From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Ajani Dwyer ran one of the fastest 100-meter dash times ever by a New Jersey sprinter Friday at the University of Virginia, although the time was heavily wind-aided.

Dwyer, a Penn State freshman from Washington Township, led all qualifiers among 75 sprinters in the 100 trials at the Virginia Challenge at Lannigan Field in Charlottesville with a time of 10.05.

The only New Jersey sprinters who’ve run that fast are Olympic gold medalists Carl Lewis and Dennis Mitchell. But the performance was assisted by a tailwind of 3.9 meters per second, nearly double the allowable 2.0 meters per second.

Dwyer’s wind-legal PR is 10.19 (with a 0.2 tailwind), which he ran two weeks ago in Gainesville, Fla.

With the wind correction calculator, you can convert a wind-aided time into a wind-legal time based on the extent of the tailwind. A 10.05 with no wind is equivalent to a 10.18 and a 10.05 with the highest legal wind – 2.0 – is equivalent to a 10.10.

So this is a remarkable performance that would have been a PR and the 4th-fastest time ever by a New Jersey sprinter with no wind, behind Lewis [9.86], Mitchell [9.91] and Mario Heslop [10.12].

According to the World Athletics database, Dwyer’s 10.05 is 20th-fastest in the world this year and 6th-fastest among U.S. men in any conditions.

The 100 final is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. Friday. Dwyer will be in Lane 4 and hopefully the wind will die down this evening.

Delran senior Dylan Husband popped a 10-foot javelin PR and the No. 2 throw in New Jersey this year.Thursday afternoon at Lenape Field Day.

Husband popped a 178-7 on his 1st attempt and won by 8 ½ feet over Burlington Township senior Dylan Fitzpatrick, 2nd with a 169-0, also on his 1st throw.

Husband had a PR of 122-6 as a sophomore and improved to 163-10 last spring when he placed 2nd at the Burlington County Open.

He’s competed in two major meets so far this spring and PR’d in both. First, he hit 167-3 at The College of New Jersey in Ewing earlier this month before his big PR on Thursday.

That 178-7 is the longest toss on record by a Delran thrower since the new javelin went into use in 2002. The previous record was 174-7 by Kevin Hejnas at the 2012 Woodbury Relays. The Delran record with the old javelin was 186-8 by Andre Fisher when he won South Jersey Group sectionals in Bridgeton in 1991.

Husband’s 178-7 is No. 1 in South Jersey this year and No. 2 in the state, behind only Markos Hantsoulis of Highland Park, who threw 203-9 this past weekend in a meet at Old Bridget.

It’s the best throw by a BCSL athlete since Jerry Fusco of Holy Cross hit 187-8 at the 2016 Woodbury Relays.

Collingswood’s Josh Forrest, a junior at St. Joe’s, ran a big 1,500 PR at Bucknell Saturday and the fastest time this year by a St. Joe’s miler.

Forrest ran 3:50.50 at the Bucknell Bison Invitational in Lewisburg, equivalent of a 4:08.94 full mile. His previous PR was 3:52.68 just a week earlier in Fairfaxc, Va. Before this month, his 1,500 PR was a 3:53.54 from Chester, Pa., in April of 2024. Forrest’s mile PR is 4:10.83 from an indoor meet in February at the Ott Center. His time is 8th-fastest this year in the Atlantic 10.

Forrest closed in 58.66 – the fastest lap in the field – ran his final 800 in 2:01.25 after coming through 700 meters in 1:49.26.

At Collingswood, Forrest ran 4:15.72 when he won the state Group 2 title in Somerset in June of 2021.

Dozens of college runners, jumpers and throwers from South Jersey will be in action next week at the 129th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

This list doesn’t even include South Jersey runners running relay legs for non-South Jersey schools, but there are a ton of good ones who are down for relay duty but not individual events, including Ajani Dwyer, Gabriel Moronta, Premier Wynn, Kadence Dumas and Alexis Tepper.

The complete college and Olympic development schedules and entries can be found here:

College Men: https://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/schedule.aspx?l=CM
College Women: https://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/schedule.aspx?l=CW
Olympic Development Men: https://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/schedule.aspx?l=ODM
Olympic Development Women: https://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/schedule.aspx?l=ODW

Remember, most Olympic Development fields won’t be announced until closer to the start of the meet.

College Men
400-Meter Relay, 1:15 p.m. Friday
Rowan: Masai Byrd, Shamar Love, Eli Hendricks, Evan Corcoran
Stockton: Carson Latham, Marcellus Malloy, Anthony McCullough, Devante Greene
Rutgers-Camden: Robert Bayard, Hector Diaz, Walter Pierce, Benjamin Wilson

800-Meter Relay, 2:45 p.m. Friday
Rowan: Rajahn Dixon, Robert McKinney, Eli Hendricks, James Coleman

1,600-Meter Relay – Eastern, 7:50 p.m. Friday
Rutgers-Camden: Josiah Saint Ellen, Walter Pierce, Jacob Dinerman, Kristopher Ewell

1,600-Meter Relay – College, 7:30 p.m., Friday
Rowan: James Coleman, Luke Halbruner, Samuel Milevoix, Lowrentzky Ambroise

100-Meter Dash
Jah’Mere Beasley, Rutgers [Sterling], 3:30 p.m. Friday

1,500-Meter Run6;45 p.m. Thursday
Kyle Rakitis, Rutgers [Kingsway]

5,000-Meter Run, 9 p.m. Thursday
Kevin Antczak, North Carolina State [Mainland Reg.]

110-Meter Hurdles, 3:30 p.m. Friday
Yashahya Brown, Rutgers [Washington Twp.]
Kwaku Nkrumah, Rowan [Teaneck]
Jason Agyemang, Rowan [North Plainfield]
Jamir Brown, Rowan [Riverside]

400-Meter Hurdles, 6:05 p.m. Thursday
Bryce Tucker, Rutgers [Pennsauken]
Lathan Brown, Rutgers [Deptford]

High Jump – College, 12 p.m. Friday
Isaiah Davenport, Holy Family [Pleasantville]

Pole Vault – Championship, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
Noah Kriesman, Rutgers [Cherry Hill East]

Pole Vault – College, 4 p.m. Friday
Nico Morales, Rutgers [Delsea]
Ryan Merlino, Rutgers [Oakcrest]

Long Jump – Championship, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
Greg Foster, Princeton [Lumberton]

Long Jump – College, 12 p.m. Friday
Nana Agyemang, Rowan [Parsippany]
Ahmad Brock, Monmouth [Egg Harbor Twp.]
Desi Stroud, Holy Family [Atlantic County Tech]

Triple Jump – College, 4 p.m. Friday
Jaden Johnson, East Stroudsburg [Timber Creek]
Ahmad Fogg, Stockton [Egg Harbor Twp.]
Desi Stroud, Holy Family [Atlantic County Tech]
Joshua Justin, Rowan [Clifton]

Shot Put – College, 3 p.m. Friday
Malicah Etienne, Cinnaminson [Georgian Court]
Damere Lassiter, Glassboro [Rider]
Christopher Johnson, Willingboro [Delaware State]

Discus – College, 12 p.m. Friday
Malicah Etienne, Cinnaminson [Georgian Court]
Jake Nwosu, Delsea [Army]
Franklin Simms, St. Augustine [Wagner]

Hammer – College, 5 p.m. Thursday
Jake Nwosu, Delsea [Army]

Javelin – Championship, 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Damitrius Hester [Rowan]

College Women
800-Meter Relay, 2;30 p.m. Friday
Rowan: Molly Lodge, Nevaeh Lorjuste, Mya Walker, Jasmine Broadway

1,600-Meter Relay, 6:50 p.m. Friday
Rowan: Molly Lodge, Ava Reilly, Jasmine Broadway, Navaeh Lorjuste
Stockton: Kayla Sullivan, Emma Conroy, Emma Petrolia, Kayla Kass

100-Meter Dash, 3:10 p.m. Friday
Nayla Jones, Timber Creek [Rutgers]

10,000-Meter Run, 9:50 p.m. Thursday
Helene Usher, Haddonfield [La Salle]

100-Meter Hurdles , 3:10 p.m. Friday
Arianna Smith, Pennsville [Howard]

400-Meter Hurdles , 5:45 p.m. Thursday
Aliya Garozzo, Paul VI [Duke]
Arianna Smith, Pennsville [Howard]
Molly Lodge, Woodstown [Rowan]

High Jump – Championship, 11:30 a.m. Thursday
Jenovia Logan, Sterling [Rutgers]
Alanna Woolfolk, Clayton [Rutgers]

High Jump – College, 4 p.m. Friday
Elaina Styer, Ocean City [Stockton]

Long Jump – College, 12 p.m. Friday
Mariah Stephens, Egg Harbor Twp. [Rider]

Shot Put – College, 12 p.m. Friday
Tey’ana Ames, Atlantic County Tech [Rutgers]
Emma Peretti, Hammonton [Yale]

Discus – College, 3:30 p.m. Friday
Michelle Pomatto, Egg Harbor Twp. [Stockton]

Javelin – Championship, 3:30 p.m. Friday
Isabelle Deal, Washington Twp. [Rowan]

Javelin – College, 5:15 p.m. Friday
Laurel Conway, Sterling [Delaware]
Diamond Eaddy, Salem [Rowan]

Olympic Development
5,000-Meter Run, 9 p.m. Friday
Jack Shea, Cherokee [Shore Athletic Club]
Matthew Coffey [Philadelphia Runner]
Tom Cooke, Glassboro [Unattached]

5,000-Meter Run, 8:35 p.m. Friday
Alyssa Condell, Timber Creek [Philadelphia Runner]

While South Jersey boys are represented by only two relay teams and seven individuals at next week’s Penn Relays, the girls contingent is much larger, with six relay teams and nine individuals.

Northern Burlington senior Liliah Gordon leads the South Jersey group at Penn in the 3,000. Indoors, Gordon set a state 5,000 record of 16:48.89 in Boston and ran the 3rd-fastest 3,200 in state history when she won the Meet of Champions in 10:13.41. She came through 3,000 meters in that race in 9:39.04, another South Jersey record. The fastest South Jersey girl ever in the Penn Relays 3,000 is Haddonfield’s recent South Jersey Track Hall of Fame inductee Marielle Hall, who ran 9:40.23 at the 2010 Penn Relays.

Errors and omissions please let met know in the comment section as soon as possible. For the full girls high school click here.

3,200-Meter Relay, 9 a.m., Friday
Winslow Township [9 a.m.]: Adaiah Arango, Amariah Arango, Tristan Hughes, Ava Millner
Northern Burlington [9:23 a.m.]: Emma Price, Kayla Leonhardt, Bex Kearns, Zoe Chou
Cherokee [9:34 a.m.]: Alyssa Suriano, Megan Niglio, Sofia Recinto, Maddie Meder
Moorestown [9:34 a.m.]: Sarah Brown, Gabrielle DeJoseph, Hope Edwards, Payton Derer
Haddonfield [9:34 a.m.: Tylin Regan, Madison Kelsey, Edie Green, Molly Mills

Distance Medley, 4:35 p.m. Friday
Ocean City: Chloe Care, Alana Clevenger, Carly Godfrey, Maeve Smith

3,000-Meter Run, 5 p.m. Friday
Liliah Gordon [Northern Burlington]

High Jump, 9:30 a.m. Friday
Egypt Bolan [Lindenwold]

Pole Vault, 9:30 a.m. Friday
Hannah Byrd-Leitner [Moorestown]
Rebecca Hoover [Haddonfield]

Triple Jump, 9:30 a.m. Friday
Ma’Syiah Brawner [Winslow Twp.]

Shot Put, 9:30 a.m. Friday
Ella Karp [Washington Twp.]

Discus, 9:30 a.m. Friday
Hannah Nuhfer [Delsea]
Brook-lynn Roberts [Winslow Twp.]
Sunsarai Moore [Glassboro]

Thanks in part to the terrible weather that we had every Saturday before the entry deadline, we’ve got a small group of South Jersey boys in the invitational events at next week’s 129th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Haddonfield’s distance medley team, ranked 16th indoors at 10:11.61 from a meet in February at the Ott Center, leads the South Jersey contingent, with Bennett Wright, Luke Andressen, Ben Andrus and Jack Brand expected to race in the Championship of America final at 5:15 p.m. Friday.

Here’s a look at the full slate of invitational acceptances. Errors and omissions please let met know in the comment section as soon as possible. The full boys high school schedule, including the 4-by-100s and 4-by-400s, can be found here.

3,200-Meter Relay, 9:30 a.m., Friday
Winslow Township: Dominic Bassey, David Duran, Vincent Perri, Chukwuemeka Ajaegbulemh

Distance Medley, 5:15 p.m. Friday
Haddonfield: Bennet Wright, Luke Andressen, Ben Andrus, Jack Brand

High Jump, 10 a.m. Thursday
Jayden DeLeon [Highland]
Ryan James [Gloucester]

Pole Vault, 12 p.m. Thursday
Marcus Hood [Deptford]
Henry Cifaloglio [Delsea]

Triple Jump, 12 p.m. Thursday
Zamir Chance [Bridgeton]

Shot Put, 9:30 a.m. Thursday
Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton]
Jonathan Harris [Delsea]

Lauren Fadeiro, a freshman from Rancocas Valley, recorded the No. 2 triple jump in Quinnipiac history Sunday at the Bucknell Bison Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa.

Fadeiro PR’d with a jump of 38-9 1/2. The only superior jumper in Quinnipiac history is Fair Lawn graduate Britney Del Mundo, who hit 39-7 at the 2022 ECAC Championships in Boston.

Fadeiro had PRs of 5-2, 18-3 3/4 and 38-7 3/4 at R.V., her triple jump PR coming when she was 2nd in the state Group 4 meet this past June in Somerset.

At Quinnipiac, she jumped 38-4 indoors when she placed 4th in the MAAC Championships at the Armory and then recorded an overall PR Sunday at Bucknell.

Fadeiro had an excellent series Sunday, with three jumps over 38 feet. After opening with a foul, she jumped 38-7 3/4 – her best jump as a collegian and tying her lifetime best – and then followed with a PR of 38-9 1/2 on her 3rd attempt. After a foul and a 36-4, she finished with another 38-footer, 38-0 1/4.

The best jump ever by a Rancocas Valley graduate is 39-6 by Kristina Tossas of Rutgers at the 2022 indoor Big Ten Championship in Geneva, Ohio.

Good for Quinnipiac for posting an all-time top-10 list on its web site, but I have never seen an all-time performance list that combines indoor and outdoor marks. Truly bizarre.

In any case, Fadeiro is also 10th in school history in the combined indoor/outdoor high jump at 5-0 1/4. She’s only long jumped in three meets at Quinnipiac, none outdoors, but she has a 17-2 1/4 PR from Ocean Breeze in February. That’s just short of the all-time Quinnipiac top-10.

Quinnipiac is an NCAA Division 1 school located between New Haven and Hartford that competes in the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association.

Quinnipiac

Mainland Regional’s Mawali Osunniyi, the JUCO indoor national high jump champ, took over the outdoor JUCO lead Saturday in a meet at Canyon, Texas.

Osunniyi, a sophomore at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, N. Mex., cleared 7-0 ½ at the Jo Meaker Classic and Multi at West Texas State’s Track & Field Complex at Buffalo Sports Park.

He’s the only 7-footer in the National Junior College Athletic Association ranks so far this spring.

Osunniyi cleared 6-7 ½ and 6-9 on his 1^st attempt and 6-11 ½ on his 2^nd. He got over the bar at 7-0 ½ on his 3^rd and final attempt before taking three attempts at 7-1 ¾, which would have been a lifetime best.

Osunniyi set his PR of 7-1 ½ in February of 2024 as a freshman at Connecticut at an indoor meet at the Armory. He won the indoor Big East last year with a 7-0 ¼ in Chicago and then won the outdoor Big East title last May at Villanova with a 6-11 ½. He matched that 7-1 ½ in his first meet at New Mexico JC in Lubbock. He cleared 6-11 ½ to win the JUCO national title last month, also in Lubbock.

He’s the 2^nd high jumper from Mainland Regional to clear at least 7-0. Paul Klemic cleared 7-4 ½ at the National Scholastic Championships in Raleigh, N.C., still the New Jersey state record 25 years later and No. 9 in U.S. history. He began his collegiate career at Northeastern, where he ran 14.244 and jumped 6-9 ½ and 24-8 ¾, then transferred to Stockton, where he still holds school records of 6-11 ¾, 14.05 and 25-2. Klemic was a two-time NCAA Division 3 long jump champ and a six-time All-America in the 110-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump.

7-4 ½ … Paul Klemic [Mainland Reg.], June 17, 2000, Raleigh, N.C.

Another 400 PR for Norfolk State sophomore Premier Wynn from Pennsauken Saturday at the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C.

Wynn ran 46.38 and finished 2nd among 85 runners, behind only Virginia Tech senior and UCLA transfer Samuel Herenton, who PR’d at 46.13.

Wynn’s time is 10th-fastest all-time by a South Jersey high school graduate and fastest by a Camden County high school graduate since Olympic gold medalist Denmis Mitchell of Edgewood ran 45.26 in Tampa in 1986 in one of his last 400s before be began focusing on the 100 and 200.

It was Wynn’s first outdoor 400 since he ran 47.25 at the same meet last year. His previous PR was 46.64 when he took 2nd at the indoor MEAC Championships in February in Virginia Beach. His previous outdoor PR was that 47.25 a year ago.

Wynn’s primary event is the 400-meter hurdles, and his 50.58 PR is 6th-fastest on the all-time South Jersey alumni list. He ran 50.70 in Tampa last month and that’s No. 18 in NCAA Division 1 this year. On the NCAA Eastern Region list Wynn is No. 9 in the 400IH.

In the MEAC, Wynn is No. 3 in the 200 at 20.91, No. 3 in the 400 with Saturday’s 46.38 and No. 1 by more than a second in the intermediates.

Here’s the updated all-time South Jersey alumni 400-meter dash list:

44.30 … Lamont Smith [Willingboro], June 19, 1996, Atlanta
45.26 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], April 12, 1986, Tampa, Fla.
45.49 … Darrell Bush [Woodbury], April 11, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
45.81 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], May 10, 2024, San Antonio, Texas
45.98 … Antonio Abney [Willingboro], May 29, 2010, Charlotte, N.C.
46.05 … Schefer Sherrer [Vineland], May 18, 2005, Levelland, Texas
46.13 … Brandon Outlaw [Moorestown], May 15, 2021, Raleigh, N.C.
46.19 … Maurice Ransome [Vineland], May 23-25, 1990, Naperville, Ill.
46.26 … Marvin Lewis [Willingboro], July 29, 2010, Nairobi, Kenya
46.38 … Premier Wynn [Pennsauken], April 12, 2025, Durham, N.C.

Millville’s Leah Howard, a sophomore at Texas Tech, threw a season-best and near-PR 163-10 in the javelin late Saturday night at the Texas A&M 44 Farms Invitational in College Station.

Her mark is No. 17 among U.S. women this year, according to the World Athletics database.

Her throw is 4th-best in the Big 12 Conference this year and just six inches off her PR of 164-4 set at last year’s Big 12 meet in Waco.

Howard is bidding to beome the first-ever 170-foot thrower from South Jersey. Kelly Yanucil from Bordentown and Mount St. Mary’s is the alumni record holder with a 169-9 at the 2017 Penn Relays.

On Saturday, Howard threw 155-10 on her 3rd and final throw of the trials and secured the 9th and final spot in the finals by about 2 ½ feet.

She hit her 163-10 on her first throw of the finals before finishing with two fouls.

Interesting that the final results convert 49.93 to 163-9, but TFRRS – the Track and Field Race Reporting System, which is the official database for NCAA qualifying – converts her mark to 163-10.

A 49.93 converts to 163.81234, which equals 163-9.74808, which should be 163-9, since there are no inches in javelin, hammer or discus marks and you always round down to determine an official mark. But the throw shows up officially as 163-10, so we’ll go with that for now.

Howard was the 2023 Meet of Champions winner at 159-4, the No. 2 mark in MoC history. She’s No. 2 in state history with her 163-1 at the 2023 Woodbury Relays. a