From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Atlantic City junior Claudine Smith continued her hot hurdling Saturday morning when she won the 55-meter hurdles at the state Group 4 meet in 8.19, just 2-100ths of a second off her personal best. Smith ran 8.17 at sectionals last weekend.

Smith is the only South Jersey hurdler to go under 8.20 FAT this year and one of only two in the state. Amaya Chadwick of Union Catholic has run 8.05.

Smith, who is also an 18-foot long jumper, hadn’t run faster than 8.29 until sectionals but now finds herself No. 13 in South Jersey history.

Smith was a medalist at both the Meet of Champs and Easterns last winter. She was state Group 4 champ outdoors last spring in both the long jump and 100-meter highs.

In the final Saturday, Smith out-hurdled Bloomfield’s Kaela Edwards, who was second in a personal-best 8.31.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey list:
7.89 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
7.89 … Nia Ali [Pleasantville], 2006
7.92 … Carol Lewis [Willingboro], 1981
7.94 … Lenaami Morton [Camden], 2017
7.98 … Nichole Belcher [Woodrow Wilson], 1992
8.01 … Samantha Sharper [Woodrow Wilson], 2008
8.03 … Alethia Jenkins [Pennsauken], 2000
8.04 … Zonya Cross [Edgewood], 1983
8.05 … Sherese Price [Pleasantville], 1998
8.06 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
8.10 … Nichole Hill [Oakcrest], 1997
8.11 … Cidae’a Woods [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.17 … Claudine Smith [Atlantic City], 2018
8.17 … Torie Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2014
8.18 … Gabrielle Bennett [Winslow Twp.], 2015
8.19 … Brittany Preston [Winslow Twp,], 2016
8.22 … Tionna Tobias [Winslow Twp.] 2018
8.22 … Jamillah Nock [Wilson], 2004

Aliyah Taylor ran 57.54 Saturday morning to win her second straight state Group 4 title at 400 meters. The Rancocas Valley senior won in 56.76 last year.

A total of nine runners from the last two sections broke 60 seconds in the race. Portia Jones of Watchung Hills, a Meet of Champions 400 finalist last spring, was second in 58.29.

Taylor is the first Rancocas Valley girl to win a state title in consecutive years indoors or outdoors in 30 years, since Tonya Lee won the 100-meter hurdles in Group 3 in both 1987 and 1988. Lee went on to become a finalist in the Olympic Trials 400-meter hurdles in 1996.

Taylor, who will run the 55 later Saturday, has a 400 PR of 55.21, which she ran in winning the Easterns title at the Armory last winter. She’s run as fast as 7.01 for the 55.

 

Sterling senior Aliya Harrison had a stunning breakthrough in the 55-meter dash trials at the state Group 2 meet Friday with a 7.07 to lead all qualifiers into the final.

Harrison’s time is No. 12 in South Jersey history and was a massive PR, surpassing her 7.25 from the trials at sectionals.

It also broke the state Group 2 meet record of 7.11, set two years ago by Alliyah Taylor of Pemberton (now at Rancocas Valley).

Unfortunately, Harrison was DQ’d in the final and won’t be able to race at the Meet of Champions. However, she is eligible for Easterns and nationals coming up at the Armory.

Harrison’s time is No. 1 in the state and No. 12 in the U.S. this year.

Harrison has PRs of 11.91 and 24.72 outdoors for the 100 and 200 and has run as fast as 57.55 for the 400, although she rarely contests it.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey 55-meter dash list:

• • • 6.73 … Michelle Glover (Willingboro), 1981
    • 6.88 … Patti Dunlap (Camden), 1979
    • 6.91 … English Gardner (Eastern), 2010
    • 6.95 … Bria Mack (Williamstown), 2017
    • 6.95 … Torie Robinson (Winslow Twp.), 2014
    • 6.95 … Denise Mitchell (Edgewood), 1983
    • 7.00 … Amandi Rhett (Moorestown), 2000
    • 7.00 … Iyanli Kollock (Our Lady of Mercy), 2017
    • 7.01 … Aliyah Taylor (Rancocas Valley), 2017
    • 7.05 … Dana Burnett (Williamstown), 1996
    • 7.07 … Aliya Harrison (Sterling), 2018
    • 7.07 … Annie Johnson (Shawnee), 2012
    • 7.07 … Audrey Wilson (Deptford), 2009
    • 7.07 … Magenta Taylor (Willingboro), 1999
    • 7.07 … Angela Clyburn (Egg Harbor Twp.), 1991
    • 7.09 … Ste’yce McNeil (Winslow Twp.), 2012
    • 7.09 … Emily Carson (Haddonfield), 2013
    • 7.11 … Jamie Walker (Haddon Hts.), 2006
    • 7.12 … Assante Johnson (Camden), 2009
    • 7.14 … Shonda Burroughs (Vineland), 1999
    • 7.17 … Nia Lawrence (Pemberton), 2013
    • 7.17 … Kiara Lester (Deptford), 2014
    • 7.17 … Krystal Cantey (Winslow Twp.), 2006
    • 7.18 … Sherese Price (Pleasantville), 1997
    • 7.18 … Lauren Princz (Egg Harbor Twp.), 2018
    • 7.19 … Latoya Benson (Washington Twp.), 2001
    • 7.19 … Adia Starnes (Timber Creek), 2017
    • 7.20 … Medina Salaam (Camden), 1974
    • 7.20 … Nia Ali (Pleasantville), 2006
    • 7.20 … Fametta Lewis (Wilson), 2007
    • 7.20 … Tacquaya Tobias (Our Lady of Mercy), 2010
    • 7.20 … Cidae’a Woods (Winslow Twp.), 2013
    • 7.20 … Gabrielle Farquharson (Williamstown), 2011
    • 7.20 … Dennisha Page (Woodrow Wilson), 2018

Delsea scored 24 of its 36 points in the field. Deptford scored 28 of its points in the sprints and hurdles. When all was said and done, Delsea and Deptford were both state Group 2 champs!

Delsea and Deptford, two Gloucester County schools located about 15 miles apart, will share the 2018 state Group 2 team championships after both scored 36 points at the state meet at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Deptford’s only other state indoor team title came in 1970 in Group 3. That’s 48 years ago!

Delsea’s only other boys indoor state championship came in Group 2 in 2011 as part of a Delsea boy/girl sweep.

It’s the first tie for a team title at the indoor state boys meet since 2008, when Camden and Irvington shared the Group 3 title. it’s the first tie in Group 2 since 1999, when Cape-Atlantic rivals Pleasantville and Bridgeton were co-champions.

Delsea had four second-place finishers, accounting for all but four of its points. Senior Michael Szwed ran 50.40 for second in the 400, senior Keon Grady cleared 6-0 for second in the high jump, sophomore Nico Morales cleared 14-0 for second in the pole vault and Bill Goldsborough threw the shot 56-7 for second place.

Senior Tymir Kizee added two points with a fifth-place finish in the 55-meter high hurdles in 7.86, and Delsea’s 1,600-meter relay team, running in an unseeded heat, placed fifth in 3:32.13 with the team of Szwed, junior Jimmy Vargo and sophomores Shaky Hannah and Damir Lomax.

Deptford did all its scoring in four events. Juniors Naseem Smith and Javon Sanders ran second and third in the high hurdles in 7.73 and 7.79 for 14 huge points, sophomore Khion Smith ran 6.61 for second in the 55-meter dash, juniors Marcel Washington (6-0) and Tyrece Brown (5-10) placed third and fifth in the high jump and the 4-by-4 of Smith, Brown, señor Hasan Hamilton and Sanders ran 3:28.55 for third place.

Junior Dennisha Page of Wilson ran a big PR of 7.20 to win the state Group 3 title at 55 meters Friday evening at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Page’s previous PR was a 7.27 to win sectionals last weekend, but before that she hadn’t run faster than 7.46. Last year at states she placed 20th in 7.68.

But this year, Page won handily over senior Nicole Vadon of Pascack Hills, the North 1 sectional champion, who was second in 7.34, about one meter back.

Page’s time is third-fastest by a South Jersey girl this year and it looks like it matches the Woodrow Wilson FAT school record. Fametta Lewis also ran 7.20 early in the 2008 season. Artrelia Turner ran a hand-timed 7.1 back in 1986.

 

The state Group 3 girls championships weren’t 15 minutes old and Winslow Township had already scored 18 points.

Winslow opened the meet Friday afternoon at the Bennett Center in Toms River with a 1-3-5 finish in the 400, with senior Flora Ahiarakwe winning in 57.67, senior Shakira Dancy third with a season-best 58.55 and sophomore Janeya Hammond fifth with an indoor PR of 58.71.

Pennsauken freshman Jade Pope, a 5-6 high jumper, ran a big personal best 57.79 for second. Her previous PR was 59.22 at sectionals. Her time is fastest by a South Jersey freshman since 2007, when English Gardner of Eastern — who went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter relay — ran 56.29 to win the Meet of Champions.

Winslow is seeking its eighth state indoor championship and fifth in the last seven years.

Rowan senior Harrison Escoffery joined the 7-foot club last weekend, winning the high jump at the Fastrack National Invite at the Ocean Breeze facility with his first lifetime seven-foot clearance.

Escoffery, a Hackensack graduate, opened at 6-6 1/4 and cleared on his first attempt. He and Tra-C Davis of Shippensburg then were both clean at 6-8 1/4 and 6-10 1/4. Both then missed all three tries at 7-0 1/4, so some sort of jump-off was held.

According to the results, both cleared 6-11 and the bar was moved up to 6-11 3/4 and both missed. But instead of the bar moving back down, according to the results it moved up to 7-0 1/4, which they both cleared. Then it moved up to 7-1 1/2, which they both missed. But instead of the bar moving back down, apparently that was the end of the competition and they tied for first. Davis has a PR of 7-1 from earlier this month

In any case, Escoffery’s previous PR was 6-10 3/4 at a meet at Lehigh back in December. His outdoor PR is also 6-10 3/4 from the NJAC meet last spring.

Escoffery is also ranked 15th in NCAA Division 3 in the triple jump at 47-1 1/2.

Rowan’s school record indoors is 7-0 1/2, set three years ago by Jeffrey Tucker, who is now a Rowan senior and is a three-time All-America in the high jump and long jump. The overall program record of 7-0 3/4 was set in 1982 by Princeton graduate Pete Sharpless.

Escoffery is tied for the No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division 1 with Justin Lewis of Worcester State, who cleared 7-0 1/2 at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association championships earlier this month at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, Mass., just outside Boston. Lewis, a sophomore, has a PR of 7-1, set last spring when he won the NCAA Division 3 national title in Geneva, Ohio. Escoffery was ninth in that meet.

Escoffery was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Field Athlete of the Week for his performance.

Pitman sophomore Sebastien Reed had quite a breakthrough race at sectionals, running a 12-second PR of 9:43.78 to win the South Jersey Group 1 race at the Bennett Center.

Reed finished about 60 meters ahead of second-place Patrick Mulligan, a Haddon Township senior, who ran an indoor-PR 9:55.17. Mulligan was the outdoor Group sectional champion last spring.

Reed’s previous PR indoors or out was a 9:55.42 at one of the SJTCA meets last month, also at the Bennett Center. His outdoor PR is a 10:01.80 from last year’s Group 1 sectionals at Egg Harbor, when he placed seventh and missed advancing to states by 1-10th of a second.

Reed has run 4:35 for 1,600 meters this winter but only ran the 3,200 at sectionals. His 9:43 is No. 3 this year among New Jersey’s group 1 runners, but he’ll be the No. 2 seed at states in the 3,200 behind only senior Fahd Nasser of McNair Academic in Jersey City, who has run 9:28.00 this winter and won the North 2 Group 1 sectional race in 9:37.43. Nasser was also the state Group 1 XC champ this past fall and placed third in the M-of-C with a 15:49.

Reed’s time is fastest by 10 seconds among all South Jersey Group 1 runners this winter and seventh-fastest among all New Jersey sophomores. The only faster South Jersey sophomore this season is Cherokee’s Chris Spisak, who won the South Jersey Group 4 race in 9:38.64.

The state Group 1 meet is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bennett Center.

Rowan sophomore Nick Neville keeps closing in on the 36-year-old Rowan University indoor 800 record!

Neville, a South Brunswick graduate, ran another indoor PR, this time clocking 1:53.60 at the Fastrack National Invite at the Ocean Breeze facility this weekend on Staten Island.

Neville’s previous PR was 1:53.92 the previous weekend at a meet at Ithaca College in upstate New York.

His time is No. 4 in NCAA Division 1, according to the Direct Athletics database.

Neville placed second in his section to Columbia’s Jackson Storey. He was sixth overall against a field of Division 1 and post-collegiate runners.

With his 1:53.60, Neville ran within about half a second of his outdoor PR of 1:53.02, which he turned in last spring at the Hopkins Invitational in Baltimore.

He’s now only 3-100ths of a second off Rowan’s indoor school record of 1:53.57, set back in 1981 for Glassboro State by Tavo Rivera, who  won the 1977 Meet of Champions at 880 yards for Pemberton.

Neville placed fourth in the 2015 Meet of Champions with a 1:54.21 for South Brunswick.

Another indoor PR for Oklahoma senior Jessica Woodard, who threw 57-8 1/4 at the Tyson Invitational over the weekend at the Randall Tyson Track on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

Woodard, a Cherokee graduate, had a 56-8 1/4 in the trials and then popped her 57-8 1/4 on her second throw of the finals. She won by nearly 3 1/2 feet over second-place Laulauga Tausaga of Iowa, who threw 54-2.

Her throw is No. 18 in the world this year on the IAAF international list and and No. 7 among American women. It’s also No. 4 among collegians this year and No. 3 among U.S. collegians. it’s also No. 3 in Oklahoma history indoors.

Woodard’s previous indoor PR was 57-6 3/4, when she placed fifth at indoor NCAAs last year at the Gillian Track at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.

Her outdoor PR is 60-3, which she threw last spring, winning the Big 12 meet at Rock Chalk Park on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence.

Woodard’s next meet will be the Big 12 championships at Ames, Iowa, Feb. 23-24. Woodard is a four-time NCAA All-America in the shot put. At Cherokee, she won three Meet of Champions titles — two in the discus and one in the shot put. Her discus PR is 185-9.