From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Last weekend, Liliah Gordon placed 7th in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional to earn a spot at Foot Locker Nationals.

Incredibly, she won’t be the only competitor in San Diego next weekend who attended Northern Burlington Middle School.

Sadie Krueger, a freshman at Moanalua High School in Honolulu, placed 6th Saturday in the West Regional in Walnut, Calif., and will join Gordon at Nationals.

Krueger attended Northern Burlington Middle School through last spring and was the 2023 New Jersey middle school cross country champion last fall before her family moved to Hawaii.

One more year and Krueger and Gordon would have been teammates. But Gordon and Krueger are good friends and will be reunited at the 45th annual Foot Locker National race at Balboa Park on Saturday.

Gordon ran 18:01 at Franklin Park last Saturday to earn one of the 10 qualifying spots. Krueger ran 18:27 this Saturday at Mt. SAC. She came through the mile in 5:37 in 6th place and two miles in 11:41 in 7th place. There were 107 runners in the West Region race and Krueger was the only one from Hawaii.

Krueger ran 5:07.91 for 1,600 meters last spring in a middle school race at Cherokee and 5:09.53 for a full mile at West Philly Nationals. She also ran 10:27.79 for 3,000 meters at West Philly Nationals.

This fall she placed either 1st or 2nd in every XC race she entered, capped by a triumph in the Honolulu Championships at Keopuolani Regional Park in Kahului, where she ran a 5,000 PR of 18:04.22.

Krueger is one of only two freshmen who will be in the field of 40 runners at Nationals. Tatum Flach of Park City, Utah, who finished two seconds and one spot in front of Krueger in the West Regional, is also a freshman.

The girls national championship is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. PST – that’s 12:15 p.m. EST – Saturday at Balboa Park in downtown San Diego.

Dylan Giloley, a freshman from Washington Township, ran the 4th-fastest 60-meter dash in Rider history Saturday in her collegiate debut.

Giloley placed 3rd at the Penn Opener – the inaugural meet at Penn’s Ott Center – in 7.66, just 9-100ths off the school record of 7.57 set by Pemberton graduate Tierra Taylor in the prelims at the 2017 Metro Atlantic Championships at the Armory.

Giloley broke her previous PR of 7.67 set at Boston Nationals this past March. That was her only previous 60-meter dash.

All-Time Rider 60-Meter Dash List
7.57 … Tierra Taylor [Pemberton], 2017
7.65 … La’tazah Coleman [Appoquinimin (Del.)], 2013
7.62 … Mariah Stephens [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2024
7.66 … Dylan Giloley [Washington Twp.], 2025
7.67 … Cleopatra Morrison [Long Branch], 2015

Another race, another historic performance for Penn State freshman Ajani Dwyer, who popped a 6.55 in the final of the Bison Opener Saturday at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.

That’s just 1-100th of a second off the school record of 6.54 set last year by Olympian Cheickna Traore and 3rd-fastest ever by a U.S. junior (an athlete who doesn’t turn 20 in the year a performance was made).

https://x.com/TrackGazette/status/1865533235876290750

Dwyer ran [https://sjtrackblog.com/2024/12/07/in-first-collegiate-race-ajani-dwyer-runs-2nd-fastest-60-time-in-penn-state-history/] and topped that with a time that would have placed 2nd at the NCAA Division 1 Championships last year (1-100th of a second out of 1st).

The only faster times on record by U.S. juniors are a 6.52 by D’Angelo Cherry in Boston in March 2009 and a 6.54 by Jordan Anthony in Albuqurque in March of 2023.

The only faster times ever recorded by New Jersey sprinters were both run by Olympians. In 1994, Dennis Mitchell of Edgewood ran 6.53 in Stuttgart, Germany, and last year Cheickna Traore of Ramapo ran 6.54 at the Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

Dwyer’s time puts him at No. 79 on the all-time U.S. list but only 5-100ths of a second out of the top 30.

In high school, Dwyer ran one 60 and ran 6.79 at the Millrose Games at the Armory last February.

Dwyer missed the college freshman record of 6.49 by 6-100ths of a second. It was set by Micah Williams of Oregon at a meet at the Air Force Cadet Field House in Colorado Springs, Colo., in February 2021, and matched by Williams when he won the NCAA title in Fayetteville a few weeks later.

Dwyer won the race by nearly 3-10ths of a second over Julian Sanders of St. Francis, who was 2nd in 6.84.

Penn State isn’t scheduled to race again until the Nittany Lion Challenge at Penn State on Jan. 18.

Dwyer’s time qualifies him for the USATF U.S. Indoor Championships in February at Ocean Breeze, although it’s the weekend before Big Ten’s in Indianapolis, so it’s unlikely he’d compete.

Ajani Dwyer, in his first collegiate race, ran the 2nd-fastest 60-meter dash time in Penn State history.

Dwyer, a freshman from Washington Township, ran 6.60 in the qualifying heats at the Bison Opener at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.

His time equals the 9th-fastest in U.S. history in the Under-20 category, which means an athlete can’t turn 20 in the year that he records the mark.

It’s also tied for 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey native and fastest by a South Jersey sprinter since Olympic gold medalist Dennis Mitchell from Edgewood High ran 6.53 in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1994.

The only faster time in Penn State history is the school-record 6.54 by Olympian Cheickna Traore when he won the Big Ten Championships this past February at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Traore, who ran for Snyder High in Jersey City and spent his first three years at Ramapo, went on to win the NCAA title at 200 meters outdoors in 19.95 and ranked 12th in the world last year at 19.93. He ran the 200 at the Olympics, representing his native Ivory Coast.

Dwyer’s previous PR was 6.76 at the Millrose Games at the Armory in February. That was his only high school 60.

Dwyer also broke the facility record of 6.67 set by Toby Makoyawo of Boston University in both the trials and final at the 2022 Patriot League Championships.

The final is coming up later Saturday.

Here’s the all-time New Jersey 60-meter dash alumni list:

6.53 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], Feb. 6, 1994, Stuttgart, Germany
6.54 … Cheickna Traore [Snyder], Feb. X, 2024, Geneva, Ohio
6.59 … Michael Garvin [Englewood], Feb. 28, 2009, Blacksburg, Va.
6.60 … Ajani Dwyer [Washington Twp.], Dec. 7, 2024, Lewisburg, Pa.
6.60 … Carl Lewis [Willingboro], Feb. 10, 1989, San Sebastián, Spain
6.66 … Damiere Byrd [Timber Creek], Jan. 25, 2013, Blacksburg, Va.
6.71 … Malachi James [Burlington City], Feb. 24, 2024, Staten Island, N.Y.
6.72 … Anwar Moore [Camden], Dec. 7, 2003, Newport, England
6.72 … Nadale Buntin [J.P. Stevens], Feb. 2,3 2023, Geneva, Ohio
6.74 … A’nan Bridgett [West Windsor-Plainsboro South], Jan. 6, 2023, Staten Island
6.75 … Jamil Benjamin [Cumberland Reg.], Dec. 5, 2008, Ames, Iowa
6.75 … Jeff Porter [Franklin], Jan. 25, 2014, Glasgow, Scotland
6.75 … Fitzroy Ledgister [St. Peter’s Prep], March 11, 2022, New York

Desi Stroud, a Holy Family sophomore from Mays Landing and Atlantic City Tech, opened his indoor season with a big long jump win at the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze.

Stroud leaped 23-3 ½ on his final attempt to finish on top of a field that saw seven jumpers go 22-0 or better, including three from South Jersey.

Stroud came up just five inches shy of his lifetime-best 23-8 ¾ from a meet at Ocean Breeze last February.

Morgan State sophomore Jordan Ra-Akbar jumped 23-0 ½ on his final attempt for 2nd place.

Stroud had four jumps over 22 feet, including a 22-2 ½ on his 1st attempt, a 22-11 ½ on his 2nd and a 23-0 ½ on his 4th.

Freshman Jamir Brown of Rowan, who destroyed the NCAA Division 3 60-meter hurdles record earlier in the day in the first indoor track meet of his life, placed 4th at 22-6 ¾ after a long day of hurdling, and Stockton sophomore Ahmad Fogg of Egg Harbor Township, who was at Penn State last year, placed 6th at 22-0 ½.

Fogg has a collegiate PR of 23-6 ¾ from a meet this past January in Ann Arbor, Mich., and he jumped a wind-legal 24-4 ¼ at West Philly Nationals in the spring of 2023. Brown jumped a PR 23-8 ¾ when he won the state Group 1 title last spring in Somerset.

Paulsboro graduate Jamile Gantt, a high jump All-America as a freshman, opened his sophomore season with a PR.

Gantt cleared 6-10 ¼ on his 3rd attempt to win the event at the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze.

That’s No. 4 in Rowan history and a quarter of an inch above his lifetime-best 6-10, which he hit as a senior at Paulsboro in a meet at Delsea and again when he placed 7th at the NCAA Division 3 Championships in May in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Gantt’s previous indoor PR was 6-7 ½ at the AARTFC Championships in March in Rochester, N.Y. He didn’t compete indoors at Paulsboro.

Gantt passed opening height of 6-0 ½ and then cleared 6-2 ½, 6-4 ½ and 6-6 ¼ on his first attempt.

With the bar going up to 6-8 ¼, there were three jumpers left and all were clean – Gantt and two Holy Family jumpers, Nishorn Pierre, a three-time NCAA Division 2 high jump All-America with a PR of 7-2 ¼, and Isaiah Davenport of Pleasantville.

Davenport missed three attempts at 6-8 ¼, which would have matched his PR, but Gantt cleared it on his 2nd attempt and Pierre on his 3rd.

From there, the bar went up to 6-10 ¼, which Pierre failed to clear, while Gantt got over the bar on his 3rd attempt.

After locking up the win, Gantt took three jumps at 7-0 ¼. Rowan’s indoor school record is 7-0 ½, set by Eastern’s Jeffrey Jon Tucker at the 2015 JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Gloucester County alumni record is 7-1 ½, set by Williamstown graduate Devin Bradham of Penn State at the Jim Thorpe Invitational in University Park in May of 2019.

Here are the top marks I could find from Glassboro State / Rowan high jumpers!

7-2 ¼ … Jeffrey Jon Tucker [Eastern], Penn Relays, Philadelphia, April 27, 2018
6-11 ¾ … Mark Kelly [Audubon], May 29, 1978
6-10 ¾ … Harrison Escoffery [Hackensack], Widener Invitational, Chester, Pa., April 21, 2018
6-10 ¼ … Jamile Gantt [Paulsboro], NCAA Division 3 Championships, Myrtle Beach, S.C., May 25, 2024
6-9 … Pete Sharpless [Princeton], May 28, 1982

Rutgers sophomore Jenovia Logan opened her sophomore season with a big high jump PR and the No. 3 clearance in Rutgers indoor track history.

Logan cleared a lifetime-best 5-10 to win the high jump at the Rutgers Holiday Classic at the Armory in New York.

Logan, whose previous PR was a 5-7 from a meet last April in Tampa. Her previous indoor PR was 5-6 ½ twice last February. At Sterling, she cleared 5-6 numerous times.

The only Rutgers women to go higher than Logan indoors are Courteney Campbell, who set the school-record 5-11 ½ in a meet at the Armory in February 2022, and Rhonda Rogombe, who cleared 5-10 ¾ in a meet at Rutgers’ Bubble in January 2016.

Including indoor and outdoor marks, Logan’s 5-10 ranks tied for 5th in Rutgers history.

Logan passed the first four heights before clearing 5-3 and 5-5 on her 1st attempts. She cleared 5-6 on her 2nd attempt and a PR 5-7 ¼ on her 1st.

Three jumpers were still left when the bar went up to 5-8 ½, a group that also included Clayton graduate Alanna Woolfolk, a Rutgers freshman in her first college meet.

Logan was the only jumper to clear 5-8 ½, but Woolfolk moved into the No. 9 spot in Rutgers history indoors with her 5-7 ¼. Her lifetime best is 5-8, which she cleared multiple times at Clayton.

Logan had the bar moved up to 5-10, which she cleared on her 3rd attempt, then took three shots at 6-0.

Logan is only the 7th South Jersey woman ever to clear 5-10 indoors or outdoors. Here’s that full list:

6-3 … Priscilla Frederick [Paul VI], July 22, 2015, Toronto, Canada
6-1 ½ … MaryBeth Labosky [Holy Cross], April 17, 1992, Lawrence, Kan.
6-0 ¾ … Kenady Wilson [Willingboro], April 23, 2022, Greensboro, N.C.
5-10 ½ … Megan Kirschling [West Deptford], June 2, 2012, South Plainfield
5-10 … Tierra Hooker [Timber Creek], June 9, 2018, Mansfield Twp.
5-10 … Bryanna Craig [Millville], April 14, 2022, West Monroe, La.
5-10 … Jenovia Logan [Sterling], Dec. 6, 2024, New York

 

After running the 7th-fastest hurdles time in NCAA Division 3 history in his first college race, Riverside grad Jamir Brown destroyed the NCAA Division 3 record in his first collegiate final.

Racing at the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island, Brown raced away from teammate and NCAA Division 3 outdoor national champion Kwaku Nkrumah with a mind-blowing time of 7.72 in the 60-meter hurdles.

This was Brown’s first final ever over the 42-inch hurdles.

Brown broke the NCAA Division 3 record of 7.75 set at the 2014 NCAA Division 3 Championships at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb., by Luke Campbell of Salisbury (Md.) University. In the trials, Brown ran 7.86, the fastest ever by a New Jersey Athletic Conference hurdler.

Brown’s time is tied for 3rd-fastest ever by a South Jersey hurdler at any level. Camden’s Anwar Moore – who was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2007 outdoors – ran 7.50 in Boston in the trials of the USATF Championships in February 2008 and Olympic bronze medalist Jack Pierce ran 7.52 in Fairfax, Va., in February of 1995. Willingboro’s Isaac Williams ran 7.72 in Houston in 2015.

Only 27 hurdlers in NCAA Division 1 ran as fast as 7.72 last year, including only three freshmen. World Athletics does not maintain an all-time men’s Under-20 performance list, but going through results from the last 15 years it would likely be somewhere inside the top 20. I’ll keep working on that.

Rowan junior Kwaku Nkrumah, the NCAA outdoor champion over the 110-meter highs last spring, placed 2nd in a personal-best 7.92. His previous PR was a 7.93 when he won the NJAC Championships at Ocean Breeze this past February.

That makes him the No. 9 performer in NCAA Division 3 history with the 20th-fastest time ever recorded. Nkrumah is a graduate of Teaneck High School, also the alma mater of your From the Backstretch scribe.

Brown’s time is 8th-fastest all-time by a New Jersey hurdler over the 60-meter highs. Here’s a look at that list:

7.46 … Jeff Porter [Franklin Twp.], Feb. 1, 2014, Mondeville, France
7.50 … Renaldo Nehemiah [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], March 10, 1989, Madrid, Spain
7.50 … Anwar Moore [Camden], Feb. 24, 2008, Boston
7.52 … Jack Pierce [Woodbury], Feb. 25, 1995, Fairfax, Va.
7.55 … Devon Hill [Trenton], March 10, 2012, Nampa, Idaho
7.66 … Cory Poole [East Orange], Feb. 14, 2020, Clemson, S.C.
7.69 … Guy Rose [Wayne Hills], Feb. 24, 2001, State College, Pa.
7.72 … Isaac Williams [Willingboro], Jan. 9, 2015, Houston
7.72 … Jamir Brown [Riverside], Dec. 6, 2024, Staten Island
7.73 … Todd Matthews [Notre Dame], Feb. 17, 2001, Blacksburg, Va.

In his first collegiate race, Washington Township’s Yashahya Brown ran the 3rd-fastest hurdles time in Rutgers history Friday at the Armory.

Brown won the Rutgers Holiday Classic in 7.86 in his first race over the 42-inch hurdles. Brown is one of two college freshmen from South Jersey (with the same last name) to run 7.86 on Friday in their first college race. Jamir Brown of Riverside ran 7.86 at Ocean Breeze, the 7th-fastest time in NCAA Division 3 history. Yashahya and Jamir Brown ran 1-2 last spring in the Meet of Champions hurdles.

Rutgers hurdlers from South Jersey ran 1-2-4, with freshman Eric Foster Jr. from Willingboro 2nd in 8.23 and Bryce Tucker from Pennsauken 4th in 8.31 in his first collegiate indoor hurdles race.

The only Rutgers hurdlers faster than Brown are Chris Serrao [7.74 at the 2023 Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio] and Kyle Grady [7.84 at the 2010 Big East Championships at the Armory]. Serrao’s 7.74 is the Rutgers freshman record.

In his first college race, Riverside graduate Jamir Brown smashed Rowan’s 60-meter hurdles school record, and he broke a record held by an NCAA champion.

In the trials of the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze, Brown led all qualifiers for the finals in 7.86. He broke the school record of 7.93 set by Kwaku Nkrumah when he won the finals of the New JerseyAthletic Conference meet on the same track last February. Nkrumah went on to win the outdoor NCAA Division 3 title in 13.77 this past May in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

This was Brown’s first race ever over 42-inch hurdles.

Brown’s time makes him the 7th-fastest performer in NCAA Division 3 history, according to the USTFCCCA all-time lists.

It appears that Brown’s time is fastest ever by an NCAA Division 3 freshman. The fastest listed freshman time is a 7.99 by Deyton Love of Wartburg in 2022 in Waverly, Iowa. Several athletes are listed without a grade, but I checked every one who ran faster than 7.86 who doesn’t have a grade listed and none were freshmen.

Brown had a huge senior year last spring for Riverside, placing 2^nd in the Meet of Champions in the 110-meter hurdles and winning state titles in both hurdles races and the long jump.

Nkrumah ran 8.04, the second-fastest time in the trials. Willingboro’s Anaias Hughes, a junior, ran 8.31 and also advanced to the final. We’ll have more after the final!