team plus 11 more top-three performances in individual events.

That’s a total of 23 top-three finishes in three years.

Thanks in great part to Stephens, Rider won its 2nd straight team title, 227-170 over Quinnipiac. Rider also won team titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013.

Here’s a look at Stephens’ conference titles:

2024 Outdoors
100-Meter Dash [12.33]
Long Jump [19-4]
Triple Jump [38-6 ¾]
2024 Indoors
60-Meter Hurdles [8.64]
Long Jump [19-1 ¼]
Triple Jump [39-8 ¾]
2023 Outdoors
Triple Jump [39-0 ½]
2023 Indoors
60-Meter Hurdles [8.59]
Triple Jump [38-4 ¼]
2022 Outdoors
Triple Jump [39-5 ¼]
400-Meter Relay [47.26]
2022 Indoors
Long Jump [18-5 ¾]
Triple Jump [38-5 ½]

Haddon Township’s Jake Aylmer, a junior at Stevens, won his first conference title and smashed the school record in the 1,500 at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships at Widener University in Chester on Sunday.

Aylmer ran 3:55.49 and edged John Condon of Messiah by three meters. Condon placed 2nd in 3:55.84.

Aylmer broke the Stevens school record of 3:56.62 set by Nick Zickgraf from David Brearley High in Kenilworth at a meet at Swarthmore in May 2017.

Going into the meet, Aylmer was only the No. 4 seed. But he closed in  57.72 to blow away the field after nine runners came through with a lap to go between 2:57.28 and 2:59.30.

His time is equivalent to a 4:12.85 for 1,600 meter or 4:14.33 for a full mile. At Haddon Township, Aylmer had a PR of 4:32.87 for 1,600 meters at the 2020 South Jersey Group 1 sectionals at the Bubble.

Click to access moutdoorRecord_Board_xlsx.pdf

Aylmer’s previous PR was a 3:58.30 when he placed 6th at last year’s MAC meet in York. Aylmer’s previous conference title came when he anchored the winning distance medley at the indoor conference meet in Reading in February.

Stevens is scheduled to compete on Monday in the Widener Final Qualifier anmd then next Wednesday and Thursday at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships in Cortland, N.Y., the final qualifier before NCAA Division 3 Nationals.

Big weekend for Woodstown graduate Molly Lodge, who shattered one Rowan school record, recorded her 2nd NJAC individual win and ran on her 4th winning relay team.

She was one of six South Jersey winners at the conference meet from Rowan or Stockton.

Lodge, a junior at Rowan, ran 11.94 to place 2nd in the 100-meter dash behind Zrreyah Moore of Rutgers-Newark, who ran 11.84, tying the meet record set in 2008 by Ebony Barnes of New Jersey City University.

Lodge broke the school record of 11.95 set by Aaniyah Robinson of Passaic County Tech in the prelims of the 2018 AARTFC Championships in Brockport, N.Y.

Lodge’s previous PR was 12.14 in the prelims at last year’s NJAC Championships.

Lodge has great range – she’s run the flat 400 in 56.88, she won an NJAC title in 2022 in the 200, she’s high jumped and triple jumped, she’s run the high hurdles – but her strongest event has been the 400-meter hurdles, and she won it on Sunday at Stockton in 1:02.26, just 25-100ths of a second off her lifetime-best 1:02.01 at least year’s NJAC meet in Mahwah.

She’s not far off the school record set by Melirah Searcy of Edison of of 1:01.49 from the 2015 NJAC meet, also in Mahwah.

Lodge is No. 8 in NCAA Division 3 in the intermediates with her 1:02.26 – which she’s actually run twice this year – and No. 20 in the 100.

On Sunday, Lodge also led off Rowan’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:51.30, No. 16 in NCAA Division 3 so far this spring. Jasmine Pope from Pennsauken, senior Kathleen Pederson of Hillsborough and Triton’s Nevaeh Lorjuste also ran, with Lorjuste anchoring in 55.48.

Lodge has now entered 23 events in her college career at the NJAC championships and medaled 22 times. The only exception was Rowan’s 400-meter relay team at the 2022 outdoor meet, which was DQ’ed.

In high school, Lodge had PRs of 12.68 and 25.83 and never ran anything over 200 meters, either flat or over hurdles. She ran her first-ever 400IH race in March 2023 at the Washington & Lee Carnival in Lexington, Va., and ran 1:04.61. By the end of the year, she was competing at NCAAs.

Also from Rowan:

♦  Lorjuste successfully defended her NJAC 400 title with a 57.05. She was also 4th in the 200 in 25.36 and ran on that 4-by-4. Pope was 2nd in the 400 in 58.43.

♦ Junior Anna Sasse of Williamstown won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:01.71, an 18-second PR. She was also 3rd in the 1,500 in 4:42.13.

For Stockton:

♦ Freshman McKenna Pontari, a Mainland graduate, won the long jump with a collegiate personal-best 17-1 ½.

♦ Junior Michaela Pomatto from Egg Harbor Township won her 3rd consecutive conference title in the discus with a 148-1 throw. Pomatto won the 2022 Centennial Conference title at 123-10 in Collegeville as an Ursinus freshman and then won the NJAC last year at 129-10. She just PR’d three weeks ago at Widener with a 149-4.

♦ Lodge’s former high school teammate at Woodstown, Rutgers-Camden senior Alexis Marini, won the hammer throw with a near-PR 166-10. Her PR is 168-0, also from three weeks ago at Widener.

Premier Wynn, a freshman from Pennsauken, ran a huge intermediate hurdles PR Monday and is the fastest qualifier going into the finals at the MEAC Championships on his home track at Norfolk (Va.) State.

Wynn led all qualifiers in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference intermediate hurdles trials with a 51.21, lowering his PR from 52.29 from last month in a meet at the same facility. In high school, his fastest time was 52.68 when he won the Camden County Championships at Haddon Township last May.

Wynn’s 51.21 is 10th-fastest ever by a South Jersey native. His high school teammate Bryce Tucker ran 50.96 last spring, and those are the two-fastest 400-meter hurdles times by South Jersey natives since 2010. Full list below.

Wynn’s time makes him the No. 3 freshman in NCAA Division 1, behind only Ryan Matulonis of Penn, who ran 49.75 Sunday to win the Ivy League final at Princeton, and Markel Jones of South Florida, who ran 50.40 at the South Florida Invitational in Tampa in early April.

Matulonis ran for Seton Hall Prep, and at the indoor Meet of Champions last year, with Wynn and Matulonis both racing, Pennsauken edged Seton Hall Prep 3:15.83 to 3:16.12 at Ocean Breeze. Pennsauken’s time is No. 11 in U.S. history (Seton Hall Prep is No. 9 with a 3:15.78 earlier in the season).

Wynn is eligible for the U.S. Under-20 meet this summer in Eugene, and his 51.21 will put him among the top handful on that list if World Athletics ever decides to update it. Tucker is also high up on that list with his 51.82 at the Penn Relays two weeks ago.

The 400-meter hurdles final is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. Wednesday. Wynn is also on Norfolk’s 4-by-4 team, which ran 3:05.57 at Penn.

All-Time South Jersey Alumni Tpp-10 400IH Times
48.37 … Reuben McCoy [Winslow Twp.], June 28, 2008, Eugene, Ore.
48.86 … Fred Sharpe [Paulsboro], May 18, 2003, Knoxville, Tenn.
49.50 … Dwight Ruff [Camden], June 12, 2003, Sacramento
50.04 … Mike Brown [Lenape], June 12, 2002, Holmdel, N.J.
50.52 … Martin Booker [Camden], May 12, 1984, Philadelphia
50.65 … Aaron Younger [Delsea], May 28, 2010, Greensboro, N.C.
50.69 … Danyne Brown [Camden], May 30, 2003, Fairfax, Va.
50.84 … Nick Brown [Bridgeton], July 16, 2005, New York
50.96 … Bryce Tucker [Pennsauken], June 15, 2023, South Plainfield, N.J.
51.21 … Premier Wynn [Pennsauken], May 6, 2024, Norfolk, Va.
51.25 … Demetrius Rooks [Absegami], May 26, 2012, Claremont, Calif.

Rowan senior Marquis Young from Sterling blazed the 14th-fastest hurdles time in NCAA Division 3 history Sunday at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships in Galloway Township.

Young was one of six Rowan winners from South Jersey who helped the Profs win their 9th consecutive NJAC Championship and 22nd overall since the inception of the conference in 1984.

Young led a 1-2-3-4 Rowan sweep with a lifetime-best 14.01 with a legal 0.8 meters-per-second tailwind. His previous best was a 14.27 in a meet at Widener University in Chester, Pa., in March.

That 14.01 is the fastest wind-legal time this year in Division 3. Dontre Sinegal of McMurry University of Abilene, Texas, ran 13.87 at the David Noble Relays in San Angelo, Texas, last month, but his performance was aided by an unallowed 3.3 meters-per-second tailwind. Sinegal’s best legal time this year is 14.10 in March in a meet at Seguin, Texas.

Young’s time, achieved in cold and rainy conditions, ties the 2nd-fastest in Rowan history. Garry Moore ran a then-meet-record 13.90 in the qualifying rounds at 1982 NCAA Division 3 Nationals in Naperville, Ill. That stood as the meet record until Shannon Flowers of Lincoln (Pa.) ran 13.86 in 1993 in Berea, Ohio, and went on to win the final in 13.99 after winning the 1981 final in 13.96 in Cleveland.

Stanley Moore ran 14.01 to win the 1983 NCAA Division 3 title, also in Naperville. Both Garry and Stanley Moore ran for Overbrook.

For the Profs, Jason Agyemang [14.17], Kwaku Nkrymah of Teaneck [14.18] and Willingboro’s Anaias Hughes [14.50] ran 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Michael Lawrence was 6th [14.97]. All five Rowan hurdlers PR’d in the race.

On the 2024 NCAA Division 3 list – which for some reason includes wind-aided marks – Young is 2nd, Agyemang is 5th and Nkrumah 6th.

Young also placed 2nd in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the NJAC Championships in 53.58.

Rowan scored 368 points and beat 2nd-place The College of New Jersey by 222 points. The Profs were ranked 8th in the most recent USTFCCCA rankings, which were compiled before the conference meet.

Other Rowan winners from South Jersey: Sophomore Scott Hubbard from Audubon won the 1,500 [3:55.68], junior Joshua Cason from Camden County Technical Schools Gloucester Township campus won the 5,000 [14:58.38], junior Matthew Conway from Haddon Township won the 10,000 [31:07.51], Nicholas Razze from Pitman won the 400-meter hurdles [53.51] and junior Caleb Clevenger from Haddonfield was 1st in the 3,000 steeplechase [9:43.91].

The Profs won the 400-meter relay in 41.17 with freshman Eli Hendricks of Penns Grove, Bridgeton’s Shamar Love and Highland’s Robert McKinney in the lineup and the 1,600-meter relay in 3:19.07 with Razze and Sterling’s Jarquil Young in the lineup.

 

Kingsway’s Kylie Anicic won two more conference titles over the weekend, giving her 16 championships in 16 tries while running for Edinboro. And 18-for-18 including a couple relay legs.

Racing at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., Anicic won the 1,500 in 4:29.02 and the 10,000 in 35:12.53.

She won both races easily, finishing 30 meters ahead of 2nd-place Anna Igims of Slippery Rock in the 1,500 and running unpressed in the 10,000, lapping the entire field and winning by about a lap and a half over Isabella Myles of Seton Hill of Greensburg, Pa.

Here’s a look at Anicic’s remarkable record of perfection in the PSAC since transferring from Towson:

2022 Indoor at Edinboro
Mile [4:58.38]
3,000 [9:59.46]
5,000 [17:12.88]
DMR [12:03.57]

2022 Outdoor at Millersville
1,500 [4:37.92]
5,000 [17:21.02]
10,000 [36:46.38]

2022 Cross Country at Mansfield
6K [21:09.3]

2023 Indoor at Bucknell
Mile [5:02.72]
3,000 [10:06.49]
5,000 [17:34.83]
DMR [12:05.77]

2023 Outdoor at Slippery Rock
1,500 [4:33.88]
5,000 [17:20.57]
10,000 [35:48.85]

2023 Cross Country at Bloomsburg
6K [21:37.2]

2024 Outdoor at Lehigh
1,500 [4:29.02]
10,000 [35:12.53]

Anicic, a native of Mickleton, East Greenwich Township, in Gloucester County, has PRs of 4:25.00 for 1,500 meters, 4:54.93 for the mile, 9:27.55 for 3,000 meters, 16:14.07 for 5,000 and 33:25.55 for the 10,000.

She goes into the NCAA Division 2 Championships ranked 9th in the 5,000 with that 16:14.07 last month at the Brian Clay Invitational at Azusa [Calif.] Pacific.

Division 2 Nationals are scheduled for May 23-25 at Welch Stadium at Emporia State in Kansas.

Washington Township grad Isabelle Deal shattered her own Rowan shot put record Sunday as part of a double win at the NJAC Championships.

Deal, a Rowan junior, won the shot with a 45-8, breaking her own school record of 43-3 ¾ from two weeks ago in Lawrenceville, and also won the javelin at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at Stockton University in Galloway Township

Her 45-8 is No. 15 in NCAA Division 3 this year.

Deal actually had five throws beyond 43-3 ¾,  and she averaged 43-11 ¾ on her six attempts, so her average throw actually would have broken Rowan’s school record. She had the six-best throws of the competition.

Although Deal’s previous school record was 43-3 ¾, her previous PR was 43-4 ½ from last May as a junior at Ursinus at the Centennial Conference Championships in Collegeville, Pa.

(For the record, Rowan’s web site says Deal broke “a 23-year mark of 13.16,” which translated to English seems to mean she broke a record of 13.16 meters – which is 43-2  good ol’ feet and inches –  23 years ago. However, that former record of 43-2 was actually set in 1991 – that was 33 years ago, not 23 years ago – and here in the U.S. we don’t use metric distances. Only on Rowan’s web site, which is filled with numbers that nobody has any clue what they mean. And, oh, Deal actually broke that record two weeks ago, but apparently nobody knew about it. For the record, that 1991 mark of 43-2 that wasn’t the Rowan record was thrown by Angela Solomon (who went to Overbrook and set a South Jersey record of 43-6 ¾ at the 1989 Meet of Champions)].

Deal opened her series with her first school record at 43-11 and after a 42-6 ½ popped the 45-8. She threw 42-7 ¾ on her 4th attempt before finishing with a 44-5 ¼ and a 44-7 ¼.

Here’s a look at all the known 45-foot throwers from South Jersey:

62-3 ½ … Jessica Woodard [Cherokee], May 20, 2021, Tucson, Ariz.
58-6 ¼ … Jamine Moton [Delsea], May 13, 2001, Clemson, S.C.
50-5 … Victoria Imbesi [Our Lady of Mercy], May 6, 2012, Philadelphia
49-11 … Shamere Rothmiller [Glassboro], May 26, 2012, Jacksonville, Fla.
49-10i … Tara Daniels [Kingsway], Feb. 6, 2016, Boston
49-2 ¼ … Sylvia Galarza [Millville], April 26, 2007, Philadelphia
48-7 … Melinda Boykin [Bridgeton], May 19, 2001, Princeton
47-11 … Teyana Ames [Atlantic County Tech], April 27, Philadelphia
47-10 ¾ …….. Daniels, March 26, 2016, Orlando, Fla.
46-8 ¼ … Janiece Rose [Delsea], May 15, 2015, Muncie, Ind.
46-5 … Ronetta Hunter [Burlington Twp.], April 20, 2019, Durham, N.C.
45-9 ½ … Genevieve Rybicki [Our Lady of Mercy], May 6, 2012, Amherst, Mass.
45-8 ½ … Prisca Blamon [Cinnaminson], Feb. 20, 2022, New York
45-8 … Isabella Deal [Washington Township], May 5, 2024, Galloway Township, N.J.

Deal won the javelin by over 15 feet with a 133-9 throw. Her PR is 155-0 for Ursinus last spring at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference Championships in Selinsgrove, Pa.

She also scored in the hammer throw with a 134-8 for 7th place. Her previous hammer PR was a 133-1 in a meet in March in Atlanta.

Remarkable record-setting day for Penn junior Aliya Garozzo of Paul VI, who won the 100- and 400-meter hurdles Sunday at the Ivy League Championsghips with PRs in both races and a school record in one. She also anchored Penn’s winning 1,600-meter relay team.

She’s only the fifth woman in the nearly half a century history of the Ivy League Championships to sweep the two hurdles races and the first woman since Harvard’s Autumne Franklin in 2016. She’s the first Penn woman to win both.

Garozzo won the 100-meter highs in 13.59, finishing 2 ½ meters ahead of Harvard junior Izzy Goudros, who ran 13.92, Her previous PR was 13.65 at a home meet at Franklin Field last month. She ran 13.52 in the trials, but it was aided by a 2.5 meters-per-second wind. Her 13.59 was run with an allowable 0.2 mps tailwind.

Garoszo’s 13.59 moves her into the No. 3 spot all-time in Penn track history, and it’s 7th-fastest ever by a South Jersey high school graduate (see list below). It’s also 10th-fastest in meet history and fastest sinc 2018.

Interestingly, Garozzo didn’t run the high hurdles for Penn until last year. Her first collegiate 100-meter hurdles race was in March of 2023 at Penn. She ran 14.12, won Heps indoors at 8.37 and then picked up where she left off indoors, with that 13.65 in her first race. She hasn’t lost a high hurdles race the entire spring.

In the intermediates, Garozzo blasted a 56.34, shattering her own school record of 57.22 by nearly a full second. Harvard sophomore Chloe Fair, the winner last year, also PR’d in 2nd in 56.86. That time will put her somewhere within the top-20 American women this year once all of this weekend’s results are compiled.

Garozzo’s 56.34 is fastest by any Ivy League runner in seven years, since Harvard’s Jade Miller ran 56.17 at NCAA Division 1 East Prelims in Lexington, Ky., in May 2017. It’s 2nd-fastest in meet history, behind only 2016 winner Franklin, who ran 55.87 It’s also 4th-fastest ever by an Ivy League runner in any meet.

It’s also 4th -fastest ever by New Jersey native.

Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, the Olympic gold medalist, set the world record of 50.68 at the World Championships in Eugene, Ore., in July 2022; Tonya Lee of Rancocas Valley, an Olympic Trials finalist in 1996, ran 55.78 in Walnut, Calif., in April 1996; and Winslow Township’s Krystal Cantey ran 56.21 in May 2007 in Gainesville, Fla.

Garozzo also anchored Penn’s winning 1,600-meter relay team with a 52.88 split. Morayo Kassim, Jocelyn Niemiec and Amelia Kristen ran the first three legs. Penn ran 3:38.92. The Quakers set an Ivy League record of 3:29.29 at the Penn Relays.

In addition to Franklin, the only other hurdlers to win both races the same year in the meet’s 46-year history are Princeton’s Sally Anderson in 1981, Brown’s Susan Smith in 1991, 1992 an d 1993, Harvard’s Brenda Taylor in 1999 and Columbia’s Kyra Caldwell in 2010

Penn edged Princeton 184 ½-184 to win the team title.

All-Time New Jersey 400-Meter Hurdles list
50.68 … Sydney McLaughlin [Union Catholic], July 22, 2022, Eugene, Ore.
55.78 … Tonya Lee [Rancocas Valley], April 21, 1996, Walnut, Calif.
56.21 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], May 26, 2007, Gainesville, Fla.
56.34 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], May 5, 2024, Princeton, N.J.
56.87 … Evann Thompson [Lenape], May 30, 2014, Jacksonville, Fla.
56.91 … Angela Lee [Franklin Twp,.], May 24, 1998, Fairfax, Va.
57.14 … Leslie Njoku [McNair Academic], June 8, 2011, Des Moines, Iowa
57.16 … Jewel Ash [Eastern], May 9, 2022, High Point, N.C.
57.31 … Danielle Myricks [Willingboro], May 19, 2002, Columbia, Mo.
57.84 … Arianna Smith [Pennsville], May 6, 2023, Philadelphia

All-Time South Jersey 100-Meter Hurdles List
12.34 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], Oct. 6, 2019, Doha, Qatar
13.11 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow], May 25, 2023, Bloomington, Ind.
13.28 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow], May 15, 2015, Starkville, Miss.
13.30 … Shameka Marshall [Oakcrest], May 28, 2005, New York
13.36 … Samantha Sharper [Wilson], May 12, 2013, Houston
13.57 … Jailya Ash [Eastern], May 12, 2023, Villanova, Pa.
13.59 … Aliya Garozzo [Paul VI], May 5, Princeton, N.J.
13.61 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], May 4, 2002, Storrs, Ct.
13.64 … Magenta Taylor [Willingboro], March 24, 2001, Houston
13.71 … Imani Gilliam [Pennsauken], May 17, 2008, Princeton

For the first time in 30 years, the winner of the Broad Street run is an American. And a former Parochial A star from Burlington County.

Moorestown native and Camden Catholic graduate Kevin McDonnell was first across the line Sunday morning in the 43rd annual 10-mile race from Central High School at Broad and Fisher in North Philadelphia to the Navy Yard in South Philly.

McDonnell ran 47:33, 9th-fastest time in the world this year for a 10-mile road course and 6th-fastest by an American.

He’s the first American winner since Holy Cross and Wake Forest graduate Eric Lorenz and Willingboro native ran 49:21 on a similarly cold, rainy day in 1994.

McDonnell’s time is 3rd-fastest ever by a New Jersey native and fastest by a South Runner. The previous South Jersey record over 10 miles is 4:19 by Cherry Hill West and Glassboro State graduate Jack Kruse, who ran 48:19 in Washington, D.C., in 1983.

McDonnell came through three miles in 14:15, five miles in 23:45 and seven miles in 33:11, so he was basically on almost exactly 4:45 per mile pace the entire race.

McDonnell’s previous 10-mile PR was a 49:50 when he placed 12th in the 2022 Broad Street Run.

Kruse won Broad Street in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1985. His one-second win in 1982 over Lee Edmunds from Lewisburg High and Bucknell was one of the closest finishers in race history.

McDonnell has PRs of 8:14.40 for 3,000 meters, 14:03.52 for 5,000 meters, 29:16.01 for 10,000, 1:07.26 for the half marathon and 2:17.22 for the marathon. He warmed up for the 10-miler with a 14:08.74 at Payton Jordan at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., two weeks ago.

McDonnell won by about 50 meters over Zack Holden, who ran 47:45 for 2nd place. Holden is a 2018 graduate of James Madison and placed 37th at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February in Orlando in 2:17.50.

All-Time New Jersey 10-Mile Road Performance List
46:51 … Ed Moran [Notre Dame], 2011, St. Paul, Minn.
47:25 … Joe LeMay [Ridgewood], 1995, Washington, D.C.
47:49 … Mike Mykytok [Bound Brook], 1997, Far Hills, N.J.
47:33 … Kevin McDonnell [Camden Catholic], Philadelphia, 2024
48:19 … Jack Kruse [Cherry Hill West], Washington, D.C., 1983

McDonnell is a 2013 graduate of St. Joe’s, where he ran 29:16.01 and 14:03.52 and placed 10th in the NCAA Championships at 10,000 meters in 2013 in Eugene.

Hammonton junior Anthony Liakhnovich bombed one of the biggest shot put heaves in South Jersey history Saturday and smashed the Atlantic County record at the South Jersey Open.

Competing in cold, rainy conditions at Delsea, Liakhnovich only managed one decent throw, but his 3rd and final attempt sailed 62-10, the 9th-best throw in South Jersey history.

Liakhnovich broke the Atlantic County record of 61-4 set by Egg Harbor Township’s Kofi Yamoah at the same meet in 2013, when it was held at Buena. Liakhnovich fouled on his first attempt, and his 2nd was recorded at 44-1 before the final-attempt heave.

It’s been a remarkable rise for Liakhnovich, whose PR last spring as a sophomore was 48-9 ¾ when he placed 7th at South Jersey Group 3 Sectionals, also at Delsea. He hit 50 feet for the first time in his indoor opener at the Bubble in January and then jumped to 56-10 ¼ at the Cherokee Throw Down #1 four days later.

This spring, he opened with a PR again, throwing 59-10 at the Rebel Relays in Howell. That remained his PR until Saturday.

So he’s improved his PR more than 12 feet in the last 4 ½ months.

Liakhnovich is now No. 3 in New Jersey in the shot, behind St. Rose senior Joshua Huisman [64-8 ½], the national indoor runner-up, and Bergen Catholic junior Benjamin Shue [63-11 ¼], 3rd at indoor nationals and a USATF Under-20 finalist.

He’s the top underclassman in South Jersey since Bridgeton’s Braheme Days Jr. won the 2012 Penn Relays at 68-8 ½ and believed to be the No. 3 junior in South Jersey history behind Days and Overbrook’s Ron Dayne in 1994 [63-10]

He’s improved similarly in the discus, from 136-10 last spring at the Cape Atlantic Conference Meet at Bridgeton to a 167-5 opener at Woodbury last month and then a 178-0 last weekend at the Delsea Crusader Field Meet. It looks like the discus was cancelled Saturday before the seeded flight had a chance to throw.

All-Time South Jersey Shot Put List
68-8 ½ … Braheme Days Jr. [Bridgeton] 2012
64-10 ½ … Jon Kalnas [Paulsboro], 1997
64-6 ¼ … Ron Dayne [Overbook], 1996
64-5 … Ray Wilks [Bridgeton], 1995
64-4 ¼ … Chris Robinson [Penns Grove], 1990
63-2 ½ … Jason Nwosu [Delsea], 2022
63-0 … Lou Gordon [Bridgeton], 1995
62-10 ¼ … Nick Pulli [West Deptford], 2014
62-10 … Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton], 2024
61-11 ¾ … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson], 2018
61-10 ½ … Harry Dilks [Pitman], 1971
61-6 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], 2013
61-4 ½ … Bubba Green [Millville], 1976
61-4 … Kofi Yamoah [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
61-2 ½ … Matthew Huckabee, [Timber Creek], 2010
60-11 ½ … Ryan Knight [Delsea], 1996
60-11 ……. Lucciano Pizarro [Cherokee], 2019
60-9 ½ … Jonathan Harris [Delsea], 2024
60-7 1/2 … Ell Ash [Willingboro], 2004
60-6 ½ … Tati White [Willingboro], 1994
60-5 ¼ … Chris Bolden [Edgewood], 1990
60-3 … Dontaye Rivera [Pleasantville], 2012
60-1 … Bill Banks [Wilson], 1973

All-Time Atlantic County List
62-10 … Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton], 2024 [X, 44-1, 62-10]
61-4 … Kofi Yamoah [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
60-3 … Dontaye Rivera [Pleasantville], 2012
59-6 … Dave Dixon [Mainland Reg.], 1987
59-5 ¼ … Cade Antonucci [Holy Spirit], 2017
58-0 … Steve Hanson [Holy Spirit], 1982
58-0 … James Plummer [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013