From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Aaron Brooks, a Monmouth sophomore from Eastern, opened his 2023-24 season by moving into the Hawks’ all-time top-10 in the 60-meter hurdles.

Brooks placed 3rd in the hurdles at the Rutgers Holiday Classic at the Armory in 8.27. That makes him No. 9 in Monmouth history.

Brooks only ran two hurdles races as a freshman, with a PR over the 42-inch hurdles of 8.39 at a meet at Ocean Breeze last December.

Rider senior Marques Merriweather from Jakcson won the race in a PR 8.02 and Rutgers freshman Chiemelie Anosike from East Brunswick was 2nd in 8.17.

Brooks didn’t long jump or triple jump Saturday, but he placed in both horizontal jumps last year at the Coastal Athletic Conference Championships in Virginia Beach.

Burlington Township graduate Jalen Walker holds Monmouth records in both the 60-meter hurdles [7.90] and 110-meter hurdles [14.15] from 2015.

A couple Woodstown graduates broke Georgian Court school records Friday in the 2023-24 season opener.

Senior Xavier Seals and junior Wayne Robinson, teammates at Woodstown in 2019 and now teammates at Georgian Court of Lakewood, both broke school records at the FastTrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze.

Seals placed 3rd in the 3,000-meter run in 8:53.86 to break the school record of 8:54.76 set in 2019 by Leonia graduate Hussein Elmeshad at the same meet at Ocean Breeze. Seals’ previous indoor 3,000 PR was a 9:00.19 at Ocean Breeze this past February. Seals is already the school record holder in the indoor 800 [1:54.97], No. 2 in the 500 [1:06.01] and 1,000 [2:34.94] and No. 3 in the mile [4:21.95]. He doesn’t have any outdoor school records yet, but he’s No. 2 in the 800 [1:54.86] and No. 5 in the 1,500 [4:03.59].

Robinson became the first Georgian Court runner to break 50 seconds indoors, taking 3rd in the 400 in 49.79. The previous school record was 50.44 set by Bridgeton graduate DaShawn Lamar-Baldwin at the 2019 FastTrack Invite. Robinson’s outdoor PR is 49.26 from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championships this past May in Lakewood. His previous indoor PR was 50.45 from the 2022 East Coast Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze. Apparently, Georgian Court changed conferences, I reckon.

Robinson is also No. 2 on the all-time Georgian Court indoor list in the 200 at 22.19 behind Charles Wolef-Fields of Wildwood Catholic [21.94 in 2019]. Outdoors, he’s No. 8 in the 100 [11.52], No. 2 in the 200 [22.09] and No. 5 in the 400 [50.15].

Versatile freshman Julian Rodriguez of Deptford prepped for likely outdoor decathlon duty by running 8.67 in the 60-meter hurdles (No. 6 on the all-time Georgian Court performance list), PR’ing at 21-7 ¾ in the long jump (No. 7 all-time) and clearing 13-1 ½ in the pole vault (No. 5 all-time).

Also freshman Malicah Etienne of Cinnaminson threw 48-1 ½ on the final throw of his first college meet and first meet with the 16-pound shot. That’s No. 8 all-time at Georgian Court.

Georgian Court is coached by former Holy Cross standout Mike Murawski, a Cinnaminson native, two-time state high jump champion, decathlete at Duquesne and current Woodstown resident.

Marquise Young, a junior from Sterling, came within a fraction of a second of Rowan’s school record for the 60-meter hurdles Friday in his 2023-24 season-opening race.

Young won the event in 8.02 at the FastTrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.

http://milesplit.live/meets/583096/events/2/results/F/M

That’s 3rd-fastest in Rowan history, behind two former Division 1 transfers – David Benjamin ran 7.98 when he won the 2017 NCAA Division 3 title in Naperville, Ill. (after a 7.99 in the trials) and Bobby Cooks ran 8.01 at the 2018 All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference Championships in Ithaca, N.Y. (after another 8.01 in the trials).

Young’s 8.02 makes him tied for the No. 24 performer in NCAA Division 3 history, according to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America all-time performance list.

USTFCCCA InfoZone: Records and Lists

Young, a seven-time NCAA Division 3 All-America, lowered his PR from 8.11, which he ran when he won the New Jersey Athletic Conference title this past February, also at Ocean Breeze.

In the trials, Young ran a near-PR of 8.12, and Rowan soph Kwaku Nkrumah from Teaneck ran 8.21 in a separate race for the 2nd-fastest qualifying time. In the final, New Haven junior Jordany Dely placed 2nd in 8.08 and Nkrumah, an All-America in the 110 highs last spring, PR’d at 8.14.

Benjamin, Cooks and Young are now the three-fastest indoor hurdlers in NJAC history. Only 17 Division 3 hurdlers have ever run sub-8, and Young is now 3-100ths of a second from becoming the 18th.

Young already holds one school record. He ran on Rowan’s 4-by-4 that ran an NCAA Division 3 indoor record 3:10.09 last February in Boston.

Willingboro graduate Anaias Hughes, a sophomore at Rowan, placed 5th in 8.34. That’s a big PR for Hughes, who ran 8.53 last year when he placed 6th as a freshman in the 60 highs at the NJAC Championships and then again at the AARTFC Championships at the Armory.

In his first college track meet on Friday, Pleasantville graduate Isaiah Davenport set a high jump PR.

Davenport, a freshman at Holy Family in Northeast Philadelphia and just across the Delaware River from Delanco, cleared 6-8 ¼ at the FastTrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze.

Davenport PR’d at 6-8 when he won the state Group 2 title at Delsea this past June. His previous indoor PR was a 6-6 at the indoor state Group 2 meet at the Bubble in Toms River this past February.

On Friday, Davenport cleared 6-0 ¼ and 6-2 ½ on his first attempt and 6-4 ½ on his third. He was clean at 6-6 ¼ and then got over the bar at 6-8 ¼ on his second attempt. He finished the competition by taking three tries at 6-10 ¼.

Nishorn Pierre, Holy Family’s school indoor record holder at 7-1 ¾, won the event at 7-0 ¼. Pierre has cleared 7-2 ¼ outdoors. Pierre is a 2-time NCAA Division 2 All-America.

Triton graduate Nevaeh Lorjuste just missed the Rowan school record at 400 meters in her first meet of the year.

Lorjuste, a Rowan junior, won the 400 at the FastTrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze in 56.88. just 8-100ths of a second off the school record of 56.80 set in 2013 by Delsea graduate Brianna Crofton at the NYU Fastrack Team Challenge at the Armory in February 2013.

Lorjuste’s previous indoor PR was a 57.54 this past February when she placed 2nd at the New Jersey Athletic Championships – also at Ocean Breeze. Her lifetime best is a 55.46 when she won the outdoor NJAC meet in Mahwah. That put her within reach of Rowan’s outdoor 400 record of 54.74, set by Pemberton grad Shailah Williams when she placed 3rd in the 2016 NCAA Division 3 Championships in Waverly, Iowa.

Through one lap, Rutgers-Newqark senior Zrreyah Moore had a very slight lead over Lorjuste, 26.66 for 200 meters to 26.70. But Lorjust finished two meters clear of Moore at the finish line.

Woodstown grad Molly Lodge ran 58.47 for 3rd place and Burlington Township’s Jasmine Pope was 4th in 58.49. 

Rowan junior Jasmine Pope of Pennsauken, in her first race for Rowan after transferring from St. Peter’s, was 4th in 58.49. It was Pope’s first race on the track since May 2022. That’s a lifetime best for Pope, whose indoor PR was a 1:00.67 for St. Peter’s in a meet in February 2022 at Ocean Breeze. He overall PR was a 59.61 at the 2021 Group 3 sectionals at Pennsauken.

Bryce Tucker opened his collegiate track career Friday by running the 5th-fastest 600 in Rutgers history.

Tucker, a three-time Meet of Champions winner in the 400-meter hurdles and a medalist last spring at the U.S. Under-20 Championships in Eugene, Ore., ran 1:19.52 for 600 meters Friday, leading a 1-2-3 South Jersey finish at the Rutgers Holiday Classic at the Armory in New York.

Two other Rutgers runners – Rancocas Valley’s Micah Wood and Deptford’s Lathan Brown – took 2nd and 3rd, Wood in 1:19.3 and Brown in 1:21.93.

Three of the five-fastest 600 runners in Rutgers history are now from South Jersey. Delsea’s Aaron Younger is No. 3 at 1:18.91 from 2011, Wood is No. 4 at 1;19.46 from two years ago and Tucker is now No. 5. Lenape graduate Steve Swern is No. 10 at 1:21.63 from 2008 and Egg Harbor’s Eric Barnes got knocked out of the top 10 with his 1:21.67 from 2022.

Tucker ran one serious 600 in high school, winning the New Balance Games last year on the same track in 1:20.79, No. 3 in South Jersey history. Brown was 3rd in that race in 1:22.44.

Tucker and Wood also went 1-2 in the 800, Tucker winning in 2:00.02 and Wood 2nd in 2:00.07, with nobody else under 2:10.

If you followed New Jersey track and cross country in the mid-1990s, you remember Jen Pesce, who ran for Toms River North.

Pesce placed 7th in both the 1995 and 1996 XC Meet of Champions at Holmdel and placed 2nd in the 3,200 at the 1996 track MoC in 10:50.48.

Pesce is one of the top Masters runners in the U.S. these days and in February won the USATF 5K Masters Championship in Atlanta with a course-record 17:49.

This past weekend, she placed 3rd in one of the biggest 8Ks on the East Coast, the Ashenfelter Classic in Glen Rock with a 29:01.02. Former Millville runner Amanda Eller was 7th in 30:16.34.

Why are we writing about Pesce on a South Jersey track and cross country blog? Because according to the Ashenfelter results, she now lives in Shamong Township.

One weekend earlier, Pesce ran 29:00 and placed 12th in the massive Rothman 8K in Philly held a day before the Philly Marathon.

Pesce, 43, was also 2nd in the Broad Street Run in April in 59:16 and she’s listed with a 1:22.01 and a win in last year’s Love Run Half Marathon in Philadelphia.

Pesce, who runs for the Garden State Athletic Club, ran 17:32.46 on the track in April in a meet at Rider in Lawrenceville.

Ocean City junior Maeve Smith placed 11th out of nearly 200 runners Saturday in the Nike Cross Country Nationals Northeast Regional.

Smith ran 19:03.7 and was named to the Northeast All-Region second team. She was the 4th underclassman in the race and the 3rd junior.

Smith’s time is 3rd-fastest ever by a South Jersey girl on the course that’s been used for years for Nike Northeast Regionals. Briana Gess of Haddonfield ran 18:22.6 when she won the 2014 Bowdoin Classic, and Kingsway’s Rachel Vick ran 18:46.6 when she was 6th in the 2016 Nike Northeast Regionals.

Smith this fall won the South Jersey Group 3 race and was 3rd at states and 9th at the Meet of Champions.

Cherokee finished 9th in team scoring with 285 points, with senior Kerry O’Day leading the way in 18th place in 19:19.7. Junior Megan Niglio [47th in 20:10.6], senior Alaina Bromley [97th in 20:52.6], senior Olivia Parkinson [100th in 20:57.1] also broke 21 minutes for the Chiefs.

Mainland junior Sofia Day ran 19:46.2 and placed 31st out of 196 finishers and senior teammate Gillian Lovett was just behind in 44th with a 20:06.6.

Williamstown’s Sophia Aldridge was the 15th sophomore in the race, running 20:29.6 and placing 74th overall.

Top South Jersey finisher in the boys race was Ocean City senior Matt Hoffman, who place 75th out of nearly 300 runners in 17:08.0. Cherry Hill East junior Brody Bogos ran 17:17.9 for 94th.

Northern Burlington junior Liliah Gordon earned a trip to Foot Locker Nationals with a 7th-place finish at Northeast Regionals Saturday in Boston.

Gordon ran 17:51 over 5,000 meters at Franklin Park and was the top New Jersey finisher in the 45th annual Foot Locker Northeast Regional.

The top 10 finishers in each of four regional races qualify for the Foot Locker National Championships Dec. 9 at Balboa Park in San Diego.

She became the first South Jersey girl to place in the top 10 and qualify for nationals in seven years, since Mainland Regional’s Alyssa Aldridge won the 2016 race. She went on to place 13th in San diego.

Gordon is the second Burlington County Foot Locker national qualifier and the first since Cherokee’s Megan Lacy placed 3rd in the 2010 race at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

She joins Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City in 2004, Chelsea Ley of Kingsway in 2008, Briana Gess of Haddonfield in 2013 and Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland Regional in 2015 as the 5th girl from South Jersey to qualify for nationals as a junior.

Paul VI senior Shalean McNally was the 2nd finisher from South Jersey in 16th place in 18:31, just 15 seconds out of the top 10.

Gordon and McNally both placed in the top 25 last year, Gordon in 20th in 19:16.1 at Van Cortlandt park and MCNally 23rd in 19:L22.4.

Zariel Macchia of William Floyd High School of Mastic Beach on Long Island’s south shore in Suffolk County, N.Y., won the race in 17:13. Macchia, a member of the U.S. junior team that competed at the Pan Am Games, has run 4:47.00 for the full mile and 10:08.50 for two miles.

2023
*Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington], 7th [17:51]
2016
Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg.], 1st [17:40.3]
2015
Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 5th [17:44.2]
*Alyssa Aldridge [Mainland Reg,.], 6th [17:47.8]
2013
*Briana Gess [Haddonfield], 5th [17:43.2]
2011
Holly Bischof [Bishop Eustace], 4th [18:24.9]
2010
Megan Lacy [Cherokee], 3rd [18:08.0]
Megan Venables [Highland], 4th [18:11.0]
2009
Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 3rd [18:33.1]
Marielle Hall [Haddonfield], 5th [18:36.4]
2008
*Chelsea Ley [Kingsway], 5th [18:08.3]
2007
**Chelsea Ley, [Kingsway], 10th [18:33.1]
2004
*Brittany Sedberry [Ocean City], 10th [18:33]
2003
**Brittany Sedberry [Ocean City], 2nd [18:16.4]
2001
Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 2nd [18:07.8]
1998
***Erin Donohue [Haddonfield], 17th [18:36]
1982
Michelle Rowan [Washington Township] 2nd [17:28.7]

Peyton Shute placed 5th in the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals Saturday morning and earned a trip to San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals.

Shute, a senior at Woodbury, ran 15:08 over 5,000 meters at Franklin Park in Boston and became the first South Jersey boy to qualify for nationals since Mainland’s Kevin Antczak in 2019 and the first from Gloucester County ever.

Shute was in 9th place through the first mile despite getting out in 4:41. He moved up to 5th with a 5:00 second mile.

The top 10 finishers in each race qualify for the Foot Locker National Championships Dec. 9 at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Ryan Pajak of Ringgold High in Monongahela, Pa., the PIAA Class 2A champ, remained undefeated, winning the race in 14:51.

Cherokee senior Nick Kuenkel placed 12th in 15:40 and missed qualifying for nationals by eight seconds. Kuenkel was in 17th place through two miles before moving up to 12th in the final 1.1 miles.

Audubon senior Aiden Williams also had an oustanding race, taking 21st overall in 15:59, best ever finish by an Audubon runner at Foot Locker.

Foot Locker moved from its long-time home at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to Boston this year. It was at Vanny every year from 1979 through 2022 other than 2009, when the meet was held at Sunken Meadow Park in Smithtown, Suffolk County, on Long Island.

The Northeast Region consists of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and U.S. citizens in overseas military installations.

Here’s a look at all South Jersey qualifiers at Foot Locker (aka Kinney / Champs / Eastbay) Northeast Regionals:

Boys
2023
Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 5th [15:08]
2019
Kevin Antczak [Mainland Regional], 4th [15:24]
2015
*Josh Clark [Highland], 4th [15:28.4]
2014
Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2nd [15:33.4]
Shawn Hutchison [Bishop Eustace], 10th [15:45.7]
2013
Lou Corgliano [Hammonton], 9th [15:40.7]
2012
Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 3rd, [15:42.5]
2008
Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 8th, [15:50.1]
2003
Jonathan Anderson [Cinnaminson, 7th [15:30.4]
2001
Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 6th [15:40.1]
1998
Nate Miller [Highland], 5th [15:49]
1997
*Murad Campbell [Overbrook], 2nd [15:27]
1988
Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 1st [15:17.6]
1987
*Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 4th [15:47]
Eric Lorenz [Holy Cross], 8th [15:50]
1986
**Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 6th [15:55]
1985
Kevin Pumphrey [Highland], 2nd [15:25.6]
Ron Faith [Paul VI] 6th [15:46]
1979
Jim Smith [Haddonfield] qualifier, unknown place [N/A]
Jerry Andrews [Highland], qualifier, unknown place [N/A]