From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Just about all of South Jersey’s top boys and girls will be at Franklin Field later this week for West Philly Nationals.

Of 26 boys who placed in an individual event at the Meet of Champions, 18 are entered in either an individual event or a relay. A couple of the others didn’t qualify or qualified too late.

The girls participation is even higher. Of 30 girls who placed in an individual event at the MoC, 26 are entered in an individual event or relay this week.

So a total of 44 of 56 South Jersey Meet of Champions medalists are headed to the University of Pennsylvania to finish their season.

Here’s a look at 10 of the top boys and girls and what their plans are for Franklin Field. We’ll post a look at 10 top girls heading for Franklin Field on Tuesday!

Click here for the full entry list and here for the full meet schedule.

BOYS
BURLINGTON TWP. 400-METER RELAY: After an astonishing 40.75 at the Meet of Champions to break the state record, junior Quayd Hendryx leads the Falcons to nationals where he’ll be joined by speedy teammates senior Yeator Tappia and juniors Gemaus Sackie and Solomon Wesley. With PRs of 10.61 and 21.47, Hendryx is also racing the open 100 and 200.
SCHEDULE: The 400-meter relay prelims are 1:57 p.m. Saturday, with the final at 11:57 a.m. Sunday. The 100 prelims are 1:12 p.m. Thursday, the semis are 2:57 p.m. Thursday and the final is 12:26 P.M. Friday. The 200 prelims are at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with the final at 2:48 p.m. Sunday.

HADDONFIELD FOUR-MILE RELAY: Haddonfield hasn’t run a four-mile relay this year but after three Bulldogs broke 4:15 at CBA on Friday, they’re lining up in great shape with senior Bennett Wright [4:13.28], junior Benjamin Andrus [4:13.60], junior Peter Simpson [4:14.44] and senior Luke Andresen [4:10.82 indoors]. The South Jersey record is shared by Haddon Township in 1973 [17:20.1 hand timed] and 17:20.21 by Haddonfield in 2010.
SCHEDULE: The four-mile relay (not 4-by-1,600) is scheduled for 7:48 p.m. Thursday

ZAMIR CHANCE: After his Meet of Champions win, the Bridgeton junior heads to Nationals with a PR of 48-9 from the state Group 4 meet, No. 5 in South Jersey history.
SCHEDULE: The triple jump final is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.

DOMINIC BASSEY: Versatile Winslow senior will run the intermediates and anchor the Eagles’ sprint medley and 1,600-meter relay teams. Bassey has run 53.35 in the intermediates and Winslow is No. 1 in South Jersey in the 4-by-4 with its 3:16.12 at the Penn Relays and No. 3 in the sprint med at 3:34.16 at Woodbury. Senior Jayden Poteat and juniors KaRon Ali and Prince Owusu-Twum will join Bassey on the 4-by-4 and Ali, senior Kristopher Jackson and Poteat will also run the sprint medley. Poteat, the state Group 3 400 champ last spring at 48.23, hasn’t run since indoors.
SCHEDULE: The 400 hurdles finals are 11:30 a.m. Friday, the sprint med final is 12:40 p.m. Friday, and the 4-by-4 final is 3:23 p.m. Saturday.

JOSH CRAWFORD: Woodstown junior will run the open 800 and anchor the Wolverines’ 4-by-8. Crawford won the state Group 1 title at 1:53.44 and anchored the winning 4-by-8, which ran a South Jersey-No. 1 7:54.84. Junior Karson Chew, junior Jacob Marino and senior Cole Lucas join Crawford on the 4-by-8.
SCHEDULE: The 4-by-8 final is scheduled for 7:42 p.m. Friday The 800 final is scheduled for 1:27 p.m. Sunday.

ALEXANDER OSAYEMI: Osayemi will finish his brilliant senior season at Clayton in the 400, where he ranks 9th in the U.S. at 46.08 from his Meet of Champions win. He’s within range of Dennis Mitchell’s South Jersey record of 46.02 from the 1984 International Prep Invitational in Elmhurst, Ill., and not that far from the state record of 45.71 set by Seton Hall Prep’s Clayton Parros at the 2009 Great Southwest Invitational in Albuquerque.
SCHEDULE: Osayemi will race at 4:57 p.m. on Saturday.

ANTHONY PARKER: Salem senior competes in the long jump at Penn after leading South Jersey this spring at 23-9 and placing 4th at the Meet of Champions.
SCHEDULE: The long jump championship is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday.

RYAN SANCHEZ: Deptford senior ranked 10th in New Jersey this year in the 110-meter highs at 14.31, fastest South Jersey hurdler this year. He’ll hurdle and also join junior Larry Norman, junior Kamaldeep Singh and senior Marcus Hood on the Spartans’ shuttle hurdles team. Hood of course will also pole vault.
Schedule: The shuttle hurdles is the first event on Sunday, kicking off at 9 a.m. The 110-meter hurdles prelims are at 10:59 a.m. Saturday, with the finals at 3:25 p.m. Hood will vault at 2 p.m. Saturday.

ANTHONY LIAKHNOVICH: Hammonton senior, who won Boston Nationals indoors, will throw both the discus and shot this week. He’s got PRs of 66-3 ¾ and 183-2.
SCHEDULE: The discus final is at 1 p.m. Friday and the shot final is 10 a.m. Saturday.

MATTHEW LITTLEHALES: Delsea junior has run 4:11.54 for 1,600 meters and 9:12.23 for 3,200 but chose the 3,200 to race at Penn. It’s scheduled for 4:48 p.m. Friday.

Going into NCAAs, Bryce Tucker had the 26^th-fastest qualifying time in the East Regional and 56^th-fastest qualifying time including the East and West prelims.

He had a season-best 50.79 from his 3^rd-place finish at the Big Ten Conference meet in Eugene, and it was going to take a series of huge races for him to get back to Eugene for the NCAA final.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Tucker, a 2023 Pennsauken graduate, went from the 56^th-fastest qualifier to an NCAA Division 1 All-America to finish his sophomore year at Rutgers.

His journey back to Eugene began in Jacksonville, where he ran a PR of 50.52, the 10^th-fastest time in the first round of the East Prelims. Then came his breakthrough 50.00 in the quarterfinals in Jacksonville, the 8^th-fastest time in the East. That earned him a ticket to Hayward Field and the NCAA semifinals.

On Wednesday, he put together another fantastic race, running 50.14 to advance to the final after not even ranking among the top 50 intermediate hurdlers in the country a few weeks earlier.

Tucker locked up 1^st-team All-America honors with an 8^th-place finish in the final on Saturday in 50.83. Five of the seven who finished ahead of him are seniors.

Rutgers’ track web site doen’t get updated very often, and they haven’t updated their list of Rutgers track All-Americas since 2019, which is why it took me so long to get this posted. I had to update the last six years off their list once I even found it buried in a 2020 “Fact Book” hidden in the  “archive” section of their web site..

But it looks like Tucker is Rutgers’ first All-America in the 400-meter hurdles in 56 years, since John Hanley of Edison placed 6^thin the 1969 meet in Knoxville with a hand-timed 51.1.

Aaron Younger of Delsea was an honorable mention All-America in the 400 hurdles when he placed 23^rd in the 2011 meet in Des Moines, Iowa.

Tucker’s 50.00 is well under the B standard of 50.75 for the USATF Championships back in Eugene in late July and early August. He’s only 25-100ths of a second off the A standard of 49.75, and he would have until July 20 to improve his seed time if he chooses to compete.

Aliya Garozzo earned 1st-team All-America honors in her final collegiate race Saturday night with a blazing 3rd leg on Duke’s 1,600-meter relay team at the NCAA Championships.

Garozzo split 51.90 an Duke ran a season-best 3:27.40, the 2nd-fastest time in school history, placing 5th among the fastest schools in the country at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Garozzo was a 2nd-team All-America on Penn’s 9th-place 1,600-meter relay team at last year’s indoor NCAA Championships in Boston. She also ran the 3rd leg on that team, which ran 3:31.82 at the TRACK.

Duke’s only faster time was a 3:27.14 when it placed 3rd at the 2023 Penn Relays.

The Blue Devils posted the 7th-fastest time in Thursday’s semifinals but beat two schools – Miami and Iowa – who had faster qualifying times. Georgia won the race in 3:23.62. The women’s 4-by-4 was the final race of the four-day meet.

Only schools with four U.S. citizens in the lineup are eligible for the 2025 U.S. performance list, and Duke qualifies and now has the No. 9 time in the country. The only colleges ahead of Duke on the U.S. list are Arkansas and South Carolina.

Garozzo has the A standard in the 400-meter hurdles for the U.S. Championships on the same track later this summer and is expected to race at nationals, with the first round of the intermediates scheduled for Aug. 1.

She’s ranked 14th in the U.S. and 44th in the world at 55.77. The only faster intermediate hurdler New Jersey has ever produced is world record holder and four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin.

 

What an astonishing performance Friday night by Gabriel Moronta!

About an hour after getting DQ’d following a 2nd-place finish in the 400, Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta anchored South Florida’s winning 4-by-4 team at the NCAA Championships.

Moronta placed 2nd in the 400 in 45.47 but was disqualified after officials ruled that he took two steps outside his lane.

He made up for the disappointment with a mind-blowing 44.23 anchor leg to move USF past Texas A&M on the hallowed track at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Click here to watch the race!

South Florida won the race in 3:00.42, breaking the school record of 3:01.52 set two weeks ago at NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville.

Their time is No. 9 in the world this year and since all four runners are U.S. citizens it becomes the 2nd-fastest time in the U.S. this year. It’s No. 26 in U.S. history.

It’s the first national title for South Florida since Jon Dennis won the 5,000 in 1992 and 1993.

Unbelievably, the NCAA results do not list lineups, but I’m pretty sure USF used senior Devontie Archie leading off, senior Alexavier Monfries on the 2nd leg and junior Corey Ottey 3rd to set up Moronta.

South Florida was in 8th place in the 9-team race after one lap, but Monfries’ 44.11 carry moved them up to 3rd. Ottey split 45.19 and going into the anchor legs, Texas A&M held a slight lead over the Bulls.

But Moronta wasn’t going to be denied and brought South Florida home three meters ahead of A&M.

Moronta is the first South Jersey athlete to win an NCAA gold medal since Florence’s Curtis Thompson of Mississippi State won the javelin in 2014. The only other South Jersey athlete to win a relay gold medal in the men’s meet was high jump star Mike Morrison, who ran a leg on Florida’s winning 400-meter relay team that ran 39.11 in 2004. Denise Mitchell for Florida in 1990 and Nadia Davy in 2004 for LSU ran legs on winning 4-by-4 in the women’s meet.

He’s the 2nd NCAA champion from Pleasantville. Nia Ali, the 2016 high hurdles Olympic silver medalist and 2019 World Champion, won the hurdles in 2011 for USC.

All-Time South Jersey NCAA Champions
1940
Archie Harris, Indiana [Ocean City], Discus [162-4]
1948
Browning Ross, Villanova [Woodbury], 3,000-Meter Steeplechase [9:25.7h]
1955
Don Bragg, Villanova [Penns Grove], Pole Vault [15-1]
Charley Pratt, Manhattan [Palmyra], 220-Yard Hurdles [23.1]
1980
Carl Lewis, Houston [Willingboro], Long Jump 27-4 3/4 [held indoors]
1981
Carl Lewis, Houston [Willingboro], 100-Meter Dash [9.99]
Carl Lewis, Houston [Willingboro], Long Jump 27-0 3/4 [held indoors]
1989
Dennis Mitchell, Florida [Edgewood], 200-Meter Dash [20.09A]
2004
Mike Morrison, Florida [Willingboro], 400-Meter Relay 2nd Leg [39.11]
2014
Curtis Thompson, Mississippi State [Florence], Javelin [254-9]
2025
Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], 1,600-Meter Relay 4th Leg [44.23]

WOMEN
1983
Carol Lewis, Houston [Willingboro], Long Jump [21-11 3/4]
1985
Carol Lewis, Houston [Willingboro], Long Jump [22-1]
1990
Denise Mitchell, Florida [Edgewood], 1,600-Meter Relay 1st Leg [53.8, 3:27.53]
2002
Jamine Moton, Clemson [Delsea], Hammer Throw [220-6]
2004
Nadia Davy, LSU [Bridgeton], 1,600-Meter Relay 4th Leg [50.3, 3:25.26]
2011
Nia Ali, USC [Pleasantville], 100-Meter Hurdles [12.63w]
2012
English Gardner, Oregon [Eastern], 100-Meter Dash [11.10]
2013
English Gardner, Oregon [Eastern], 100-Meter Dash [10.96]
2025

Floyd Whitaker PR’d for the third meet in a row and placed 2nd in the triple jump Friday at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., earning 1st-team All-America honors.

Whitaker, an Oklahoma senior from Clementon aned Highland High School, jumped a lifetime-best 53-10 ¼ with a legal 0.1 tailwind on his 3rd attempt.

That’s No. 11 among U.S. men this year and the 3rd-best mark ever by a New Jersey triple jumper, behind East Orange’s Norm Tate [54-9 ½ in 1970 in Stuttgart, Germany] and Piscataway’s Eric Bethea [54-7 ½ in Austin in 2019].

Whitaker surpassed the South Jersey all-time alumni mark of 53-6 ½, set by Shawnee graduate Greg Foster in Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1988. Foster’s son Gregory, a senior at Princeton, placed 7th in the NCAA long jump on Wednesday.

Whitaker had four of his six-best jumps ever in his series.

Teammate Brandon Green Jr. won the NCAA title with a 55-2 on his final attempt and had the five-best jumps of the competition. With the 1-2 finish, Oklahoma moved into 5th place in team scoring with 30 1/2 points,

Whitaker surpassed 53 feet for the first time with a 53-1 ½ at the SEC Championships in Lexington last month, then 53-4 ½ at NCAA West Prelims late last month in College Station, Texas.

On Friday, he opened with a 51-9 before a 52-9 ½ on his 2nd attempt, the 4th-best jump of his life. He added a 52-4 ¾ on his 4th attempt, his 6th-best jump all-time. After a 47-0 ¼, he finished with a 52-5 ¼, his 5th-best jump ever. All six of his jumps were wind-legal.

Whitaker jumped 50-2 ½ with no wind gauge to win the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington and also won indoor MoC the next year at the Bubble with a 46-3 ¼. He was undefeated as a senior, winning the Meet of Champions with a 49-7 at South Plainfield and Outdoor Nationals at the same Hayward Field triple jump pit with a 49-11 ½.

He competed for one year at Minnesota with a best jump of 51-5 ½ – on the first jump of his first college meet – before transferring to Oklahoma.

Floyd Whitaker 52-Foot Jumps
53-10 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
53-4 ½ … NCAA West Prelims, College Station, Texas, May 31, 2025
53-1 ½ … SEC Championships, Lexington, Ky., May 17, 2025
52-9 ½ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-5 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-4 … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-3 ¼ … Big 12 Indoor Championships, Lubbock, Texas, Feb. 24, 2024
52-3 ¼ … Owen Hewett Invitational, Norman, Okla., Jan. 17, 2025
52-2 … NCAA Indoor Championships, Virginia Beach, March 14, 2025

All-Time Top New Jersey Alumni Triple Jumpers
54-9 ½ … Norm Tate [East Orange], July 16, 1970, Stuttgart, Germany
54-7 ½ … Eric Bethea [Piscataway], June 7, 2019, Austin, Texas [+0.9]
53-10 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025 [+0.9]
53-7 ¼ … Devon Bond [Trenton], May 5, 2012, Lubbock, Texas [+1.5]
53-6 ½ … Greg Foster [Shawnee], May 14, 1988, Flagstaff, Ariz.
53-1 ½ … Floyd Whitaker [Highland], May 17, 2025, Lexington, Ky. [+0.9]
53-1 ¼ … Chris Phipps [Lodi], July 8, 2012, Irapuato, Mexico [+1.2]

Delsea junior Matthew Littlehales and three Haddonfield runners – senior Bennett Wright and juniors Benjamin Andrus and Peter Simpson – ran the four-fastest 1,600s by South Jersey runners this year Wednesday in Middletown, Monmouth County.

The race produced 12 of the 19-fastest times in New Jeraey this year.

The four raced some of New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s best milers at the Winner’s Circle at the Horse Farm 2025 at the Dr. George Sheehan Track and Field Complex at Christian Brothers Academy.

The race produced 15 sub-4:15 times (actually three in the 2nd section, 12 in the 3rd), with Littlehales running an outdoor PR 4:11.54, 14th-fastest in South Jersey history (and 5th-fastest in Gloucester County history) and the Haddonfield trio of Wright [4:13.28], Andrus [4:13.60] and Simpson [4:14.44] all running sub-4:15 and also PR’ing.

All-Time South Jersey Outdoor 1,600 / Mile List
4:03.50y … Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 2024
4:07.07y … Brett Johnson [Ocean City], 2009
4:07.23y … Seth Clevenger [Haddonfield], 2022
4:08.58 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
4:08.7y ….. Mike Elder [Haddon Twp.], 1973
4:09.19y … John Richardson [Ocean City], 2003
4:09.30 … Colin Baker [Haddonfield], 2009
4:10.24y ….. Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1979
4:10.97 … George Andrus [Haddonfield], 2022
4:11.07 … Xavier Fraction [Washington Twp.], 2009
4:11.15 … Ryan Garvin [Lenape], 2009
4:11.46 … Miles Schoedler [Ocean City], 2010
4:11.49 … Jim Wyner [Mainland Reg.], 2004
4:11.54 … Matthew Littlehales [Delsea], 2025
4:11.69 … Shawn Wilson [Cherokee], 2013
4:11.78 … Luke Petela [Haddon Twp.], 2015
4:11.84 … Tom Cooke [Kingsway], 2012
4:11.86y … Marc Pelerin [Cherokee], 2002
4:12.00y … Matt Hoffman [Ocan City], 2024
4:12.05y … Murad Campbell [Overbrook], 1999
4:12.08 … Bill Dolan [Clearview], 2014
4:12.1y ….. Al Harden [Millville], 1978
4:12.3y ….. Ed Blakeley [Haddon Twp.], 1975
4:12.5y ….. Dick Caton [Woodbury], 1978
4:13.23 … Justin Branco [Delsea], 2015
4:13.1y … Ricky Jacques [Burlington Twp.], 1968
4:13.26y … Greg Pelose [Haddonfield], 2015
4:13.28 … Bennett Wright [Haddonfield], 2025
4:13.46 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2019
4:13.60 … Benjamin Andrus [Haddonfield], 2025
4:11.61y … Robert Poplau [Cherokee], 2024
4:13.4y … Greg Stremmel [Gateway[, 1973
4:13.4h, y … Jason DiJoseph [Paul VI], 1988
4:13.71 … Dominick Munson [Timber Creek], 2015
4:13.83 … Carmen Cavella [Washington Twp.], 2003
4:13.85 … Jacob Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
4:14.14 … Ben Potts [Haddonfield[, 2009
4:14.25 … Matt Nussbaum [Haddonfield], 2010
4:14.44 … Peter Simpson [Haddonfield], 2025
4:14.45 … Brody Bogos [Cherry Hill East[, 2025
4:14.52 … Jack Bolling [Haddon Heights], 2023
4:14.59 … Nick Kuenkel [Cherokee], 2024
4:14.60 … Matt Poskus [Cinnaminson], 2007

Paul VI’s Aliya Garozzo, a grad student at Duke, ran a 52.38 leadoff leg and the Blue Devils posted an auto qualifier in the 1,600-meter semifinals late Thursday night at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

The top two teams in each of three semis and the next three-fastest teams advanced to the finals on Saturday.

Duke placed 2nd in the 1st of three heats in 3:28.98, their 3rd -fastest time this year. They ran 3:27.87 two weeks ago in the East Prelims in Jacksonville and 3:28.81 at the ACC Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Garozzo, a Sicklerville native, ran a 52.38 leadoff, 2nd-fastest of the eight leadoff runners in her race and 5th-fastest of 24 leadoff runners in the entire event.

She handed off to Julia Jackson from Scotch Plains-Fanwood in 2nd place. Duke was in 3rd when their 3rd runner handed off to their anchor – the names have been deleted from the results – but their anchor – I think it was Lauren Tolbert – split 51.33 to pass Tennessee’s anchor and lock up the large-Q qualifier.

Unbelievably, Duke’s “track record book” does not have a list of NCAA finishes in school history or a list of All-Americans. For a program as prominent as Duke, that’s inexcusable. There is a link on the women’s track web site to “All-Americans” but it’s only a list of names of Duke athletes in every sport who have made an All-America team with no mention of what event, what year or what place for track athletes. Good job, Duke sports info!

The 1,600-Meter Relay final is scheduled for 11:21 p.m. EST on Saturday, the final event of the four-day meet.

Less than 90 minutes earlier, Garozzo ran 57.37 and placed 14th in the 400-meter hurdles.

Lumberton’s Greg Foster placed 7th in the NCAA long jump competition Wednesday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., earning All-America honors a year after undergoing foot surgery.

Foster, a senior at Princeton who attended Lawrenceville Prep, jumped 25-7 ¾ on his 3rd attempt with a legal 0.8 tailwid, the 6th-best wind-legal jump of his life and 3rd-best outdoors.

He fouled on his 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th attempts and only had two legal marks, a 25-3 ¼ on his 2nd jump and the 25-7 ¾ on his 3rd.

Foster placed 15th in this year’s indoor championships in Virginia Beach in his only other NCAA finals appearance.

He’s Princeton’s first long jump All-America in 35 years, since Al Dyer jumped 25-9 ¾ and placed 4th in the 1990 NCAA meet in Durham, N.C.

Foster jumped within six inches of his legal PR of 26-1 ¾ set at the 2023 Ivy League Championships at Franklin Field.

Foster already has the B standard of 25-7 for the U.S. Championships in Eugene July 31-Aug. 3 with his legal 25-8 ¾ at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton in April. He has until July 20 to chase the A standard of 26-6 ¾ ot improve on his B standard to improve his chances of qualifying.

Also, Rutgers senior Nico Morales from Delsea placed 13th in the pole vault with a 17-5 3/4 clearance on his 1st attempt.

Greg Foster best legal jumps
26-1 ¾, Philadelphia, May 7, 2023
25-10 ¾i, Annapolis, Jan. 21, 2023
25-9 ½i, Hanover, N.H., Feb. 26, 2023
25-8 ¾ Princeton, April 4, 2025
25-8 ¼i, Annapolis, Md., Jan. 11, 2025
25-7 ¼i, Fayetteville, Feb. 15, 2025
25-7 ¼, Eugene, June 11, 2025

Pennsauken’s Bryce Tucker advanced to the finals in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships after running close to his PR in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Tucker, a sophomore at Rutgers, placed 3^rd in the first of three semifinals at Hayward Field in Eugene in 50.14. The top two finishers in each semi plus the next three-fastest advanced to the final on Friday.

Of the runners who didn’t get auto qualifier in the next two races, only one runner – another Bryce, Bryce McCray of Baylor, who ran 49.56 for 3^rd in the second heat – ran faster than Tucker.

When 3^rd place in the 3^rd semi was slower than 50.14 – 50.24 to be exact – Tucker was through.

Tuckr PR’d with a 50.00 last month in the East Prelims in Jacksonville. So he’s run the two-fastest times of his life in his last two races.

The only South Jersey natives to ever run faster than Tucker are Winslow’s Reuben McCoy [48.37 in 2008], Paulsboro’s Fred Sharpe [48.86] and Camden’s Dwight Ruff [49.50].

The final is scheduled 6:27 p.m. on Friday.

Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta won his semifinal and easily advanced to the 400 final at the NCAA Championships with the 2^nd-fastest qualifying time.

Moronta, a South Florida senior, ran 45.10 to win the 2^nd of three semifinals Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The top two finishers in each of three semis ane the next three-fastest times advanced to Friday’s final.

Moronta, who PR’d with 45.01 at the East Prelims late last month in Jacksonville, will race for an NCAA title at 6:02 p.m. on Friday.

Only three New Jersey quarter-milers have ever broken 45 seconds – Manchester Township’s Andrew Valmon ran 44.28 in 1983, Willingboro’s Lamont Smith ran 44.30 in 1996 and Najee Glass of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City ran 44.79 in 2015. Moronta is the 2^nd-fastest 400 runner ever from South Jersey and the fastest from South Jersey since Smith nearly three decades ago.