From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Another trip to nationals, another trip to the podium for Jess Woodard.

Woodard, a fifth-year senior at Oklahoma, placed third in the shot put this weekend at the NCAA indoor track championships in College Station, Texas, with a throw of 57-0.

It’s her fifth All-America performance in her brilliant career at Oklahoma. She’s gone from eighth to fifth to third at indoor nationals the last three years and was third and eighth at outdoor nationals the last two years.

Woodard, a Cherokee High graduate, was less than 10 inches off her indoor PR of 57-8, which she set last month in Fayetteville.

Woodard was in seventh place until her fifth throw, when she uncorked a 56-10 3/4 to move up four spots. She solidified that with her 57-0 on her final throw.

She had opened with throws of 55-3 3/4 and 54-10 before fouling on her third throw of the trials and first throw of the finals.

Maggie Ewen of Arizona State won with a 60-8 and Emmonnie Henderson of Louisville was second at 58-3 3/4.

Woodard graduated last year and is competing as a fifth-year grad student. She has one more season of eligibility this spring and will compete in both the shot and discus for the Sooners outdoors.

Buena grad Casey Sturts, a senior at Monmouth, set a personal-best 12-9 1/2 placing third in the pole vault at the ECAC championships this weekend at Boston University.

This was quite a tune-up for nationals for the Rowan Profs.

Even without using some of their top people in their speciality events and limiting others to just one event or a relay leg, the Rowan men won the 15^th annual All-Atlantic Region Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at Ithaca University.

Rowan scored 120 ½ points, beating SUNY Geneseo and Utica, who tied for second, by more than 70 points. Geneseo and Utica scored 49, followed by Ithaca (44), Brokport (43) and RIT (40).

Rowan scored 27 ½ points in the high jump, 16 in the 400 and high hurdles, 14 in the 200, 10 in the 4-by-4, nine in the triple jump, eight in the DMR, seven in the 60, five each in the 3,000 and long jump and three in the 800.

Rowan, ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division 3, competes in the NCAA Division 3 championships starting Friday in Naperville, Ill.

Let’s take a look at exactly how Rowan won its first title ever in the AARTFC championships:

60: Sophomore Julian Pratt placed fourth with a personal-best 7.04 and senior Steve Jones ran seventh in 7.14

200: Junior Shai Mumford won in 22.03, finishing a half stride ahead of Eli Saucier of Hamilton and Dan Harden-Marshall of Ithaca, who both ran 22.08. Jones was sixth in 22.52.

400: Francis Terry, the freshman from Sterling, won easily in 49.35, and junior teammate Chris Mesiano was third in 50.37.

800: With Rowan’s top two half-milers on DMR duty, sophomore Martin Maldonado placed sixth in 1:59.28.

3,000: Sophomore Matt Russo placed fourth in 8:44.57, lowering his personal best from 8:48.15.

60 HURDLES: Senior Bobby Cooks ran 8.01 in both the trials and the final, winning by a whopping 23-100ths of a second. That’s about two meters ahead of the field. Freshman Tyler Garland was fifth into the finals at 8.38 but ran 8.30 for third.

4-BY-4: Rowan won by nearly a second and a half over second-place Geneseo. Mesiano led off in 50.26 and was followed by three freshmen – Justin Bishop split 49.53, Hunter Barbieri 50.21 and anchor Francis Terry from Sterling 48.42. That’s a season-best 3:18.40 with a junior and three freshmen.

DMR: As we wrote about earlier, Rowan broke the school record, with senior Nick Nocco, Terry, sophomore Nick Neville and senior Kevin Veltre running 9:58.72 for second to Geneseo.

HIGH JUMP: Seniors Jeffrey Jon Tucker and Harrison Escoffery went 1-2 at 6-9 ¾ and 6-8 and freshman teammates Jason Thobourne and Earnest Daniel cleared 6-4 for third and fifth. That’s a season-best for Tucker.

LONG JUMP: Tucker jumped 22-3 ¾ for fifth place.

TRIPLE JUMP: Escoffery and Daniel took fourth and fifth with 46-2 ½ and 45-8 ½.

Southern Regioinal’s Nick Nocco, Sterling’s Francis Terry, South Brunswick’s Nick Neville and Brick Memorial’s Kevin Veltre teamed up to shatter Rowan University’s distance medley school record at the All-Atlantic Region Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Ithaca’s Glazer Arena.

Rowan ran 9:58.72, getting under 10 minutes for the first time in school history indoors.

The previous school record was 10:03.46, set in 2016 at the Ocean Breeze track by Pat McCurry of Hammonton, Neville, Brandon Eldershaw of Jackson and Walter Victor of Gloucester County Tech.

The outdoor school record is a hand-timed 9:58.2 set by Anthony Stone, Willie Richardson, Tavo Rivera and James Boffa back in the Glassboro State days in 1981.

Nocco led off with a 3:05.48 for the 1,200, Terry followed with a 48.46 for 400, Neville split 1:52.43 to set up Veltre, who anchored in 4:12.37.

Rowan placed second to SUNY Geneseo, which got a 4:09.97 anchor from Isaac Garcia-Cassani to run 9:56.94.

Rowan’s time is No. 5 in NCAA Division 3 this year going into the NCAA Division 3 national championships at Naperville, Ill., next weekend.

Rowan senior Bobby Cooks ran the fastest high hurdles time in NCAA Division 3 Friday with an 8.01 in the trials of the 15^th annual All-Atlantic Region Indoor Track and Field Championships at Glazer Fieldhouse on the campus of Ithaca (N.Y.) College.

Cooks leads all qualifiers into the finals, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. His time is just 3-100^th of a second off the Rowan school record of 7.98, set last year by David Benjamin while racing Cooks at last year’s indoor nationals. Benjamin won that race while Cooks, then racing for Aurora College in Illinois, was sixth.

Cooks shattered the meet record of 8.17 set in 2013 by Davi Kastner of RPI. His time is only 5-100ths of a second off the fieldhouse record of 7.96, set by Amadou Gueye of Syracuse in 2010.

Cooks’ previous best time for Rowan was an 8.04 in the final of the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet at the Ocean Breeze facility earlier this month.

His overall PR is a 7.90 in the trials of nationals last year in Naperville, Ill.

The previous fastest time in NCAA Division 3 this year was an 8.02 by Mason Plant of Mount Union College in Gambier, Ohio, in the Division 3 All-Ohio championships at the Rike Center on Otterbein’s campus in Westerville, Ohio.

Second-fastest qualifier Friday for Saturday’s final was Idowu Bamisile of Farmingdale (N.Y.), who ran 8.26.

Rowan freshman Tyler Garland also qualified for the hurdles final after running 8.38 in the trials.

Rowan senior Kevin Veltre made the trip to Boston to try to get a fast 3,000 time and qualify for NCAAs, and was the trip ever worth it.

Veltre shattered his own Rowan 3,000-meter run record by 10 seconds and recorded the third-fastest time in NCAA Division 3 this year when he placed fifth in a field of Division 1 and post-grad runners in 8:15.29 at the Boston University Last-Chance Qualifier at the B.U. Track and Tennis Center.

That broke the school record and his own PR of 8:25.84, which he ran earlier this month in a meet at Ithaca. Veltre, from Brick Memorial, had never previously run a flat 3,000 as a collegian. And according to the Mile Split database, he never ran a 3,000 in high school, either.

Before Veltre ran 8:25.84, the Rowan school record was 8:30.74, set in 1981 by Greg Rapp. So he’s dropped it nearly 16 seconds.

The top four 3,000 runners in the country going into NCAAs are all between 8:12.42 and 8:15.96. Will McDermott of Widener out of Monsignor Bonner is No. 1, Jeffrey Dover of Christopher Newport in Virginia is No. 2 at 8:14.83, Veltre is No. 3 and Dylan Gearinger of Haverford via Berwick Area High near Wilkes-Barre is No. 4.

Rowan is ranked No. 4 going into the NCAA indoor track championships, which are scheduled for March 9-10 in Birmingham, Ala., at the Birmingham Crossplex. The 3,000 is the last individual event of the meet, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. that Saturday afternoon.

Veltre also set the Rowan mile record earlier this year with a 4:12.30 at the New Jersey Athletic Conferene meet at Ocean Breeze.

Penns Grove graduate Jaymes Dennison continues to establish himself as one of the fastest middle-distance runners in the country.

Racing at the Big 12 Championships this past weekend at the Leid Rec Center in Ames, Iowa, Dennison ran 1:09.51 for second in the rarely contested 600-yard run, finishing just 61-100ths of a second behind Texas Tech’s Vincent Crisp, the NCAA record holder at 600 meters.

Crisp ran 1:08.90 and Dennison 1:09.51. Dennison also joined Rashon Rooms, Eric Fogltanz and Frank Hayes to place third in the 1,600-meter relay in 3:10.07, and he also ran the 800 leg on Iowa State’s third-place distance medley team, which ran 9:50.65. Rooms, Zach Black and Dan Curts also ran for the Cyclones.

Dennison is ranked No. 11 in NCAA history at 600 meters with his 1:16.84 from last year. That’s also No. 37 in world history according to the IAAF and No. 15 in U.S. history. He’s run as fast as 1:17.26 this year, which is No. 10 in the world and No. 5 among Americans.

Dennison, who transferred to Iowa State after beginning his college career at Monroe College in New Rochelle, N.Y., set an indoor PR of 1:48.98 earlier this month for 800 meters. He’s run as fast as 1:47.63 outdoors. He was the Big 12 outdoor champ at 800 meters last spring and the Big 12 indoor champ at 600 yards last year.

Moorestown graduate Brandon Outlaw, a freshman at Virginia, placed third in the 400 at the Atlantic Coast Conference championships with an indoor personal-best time of 47.18 over the weekend at Clemson.

Outlaw’s time is third-fastest in Virginia history and broke his own school freshman record of 47.31 that he set in the trials. The previous Virginia freshman record was 47.64, set in 1988 by Paul Ereng, who later that year won the Olympic gold medal in the 800.

The only faster times in Virginia history were run by Payton Hazzard (46.60 in 2015) and Kellen Blassingame (46.73 in 2006).

Outlaw’s high school indoor PR was 47.90 at last year’s New Balance nationals. He ran 46.82 outdoors at sectionals on his way to the Meet of Champions title last spring. He ran a 46.25 at nationals but was stripped of the performance following a disputed DQ.

Outlaw’s time makes him the No. 8 junior in the world, according to the IAAF performance list. Because he’s only 20, Outlaw is eligible for USATF Junior Championships June 15-17 in Indianapolis, which serves as a qualifier for the IAAF World Juniors, scheduled for July 19-24 in Tampere, Finland.

Outlaw also ran on Virginia’s 1,600-meter relay team, which set a school record of 3:11.76. The previous mark of 3:11.93 set last year.

It’s hard to believe there’s something that Jessica Woodard hadn’t accomplished, but her indoor Big 12 Conference title this weekend in the shot put was indeed her first.

Woodard placed third as a freshman with a 51-4 1/2, third as a sophomore with a 55-7 and second last year with a 54-4. This time, Woodard won easily, throwing 57-3 1/4 to win the conference title at the Leid Rec Center on the Iowa State campus in Ames, Iowa.

Woodard didn’t have the most consistent series but she was plenty good enough to win. She opened with a 51-9 1/2, then fouled, then threw 54-1 1/2. In the finals, she popped her winning throw first, then followed it with a foul and a 54-11 3/4, which would have been good enough to win as well.

Texas sophomore Elena Bruckner took second with a throw of 54-4 3/4.

Woodard threw within about five inches of her season best and lifetime indoor PR of 57-8, which she threw one weekend earlier in Fayetteville, Ark. Her outdoor PR is 60-3, set last year at the outdoor Big 12 meet in Lawrence, Kans., when she won her previous Big 12 title.

Woodard also placed fourth in the weight throw with a lifetime-best 63-10.

Woodard is a four-time NCAA All-America in the shot and has also thrown the discus 185-9.

She’s currently ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division 1, No. 6 among U.S. collegians, No. 11 among American women and No. 23 in the world.

Woodard is off to the NCAAs March 9-10 at the Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam Jr. ’80 Indoor Track Stadium on the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas. The women’s shot put is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. EST that Friday, March 9.

St. Augustine junior Sincere Rhea was only the fifth seed going into the Meet of Champions 55-meter hurdles final, but that didn’t slow him down in the final.

Rhea blew away the field and won the 2018 Meet of Champions title in a personal-best 7.35. He ran his previous PR of 7.42 at the state Parochial A meet but didn’t break 7.60 in any of his three races at Easterns.

But after a 7.65 in the trials, Rhea put everything together in the final, beating second-place Isaiah Greene of Newark West Side by 7-100ths of a second. Greene, who ran 7.32 for second at Easterns, led all qualifiers into the finals at 7.50.

Rhea is St. Augustine’s second Meet of Champions winner in school history and first in 28 years, since Mark Sivieri won the 1,600 outdoors in 4:15.1 in 1990. Sivieri went on to star at Georgetown and run a sub-4 mile.

Rhea’s time is tied for No. 9 in South Jersey history and No. 18 in state history. It’s the second-fastest time ever by an Atlantic County runner, behind only the 7.29 run by Nate Harley of Pleasantville in 1996.

In meet history, only three hurdlers have run faster than Rhea did on Sunday, only one from South Jersey — Isaac Williams of Willingboro, who won the 2012 meet in 7.22.

According to the Mile Split data base, Rhea’s time is No. 4 nationally among juniors.

It looks like Rhea’s time is actually the fastest ever by a South Jersey junior. I need to double check a couple guys from the 1980s, but if not it’s the fastest by a South Jersey junior in a long time.

Rhea has now lowered his PR more than a third of a second since the start of the season. He brought a PR of 7.70 into the 2018 indoor season.

Let’s go to the lists!

Here’s the updated all-time New Jersey 55 hurdles list:
• 7.07 Cory Poole [East Orange Campus], 2017
• 7.18 Sultan Tucker [Delsea], 1996
• 7.19 Jermaine Collier [Trenton], 2012
• 7.22 Dwight Ruff [Camden], 2001
• 7.22 Issac Williams [Willingboro], 2012
• 7.29 Nate Harley [Pleasantville], 1996
• 7.29 Danyne Brown [Camden], 1999
• 7.29 Will Brown [Palmyra], 2006
• 7.31 Akeem Lindo [East Orange Campus], 2018
• 7.32 Stephan Fletcher [Princeton], 1983
• 7.32 Jon Dickey [Penns Grove], 1985
• 7.32 Jeff Porter [Franklin Twp.], 2003
• 7.32 Al-Tariq Dunson [East Orange], 2018
• 7.32 Isaiah Greene [Newark West Side], 2018
• 7.34 Chais Hill [Highland], 2015
• 7.34 Barry McClain [Trenton], 1981
• 7.34 Devon Hill [Trenton], 2008
• 7.35 Todd Walthall [Seton Hall], 1988
• 7.35 Gerard Reynolds [Willingboro], 1990
• 7.35 Darius Pemberton [Hackensack], 1993
• 7.35 Devon Hill [Trenton], 2008
• 7.35 Sincere Rhea [St. Augustine], 2018
• 7.36 Tony Davis [Scotch Plains], 1982
• 7.36 Jerome Pemberton [Hackensack], 1986
• 7.36 Chris Stephans [Plainfield], 2001
• 7.36 Christian Boateng [Old Bridge], 2011
• 7.36 Greg Caldwell [West Windsor-Plainsboro North], 2012
• 7.37 Ihmir Marsette [Weequahic], 2017
• 7.37 Benjamin Aidoo [Sayreville], 2016
• 7.37 Basil Campbell [Ewing], 2003
• 7.37 Andrew Aguilera [Governor Livingston], 2017
• 7.38 Mike Wasko [Sayreville], 1982
• 7.39 Rashad Baker [Wilson], 2000

And the all-time Meet of Champions performance list:
7.19 … Jermaine Collier, Trenton 2012 [1]
7.21 … Cory Poole, East Orange, 2017 [1]
7.22 … Isaac Williams, Willingboro, 2012 [2]
7.35 … Sincere Rhea, St. Augustine, 2018 [1]
7.36 … Sultan Tucker, Delsea, 1996 [1]
7.36 … Christian Boateng, Old Bridge, 2011 [1]
7.40 … Josh Evans, Irvington 2009 [1]
7.41 … Jeff Porter, Franklin, 2003 [1]
7.41 … Rolston Braithwaite, Trenton, 2009 [2]
7.41 … Geordan Ferguson, Manchester Twp.,  2012 [3]
7.42 … Anthony Acklin, Triton, 2001 [1]
7.42 … Greg Caldwell, West Windsor North, 2012 [4]
7.42 … Cory Poole, East Orange, 2017 [t]
7.42 … Eric Kahana, Freehold Boro, 2012 [5]
7.42 … Isaiah Greene [West Side], 2018 [2]