From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Matt Gross never won a conference, county, sectional or invitational in high school. He never placed at states. He didn’t throw the javelin 150 feet until three weeks into his senior year. His sophomore PR was 118-3.

This week, he heads to NCAA Division 3 nationals.

Guys like Matt Gross are why we love track and field.

It doesn’t matter where you came from. It doesn’t matter how humble your beginnings were. It doesn’t matter what you did in the past. If you keep working, you’re going to get better. And there are really very few limits to how much better you can get.

Gross, a 2016 Cherokee graduate, is now a junior at Rutgers-Camden, and this weekend he learned he’s one of 20 competitors nation-wide who qualified to throw the javelin at NCAA Division 3 nationals outside Cleveland.

Gross, who got up to 177-9 at sectionals his senior year at Cherokee (the only meet he was over 165 feet at Cherokee), improved to 191-6 1/2 last spring to place third at the NJAC meet and this year improved to 196-7 for second at conference and this past weekend he won the ECAC Division 3 championship — the first major title of his life — with a personal-best throw of 197-0 at Southern Connecticut State in New Haven.

The javelin is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Thursday at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

 

Senior Micah Wood won the intermediate hurdles and triple jump and was second in the 400 to help the Rancocas Valley boys pile up 191 points and win their fifth straight BCSL Liberty Division title at Carl Lewis Stadium.

RV’s 191 points are the second most in Liberty Division meet history. The Red Devils scored 223 in 2015.

The meet was cancelled because of bad weather in 2017, but R.V. won three straight from 2014 through 2016 and the last two.

In Rancocas’s final tuneup for the South Jersey Group 4 championships, the Red Devils only doubled a handful of athletes. Some 27 different boys scored but only six in more than one event.

Wood won the 400-meter intermediates in 56.77 and triple jump at 43-5 and ran 50.93 for second to Pennsauken’s Aaron Williams (50.56) in the 400.

The 400 was Wood’s first this year in a major meet, and he broke his PR of 51.89 set indoors at sectionals at the Bennett Center this past winter.

Wood also PR’d in the triple jump, breaking his personal-best of 42-11 1/2 that he set just last weekend at the Burlington County Open. He’s also set PRs this year of 56.63 in the intermediates, 15.55 in the high hurdles and 1:57.83 in the 800.

Talk about range!

The only other R.V. winners were seniors Tai Matlock in the long jump and McQuain Hood in the javelin.

Matlock won the long jump at 20-11 1/2, leading a 1-2-3 R.V. sweep. He also took third in the 100 (11.35 after posting the 7th-fastest qualifying time) and ran fifth in the 200 (23.35).

Hood, who set a PR of 171-8 when he won the County Open last weekend, threw 164-5 to win the javelin by more than 20 feet. He was also second in the discus with a 133-10.

The only other R.V. boys to score in two events were junior Jordan Floyd, who took second in the high jump and triple jump; senior Jabri Adams, who placed in both hurdles; and junior Jonah Wood, who scored in both weight throws.

In addition to the last five titles, Rancocas Valley won BCSL titles each year from 1958 through 1971 – the first 14 years the meet was held — and also in 1973 when it was still a one-division meet, then won in 1994 and 1995 in the Patriot Division and 1998 in the Liberty.

Full results are here!

The Burlington County Scholastic League Championships have been around for 62 years, and the Riverside boys had never won a team title.

Until now.

Led by senior Alex Stockton’s 34 points, Riverside won the first conference championship in school history, outscoring Burlington City 136-111 to win the BCSL Freedom Division title Saturday at Carl Lewis Stadium in Willingboro.

Stockton won the javelin with a personal-best 163-5 — a 12-foot PR — and recorded second-place finishes in both hurdles and the triple jump to lead the Rams.

Stockton is the first Riverside boy to win a BCSL javelin title in 19 years, since Randy Holak in 2000.

Other Riverside winners:

—> Senior Anthony Moyer was first in the discus with a personal-best of 116-5.

—> Sophomore Khy’Jaron Moore jumped a personal-best 42-4 to win in the triple jump and also placed fourth in both the 200 and high hurdles.

—> Sophomore Caleb Esposito won the pole vault and also medaled in both the 1,600 and 3,200

Sophomore Louis Vasquez also had a big day for the Rams, taking third in both hurdles and fourth in the triple jump and running a leg on the second-place 4-by-400 team. And senior Daniel Hamlin took third in the intermediates and sixth in the highs and ran on the relay team.

And a freshman, Kaique Viera Clovis, took third in the pole vault and ran on the 4-by-400 team.

Other Rams medalists were senior Judson Souza (2nd in the 800), sophomore Fabion Ruffin (3rd in LJ), senior Jacob Fink (5th in SP) and junior Johnny DeLima (6th in disc).

The BCSL meet began in 1958 with just one division. It expanded to Liberty and Freedom in 1975. From 1992 through 2000, the BCSL meet was not held but it was scored out of the County Open. It resumed as a separate meet in 2001.

Willingboro senior Kenady Wilson on Saturday became only the second girl in New Jersey this year to clear 5-8.

And Wilson did it on her first attempt.

Wilson matched her PR and broke a 16-year-old meet record at the BCSL Liberty Division meet on her home track at Carl Lewis Stadium.

Wilson entered the competition at 5-0 and cleared 5-0, 5-2 and 5-4 on her first attempt, 5-6 on her second and 5-8 on her third. She took three jumps at 5-10.

It’s Wilson’s second career 5-8 clearance. She was over the bar at 5-8 for fifth place last year at the Meet of Champions. She cleared 5-6 to win the County Open last weekend.

Wilson broke the Liberty Division record of 5-6 set in 2003 by Northern Burlington’s Latasha Leake. She also broke the overall BCSL meet record of 5-6 shared by Leake and Anna Cook of Florence, who won the Freedom Division meet at 5-6 in both 2006 and 2007.

Wilson’s mark is No. 2 in the state this year behind Timber Creek junior Tierra Hooker, who cleared 5-8 3/4 to place third at the Penn Relays last month.

She’s No. 8 on the all-time South Jersey list and one inch shy of the school record of 5-9, set in 1981 by Olympic long jumper Carol Lewis.

ALL-TIME S.J. HIGH JUMP LIST
5-10 1/2 …. Megan Kirschling [West Deptford], 2012
5-10 ………. Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], 2017
5-9 1/2 …… Priscilla Frederick [Paul VI], 2007
5-9 1/4 …… Mandi Wolicki [Ocean City], 1995
5-9 ………. Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
5-9 ………. Erin Halpin [Cherry Hill East], 1986
5-9 ………. Kim Stoll [Holy Spirit], 1994
5-8 …… Tonya Lee (Rancocas Valley), 1987
5-8 …… Joi Johnson (Ocean City), 1993
5-8 …… Misty Farrell (Washington Twp.), 1995
5-8 …… Brooke Minor (Kingsway), 2001
5-8 …… Marcene Jack (Mainland Regional), 2004
5-8 …… Briana Gray (Haddon Heights), 2005
5-8 …… Anna Cook (Florence), 2007
5-8 …… Brianna Hunt (Delsea), 2010
5-8 …… Gabrielle Bennett (Winslow Twp.), 2015
5-8 …… Natalie Cowan (Hammonton), 2015
5-8 …… Kenady Wilson (Willingboro), 2018, 2019

Wilson also placed second in the long jump with a 16-9 1/2, 3 1/2 inches behind Kristina Tossas of Rancocas Valley, who jumped 17-1, and she ran a leg on Willingboro’s second-place 1,600-meter relay team.

Austin Gabay isn’t just a distance runner. Gabby, the Cinnaminson junior, ran a rare 800 Saturday and turned in a huge PR at the Burlington County Scholastic League Patriot Division meet at Willingboro.

Gabay ran an unpressed 1:56.64, in only his third lifetime serious attempt at the distance. Gabay won the event in 1:58.32 last year, which was his PR.

The Cinnaminson junior was out in 58.66 and already had a 20-meter lead when he came through the 400. He closed in 58.7.99.

Gabay is only the fifth runner in New Jersey this year to run both sub-1:57 and sub-9:17. The only other South Jersey runner to pull that off is senior Connor Melko of Eustace, who has run 1:56.47 and 9:06.52.

Gabay broke the Patriot Division meet record of 1:57.30, set in 2007 by Mike Sheehan of Holy Cross. His time was fastest by any half-miler in any division at the BCSL meet in 15 years, since Ian Waterhouse of Rancocas Valley ran 1:55.59 to win the Liberty Division race in 2004.

His time also appears to be the eighth-fastest winning time in meet history, with the seven-fastest coming in the Liberty Division. Some results from the early 1970s are unavailable.

1:53.4h … Clayton Baloche [Lenape], 1992
1:55.59 … Ian Waterhouse [Rancocas Valley], 2004
1:55.7h … Wayne Riley [Willingboro], 1997
1:56.3h … Aaron Boucher [Cherokee]. 1998
1:56.3h … Chris Tarello [Shawnee], 1991
1:56.4h … Tavo Rivera [Pemberton], 1976
1:56.4h … Jaja Fisher [Cherokee], 1993
1:56.64 … Austin Gabay [Cinnaminson], 2019
1:56.5h … Cliff Moore [Willingboro], 1978
1:56.60 … Aaron Boucher [Cherokee], 1999

Looks like Gabay is now the fifth-fastest Cinnaminson half-miler in school history, behind 1992 state Group 2 champ John Keevey (1:55.87), 2007 Meet of Champions third-place finisher Matt Poskus (1:52.37), current Rider star Tom Long (1:55.49 in 2015) and Brian Tetrault (1:56.61 in 2007), who ran the leadoff leg on Villanova’s Championship of America-winning DMR team in 2011.

Sophomore Montel Johnson is enjoying a big year throwing the hammer for Monmouth, and is on his way to his first NCAA Track Championships.

Even though it doesn’t say anywhere on Monmouth’s web site, and his high school or hometown are never identified, and he’s not listed on their men’s track roster, I assume the Montel Johnson enjoying a big year for Monmouth is the same one who graduated from Bishop Eustace in 2017 and placed third at the state Parochial A meet in the discus.

If it’s not, then somebody else named Montel Johnson is having a big year throwing the hammer.

In any case, THIS Montel Johnson – the one we think is from Eustace — is headed for the NCAAs in an event he’s only been contesting for a little over a year.

Johnson threw 142-5 in his first meet as a freshman last year, a meet at Lafayette, but reached 161-11 by the end of the season.

He blew that PR away in his opener this spring with a 180-10 in a meet in late March and then threw 190-4 at the Sam Howell Invite at Princeton last month.

Johnson is ranked No. 2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference behind only junior Enrique Martinez of Manhattan, who threw 197-2, also at the Sam Howell meet.

Martinez, Matthew Kraemer of Rider and Johnson placed 1-2-3 in the conference meet in West Long Branch earlier this month.

According to a story on Monmouth’s web site (that doesn’t identify where Johnson is from), Johnson qualified for the NCAA Division 1 East Preliminary round scheduled for this week at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

The meet runs Thursday through Saturday. The hammer prelims are scheduled for noon Thursday with the top 12 placers advancing to the finals in Austin next month.

Thanks to 9:06 two-miler Connor Melko for confirming that the two Montel Johnsons are actually the same Montel Johnson!

https://twitter.com/connor_melko/status/1129830084527972352
(Wait … but how do we really know that’s really Connor Melko?)

This was the equivalent of a 9:09.26 for a 3,200-meter relay. Minus the baton and the running starts.

The Haddonfield girls swept the top four spots in the 800 at the Haddonfield Invitational Thursday night, and their times add up to what would have been the fourth-fastest 3,200-meter relay in South Jersey history — behind Lenape’s 9:05.62 in 2012 and 9:05.83 in 2008 and Haddonfield’s 9:06.30 in 2008.

Four sophomores ran between 2:15.79 and 2:19.42, and three of them PR’d and the fourth just missed her PR.

Their average time was 2:17.3. For the sake of comparison, only two other South Jersey girls have run 2:17.3 this year.

Sarah Naticchia won the race in 2:15.79, followed by Lindsay Colflesh in 2:16.45, Allison Colflesh in 2:17.60 and Payton Weiner in 2:19.42.

Those times rank No. 2, 3, 5 and 7 in South Jersey this year.

The only other girls in South Jersey who’ve run 2:19.42 or faster are Lenape senior Shelby Whetstone (2:14.09), Highland senior Nia Holden (2:16.87) and Delsea sophomore Carly Nicholson (2:19.41).

And there’s a lot of track season left to go!

Naticchia hasn’t run many 800s, although I would guess she’ll start to. Her previous PR was a 2:20.00 at the Lenape Invitational last month.

Lindsay Colflesh ran 2:16.09 last year, but that was at the end of the season, at states, when she placed third.

Allison Colflesh’s previous PR was 2:22.91 and Weiner’s was 2:26.11, both at last year’s Haddonfield Invitational.

That means the four of them PR’d by an average of four seconds (even though one of them didn’t PR).

Haddonfield now has the No. 4, 6, 8 and 11 sophomores in the entire state.

I took a stab at an all-time Haddonfield 800 list. I’m sure I’m missing a few sub-2:17 girls, but either way it’s an incredibly impressive list.

That’s 11 girls under 2:17 and some pretty accomplished runners on that list. Donohue ran 1:59.99 in Liège, Belgium, in 2010 and Feldman ran 2:03.34 in Indianapolis in 2013.

Please post corrections and additions in the comments section!

ALL-TIME HADDONFIELD 800 LIST
2:07.33 … Marielle Hall, 2009
2:08.87 … Erin Donohue, 2001
2:11.80 … Briana Gess, 2016
2:12.85 … Greta Feldman, 2008
2:13.80 … Holly Cosnett, 2000
2:14.42 … Kaitlyn Bonnet, 2014
2:15.79 … Sarah Naticchia, 2019
2:16.34 … Kaitlyn Bonnet, 2019
2:16.45 … Linsday Colflesh, 2019
2:16.4h … Jamie Sobolewski, 2005
2:16.67 … Maggie Lupinski, 2006

Looks like Sincere Rhea can sprint, too!

Rhea ran a rare 200 on Thursday at the Cape-Atlantic League Championships and blasted a 21.56, which is No. 2 in South Jersey this year and No. 3 in New Jersey, according to the MileSplit database. The only South Jersey sprinter who’s gone faster this spring is Jahmir Beasely of Sterling, who ran 21.50 at the Camden County meet last week.

It was Rhea’s first serious outdoor 200 since last May, when he ran 22.88 for sixth at sectionals. His previous PR was a 22.21 at last year’s South Jersey Invitational at Delsea.

Rhea, the No. 3 high hurdler in the U.S. and the New Balance indoor national champion, also easily won the high hurdles at the CAL meet in 14.03.

Rhea’s 200 time is No. 5 in Atlantic County history.

ALL-TIME S.J. 200-METER DASH LIST
21.41 … T.J. Johnson (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2010
21.52 … Fabian Santiago (Oakcrest), 2012
21.55 … Anthony Maturano (Hammonton), 2015
21.56 … Sincere Rhea (St. Augustine), 2019
21.59 … John Stone (Mainland Reg.), 1997
Race with Unknown Timing Irregularity
21.00 … Fabian Santiago (Oakcrest), 2012
21.38 … Reginald Morton (Oakcrest), 2012

ALL-TIME S.J. 200-METER DASH LIST
20.51 … Antonio Tarantino (Paul VI), 2018
21.06 … Dennis Mitchell (Edgewood), 1984
21.14 … Reuben McCoy (Winslow Twp.), 2004
21.30 … T.J. Johnson (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2010
21.39 … Martin Booker Jr. (Pennsauken), 2017
21.40 … Rob Gary (Lenape), 1998
21.40 … Todd Dutch (Washington Twp.), 2001
21.40 … Jamaad Muse (Timber Creek), 2012
21.41 … Dorian Bryant (Kingsway), 2002
21.41 … T.J. Johnson (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2010
21.43 … Barry Cephas (Winslow Twp.), 2008
21.46 … Brondon Jenkins (Delran), 1994
21.46 … Sabli Gonnet (Eastern), 2007
21.47 … Curtis McIntyre (Bridgeton), 1992
21.50 … Jahmir Beasely (Sterling), 2019
21.51 … Reuben McCoy (Winslow Twp.), 2004
21.52 … Fabian Santiago (Oakcrest), 2012
21.53 … Robert Hargrove (Vineland), 1996
21.53 … A.J. Bunton (West Deptford), 2006
21.53 … Jonathan Taylor (Salem), 2017
21.54 … Derek Ward (Kingsway), 1992
21.55 … Anthony Maturano (Hammonton), 2015
21.56 … Ron Hillian (Eastern), 2002
21.56 … Bruce Owens (Deptford), 2005
21.56 … Darrell Bush (Woodbury), 2011
21.56 … Sincere Rhea (St. Augustine), 2019
21.56 … Amir Brock (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2017
21.57 … Mar-Quel Davis (Deptford), 2017
21.58 … Antraye Miles (Winslow Twp.), 2003
21.59 … John Stone (Mainland Reg.), 1997
21.60 … Juwan Johnson (Glassboro), 2013
Race with Unknown Timing Irregularity
21.00 … Fabian Santiago (Oakcrest), 2012
21.24 … Jamaad Muse (Timber Creek), 2012
21.38 … Reginald Morton (Oakcrest), 2012

Winslow junior John Purvis PR’d again this week, popping a 168-9 discus throw at the Olympic Conference Championships at Washington Township.

That added 2 1/2 feet to his PR of 167-1 that he just set two weeks earlier at the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea.

Purvis’s throw is No. 1 in South Jersey this year and No. 5 in the state, No. 2 by a junior behind Chris Tavarone of Morris Knolls, who has thrown 173-3. It’s the best by a junior at the Olympic Conference Championships in at least a decade.

The conference title is the first for Purvis. He placed second twice in the shot put.

Purvis opened with a 157-8 throw, then followed with a near-PR 166-9 before hitting the 168-9 on his third attempt. He fouled on his fourth and final throw.

Rowan sophomore Myiah Sturdivant, a Timber Creek graduate, ran a personal-best 56.24 and won the 400-meter dash Thursday at the All-Atlantic Regional Championships at SUNY Cortland.

Sturdivant led an NJAC sweep of the top three spots, with two TCNJ runners — Samantha Gormon of Scotch Plains (57.03) and Megan Gasnick of Park Ridge (57.35) — placing second and third.

Sturdivant’s previous PR was a 56.30 when she won last year’s NJAC Championships at TCNJ in Ewing. She won two more NJAC 400 titles this past winter at Ocean Breeze and earlier this month at Stockton University.

That 56.24 ranks No. 13 this year in NCAA Division 3. Her previous-best time this spring was a 57.39 at the NJAC meet so that just came down by a full second and change.

Sturdivant also teamed with Sidney McLeod-Whitener, Aaniyah Robinson and Danielle Cross to win the 400-meter relay in a season-best 47.64, No. 13 in NCAA Division 3. She led off Rowan’s 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:52.46, No. 20 nationally.

Sturdivant’s high school PR was just 59.21. She never placed in a sectional meet in high school, so her improvement has been remarkable.

Allison Reuter of Clayton, a senior at Widener, won the hammer throw at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships with a throw of 168-4 at her home facility in Chester, Pa.

Reuter threw 168-4 on her final attempt and won by nearly seven feet over Taylor Run of King’s (Pa.) College in Wilkes-Barre, who threw 161-9. Reuter actually had the two-best throws of the competition with a 162-9 prior to her winning throw.

Reuter PR’d in March with a bomb of 175-2 at the Danny Curran Invite at West Chester’s Farrell Stadium, where she actually had three throws over 170 feet and won by more than 25 feet.

The conference title was Reuter’s third. She won the hammer throw last spring at 168-8 and the spring of 2017 at 148-5 and also won the weight throw this past winter at 53-9 1/4 at the indoor MAC meet at Lehigh’s Rauch Fieldhouse in Bethlehem in February.

Reuter ranks ninth in NCAA Division 3 with that 175-2. That broke her own school record of 173-6, which she set last year. Reuter is also fifth in school history in the discus at 128-4 back in 2017. It’s also a MAC record.

Reuter threw Monday night at the Swarthmore Last-Chance meet and threw 157-0 in cold, rainy conditions for second place.

At Clayton, Reuter was focused on the discus and javelin, since New Jersey high school track doesn’t have a hammer throw. She took second to Palmyra’s Tamara Carmichael in the 2015 state Group 1 meet in the discus with a throw of 123-10, which was her high school discus PR. She did win a sectional discus title as a junior back in 2014 with a throw of 101-2.

Reuter will compete at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference Championships at SUNY Cortland, which begins Wednesday.