From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Widener sophomore Thomas Flear from Clearview ran the 4th-fastest 10,000 in school history this weekend on his home track in Chester, Pa.

Flear ran 30:37.76 at Widener’s own Danny Curran Invitational on Saturday. That’s fastest so far this year in the NCAA Division 3 Metro Region and it’s 4th-fastest in the Middle Atlantic Conference but only 12 seconds out of the top spot. Runners from Lebanon Valley and Messiah who are ahead of him on the conference list compete in a different region – the Middle Atlantic.

In any case, Flear’s time is fastest by a Widener distance runner in six years and trails only the Sudanese refugee and West Philadelphia High graduate Macharia Yuot [29:21.08 at the 2005 Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.], Will McDermott of Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast Catholic in Upper Darby, Delaware County, Pa. [30:13.41 at Widener in 2018] and Matthew Kazanjian of Penncrest High in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pa. [30;32.53 at Widener in 2019] on the all-time Widener performance list.

Flear’s previous 10,000 PR was 30:46.66 at the same meet on the same track last March.

Flear also ranks 6th in school history in the 5,000 [14:39.41 last year at Widener] and 10th on the indoor 5,000 list [14:58.93 last year at Ocean Breeze].

At Clearview, Flear had PRs of 4:47.26 and 10:19.51. His 10,000 pace this weekend – 4:54 per 1,600 meters – is only 6 ½ seconds per mile over 6.2 miles slower than he ran for his 1,600 PR in high school.

Texas Tech sophomore Leah Howard from Millville won the javelin Thursday at the Masked Rider Open at Fuller Track and Field Complex in Lubbock, Texas.

Howard threw a season-best 154-3 and won by one inch over Bruna Viera de Jesus of New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, N. Mex. Viera de Jesus and Howard both hit their best throw on their 6th and final attempts, with Howard throwing last after a 152-1 on her 2nd attempt.

Howard threw a lifetime-best 164-4 last May at the Big Ten Championships in Waco, where she placed 6th. That’s No. 3 in Texas Tech history.

Howard set the South Jersey record of 163-1 at the 2023 Woodbury Relays.

Eastern’s Kadence Dumas, a sophomore at Delaware, ran an 800 PR and the 5th-fastest time in school history over the weekend at the Raleigh Relays.

Dumas ran 2:08.72, dropping her PR from 2:08.90 from last year’s Coastal Athletic Association Championships at Elon, N.C.

Racing in the 14th of 18 sections, Dumas was out in 63.28 and back in 65.44. She’s No. 3 in the Coastal Athletic Association, behind two seniors – Jordan Mozie of Hampton [2:06.78] and Fajr Kelly of North Carolina A&T [2:07.08].

Her time is fastest by a Delaware half-miler in six years, since both Michaela Meyer [2:07.02 also in Raleigh] and Jeanette Bendolph [2:08.69 in Elon, N.C.] ran slightly faster. (Meyer transferred to Virginia and won the 800 at the 2021 NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., in 2:00.28. Post-collegiately, she’s run 1:58.55.)

At Eastern, Dumas won the 2023 outdoor Meet of Champions in Somerset 2:10.44. She also ran 55.90 and 5:03.12.

Delaware women’s track records held by South Jersey athletes: Halima Scott of Camden Big Picture Learning Academy [ran for Wilson] in the indoor 400 [53.97] and outdoor 400 [53.01], Lenape’s Carly Pettipaw in the 600 [1:32.59] and Asha Quant of Holy Cross in the long jump outdoors [19-11 ½].

Up next for the Blue Hens is their own Delaware Invitational Saturday at Grant Stadium in Newark.

In her first meet for Rowan, Salem High’s Diamond Eaddy won the javelin at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa., Saturday and recorded the top mark so far in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Eaddy threw 125-9 on her 3rd attempt. She also had a 124-4 on her 2nd throw and a 120-10 on her first throw of the finals.

Eaddy spent her freshman year at Lincoln University in Lower Oxford Township, Chester County, where she PR’d at 125-11 in a different meet at Widener. She placed 2nd in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships last May in Salisbury, N.C., with a 118-0, and didn’t compete again until Saturday.

At Salem, Eaddy had a PR of 107-0 from the 2022 state Group 1 meet at Pennsauken. So she’s improved nearly 20 feet since high school.

The top three throwers in the NJAC so far are Eaddy at 125-9, Rowan senior and Isabelle Deal from Washington Township [122-0] and Rowan senior Dimitra Kossis from Haddon Heights [PR 114-2].

Deal, a four-time All-America (three times for Ursinus, once for Rowan), ranks 18th in NCAA Division 3 history with her 155-0 PR from May of 2023 in Selinsgrove, Pa. She’s the Ursinus javelin school record holder and the Rowan indoor and outdoor shot put school record holder.

 

Desi Stroud became the latest member of the South Jersey 24-foot club over the weekend with a huge long jump PR at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa.

Stroud, a sophomore from Atlantic County Vo-Tech, jumped 24-3, breaking the Holy Family outdoor school record of 23-6.

That 23-6 was initially achieved in March of last year by current Holy Family sophomore Odane Smith in Bridgewater, Va. Current Holy Family junior Javon Bowen jumped 23-6 on his final attempt at Widener Saturday, and Stroud jumped 24-3 on his final attempt. So Stroud either broke Smith’s record or broke a record shared by Smith and Bowen, depending what order they were jumping in Chester. Presumably, Stroud was jumping before Bowen in the finals since Bowen had a superior jump in the trials. If that’s the case, Stroud broke Smith’s record and then Bowen jumped 23-6 on the final attempt of the competition.

In any case, Stroud’s previous outdoor PR was 23-4 ¾ from a week earlier in Galloway Township, right up Route 9 from his hometown of Mays Landing. He has an indoor PR of 23-8 ¾ from Ocean Breeze in February 2024. His outdoor PR coming into the season was 22-1 ¼ when he placed 3rd in South Jersey Group 4 sectionals at Pennsauken in June 2023.

Stroud had a solid series, with jumps of 21-0, 22-1 ¼, 22-6, 23-1 ¾ and 22-0 leading up to his breakthrough 24-3.

It’s possible there was no wind gauge at the meet, which is insane for a major college track meet, but every jump has a 0.0 wind reading, so doesn’t look good. I’m trying to look into that. Hopefully, wind readings were taken, they’re just not in the results.

Stroud’s mark is No. 12 in NCAA Division 2 so far this year. Stroud, Bowen and Smith are the top three jumpers in the East Coast Conference.

He’s the 3rd long jumper from Atlantic County to jump 24 feet, following Mainland Regional’s Paul Klemic [25-2 PR in Waverly, Iowa, in 2005] and Absegami’s Demetrius Rooks [24-8 ½ in Greensboro, N.C., in 2016].

Here’s my best attempt at an all-time South Jersey alumni 24-foot long jump:

29-1 ¼ … Carl Lewis [Willingboro], Aug. 30, 1991, Tokyo
26-3 ¼ … Matt Rose [Bordentown], Mary 4, 1991, Knoxville, Tenn.
26-1 ¾ … Greg Foster [Lumberton], May 6, 2023, Philadelphia
26-1 ¾ … Chris Gillis [Pennsauken], May 12, 2006, Waco, Texas
26-1 ½i … Kerry Vivett [Edgewood], 1991, Track and Field News
26-1 ¼ … Mike Morrison [Willingboro], May 13, 2006, Fayetteville, Ark.
25-8 ¼ … Desmond Hamilton [Pennsauken], May 13, 2007, Princeton
25-7 … Jerome Robinson [Bordentown], July 20, 1991, New York
25-2 … Paul Klemic [Mainland Reg.], May 26, 2005, Waverly, Iowa
25-0 ¾ … Zach Manorowitz [Pennsville], May 7, 2022, Lawrenceville
24-11 ¾ … Antwan Dickerson [Pennsauken], May 24, 2018, Sacramento, Calif.
24-11 ¼ … Anthony Miles [Winslow Twp.], June 5, 2002, Brunswick, Maine
24-8 ½ … Demetrius Rooks [Absegami], May 6, 2016, Greensboro, N.C.
24-4 ¾ … Jeffrey-Jon Tucker [Eastern], April 1, 2016, Glassboro
24-3 ¾ … Mikhail Micheaux [Eastern], June 1, 2013, Egg Harbor Twp.
24-3 … Desi Stroud [Atlantic County Vo-Tech], March 28, 2025, Chester, Pa.
24-0 … Anthony Averett [Woodbury], April 28, 2012, Philadelphia

Big 1,500 PR for Wake Forest sophomore Grace Wassell from Highland this weekend at the Raleigh Relays.

Wassell ran 4:29.08, a huge drop from her previous official PR of 4:37.32 from a meet in Charlotte last March.

Although when she ran her mile PR of 4:51.12 indoors in Columbia, S.C., last month, she probably came through 1,500 meters somewhere around 4:31.6, but no 1,500 splits were taken (only 1,409 and 1,609, so we extrapolated).

In any case, that’s a big breakthrough for Wassell, who had a high school PR of 5:01.03 for a full mile from Armory Nationals in March 2022, equivalent of a 4:59.28 for 1,600 meters.

Wassell’s time is fastest by a South Jersey collegian since Kristin Siegle of Buena and Rider ran 4:22.45 at NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville in 2019. That was Siegle’s final race.

Kingsway’s Damon Dukes Jr. ran the 7th-fastest 100 in school history and a huge PR Saturday in his first outdoor race since transferring to the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Dukes won the 100 at the Towson (Md.) Invitational at Johnny Unitas Stadium in 10.62. His previous PR was a 10.89 this past May in the prelims of the America East Championships at UMBC – as a freshman at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

So his NJIT PR was run at UMBC and his UMBC PR was run at Towson.

Either way, that’s a huge drop of more than a quarter of a second, which you just don’t see.

That 10.62 ties Negasi Gerima for 6th-fastest in school history. Gerima ran 10.62 in 2000. Couldn’t find the meet. Disappointed in myself for that.

Anyway, Dukes’ high school PR at Kingsway was 10.92 at Cherokee in May of 2023 as a Kingsway senior. He went on to place 3rd at Group 4 states in Somerset in 10.94.

Dukes actually PR’d with a 10.80 in the trials. He also ran 21.97 in the 200. He PR’d at 21.70 as a NJIT freshman in the America East prelims in Boston in February of 2024. His high school PR was 22.20 at the 2023 Gloucester County Championships at Deptford, where he was 2nd to Washington Township’s Ajani Dwyer.

Indoors, Dukes ran 6.91 and 21.82, 10th on the UMBC indoor all-time performance list. His 6.91 is 3-100ths of a second off the top-10.

Dukes set the NJIT record over 60 meters with a 6.89 in the prelims of the 2024 America Eat meet in Boston last February.

In the 100 at Towson, Lindenwold graduate Fitzgerald Asher, a freshman at Camden County College, ran a PR 11.04 in the prelims and 11.07 in the final. Asher’s high school PR was 11.17 at 2003 South Jersey Group 2 sectionals at Delsea.

 

An auspicious outdoor track debut this weekend for Rider freshman Dylan Giloley from Washington Township.

Giloley won the 100 at the Rider 5-Way meet in Lawrenceville in 12.09 into a 0.8 meters-per-second headwind.

That’s 4th-fastest in Rider history and fastest in 12 years, since freshman La’tazah Coleman of Appoquinimink High in Middletown, Del., set the school record of 11.95 in Richmond in March 2013.

The only other Rider sprinters to go faster are Lillian Laboy of Plainfield [12.01 in 1994] and Mia Riley of Caldwell [12.03 in 2012].

Other South Jersey sprinters on the Rider all-time 100 list are Mariah Stephens of Egg Harbor Township [4th at 12.13], Genesis Walker of Bordentown 5th at 12.15] and Tierra Taylor of Pemberton [tied for 9th at 12.32].

Indoors, Giloley ran 7.66 for 60 meters at the Ott [No. 4 in school history] and 24.89 for 200 meters in Boston [No. 2 in school history]. She placed 4th in the 200 and 7th in the 60 at the MAC Championships at the Armory last month.

Quite an outdoor college track debut for Highland’s Cortland Webb, a true freshman at Rider.

In his first 400-meter hurdles race in college, Webb finished 1st with a lifetime-best 54.99 Saturday at the Rider 5-Way meet in Lawrenceville.

Webb’s previous PR was a 55.27 this past May at the Tri-County Conference Championships at Delsea.

Webb is coming off a promising indoor season, which included a big 800 PR of 1:56.84 at Ocean Breeze last month. His high school PR was 1:58.38, also from Ocean Breeze.

Webb’s time is fastest in the Metro Atlantic Conference so far this outdoor season and fastest by a Rider freshman since Noah Rivera-Sharp ran 53.83 at the 2019 MAC championships in West Long Branch.

Hammonton’s Anthony Liakhnovich got his senior year off to an explosive start with the No. 2 outdoor shot put mark in South Jersey history and the No. 2 discus throw in the state this year.

Liakhhnovich won the shot at 65-1 ¾ and the discus with a 172- 6 at the Delsea Crusader Field Meet Saturday.

Liakhnovich threw 66-3 ¾ when he won Boston Nationals indoors, but his 65-1 ¾ trails only Bridgeton’s Braheme Days Jr. on the all-time South Jersey outdoor list. Days threw 68-8 ½ when he won the 2012 Penn Relays.

Days and Liakhnovich are also No. 1 and 2 in South Jersey history indoors, Days with his 70-8 at 2012 Easterns at the Armory and Liaknovich with his 66-3 ¾ in Boston.

Liakhnovich’s 65-1 ¾ Saturday is No. 20 all-time in New Jersey history outdoors. He’s No. 7 in state history indoors with his 66-3 ¾.

According to the MileSplit national database, Liakhnovich now ranks 3rd in the country in the shot.

Liakhnovich came into the meet with an outdoor PR of 62-10 from the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea last May. He actually surpassed that with a 63-3 ½ on his 1st attempt and a 64-6 ¼ on his 2nd before hitting the 65-1 ¾ on his final attempt.

Senior Jayson Ross of Timber Creek, senior Jayron Lewis of Williamstown and Lionelray Rodriguez of Cumberland Regional also surpassed 53 feet.

Ross threw an outdoor-best 54-11 ½, surpassing his 54-5 ½ from Group 3 sectionals last May at Delsea. He threw 56-6 indoors. Lewis was 3rd with a lifetime-best 54-8. His previous PR was a 54-2 ¼ from indoor Group 4 sectionals at the Bubble last month. His outdoor PR was 53-5 from Group 4 states last June in Somerset. Rodriguez threw 53-5 for 4th, improving his PR from 50-6 ¼ in January at the Bubble. His throw was a 12-foot outdoor PR from his 41-0 ¼ at Group 3 sectionals last spring at Delsea.

Liakhnovich, Ross, Lewis and Rodriguez now rank 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th on the 2025 outdoor state list.

Liakhnovich also won the discus with a 172-6 on his 1st attempt, leading four throwers over 150 feet. Liakhnovich has a PR of 181-3 from last year’s Meet of Champions at Pennsauken.

Also over 150 feet were Millville junior Jamal Wallace and Cinnaminson senior Victor Meira, Wallace in 2nd with a PR 156-3 and Meira 3rd with a 154-1. Braeden Dushkin of Mount St. Joseph School in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pa., also surpassed 150 feet, 4th in 152-9.

Wallace’s previous PR was 147-9 from his win at last year’s Cumberland County Championships at Bridgeton. Meira has a PR of 159-10 at Delsea last May.

Liakhnovich, Wallace and Meira rank 2nd, 3rd and 4th in New Jersey so far this year. Benjamin Shue of Bergen Catholic, the defending Meet of Champions winner, threw 183-8 in Austin, Texas,

All-Time South Jersey Outdoor Shot Put List
68-8 ½ … Braheme Days Jr. [Bridgeton] 2012
65-1 ¾ … Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton], 2025
64-10 ½ … Jon Kalnas [Paulsboro], 1997
64-6 ¼ … Ron Dayne [Overbook], 1996
64-5 … Ray Wilks [Bridgeton], 1995
64-4 ¼ … Chris Robinson [Penns Grove], 1990
62-10 ¼ … Nick Pulli [West Deptford], 2014
63-2 ½ … Jason Nwosu [Delsea], 2022
63-0 ½ … Jonathan Harris [Delsea], 2024
63-0 … Lou Gordon [Bridgeton], 1995
61-11 ¾ … Kamron Kobolak [Cinnaminson], 2018
61-10 ½ … Harry Dilks [Pitman], 1971
61-6 … Josh Awotunde [Delsea], 2013
61-4 ½ … Bubba Green [Millville], 1976
61-4 … Kofi Yamoah [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2013
61-3 … Jayden Farmer [Pennsauken], 2024
61-2 ½ … Matthew Huckabee, [Timber Creek], 2010
60-11 ½ … Ryan Knight [Delsea], 1996
60-11 ¼ … Damere Lassiter [Glassboro], 2024
60-11 ……. Lucciano Pizarro [Cherokee], 2019
60-7 1/2 … Ell Ash [Willingboro], 2004
60-6 ½ … Tati White [Willingboro], 1994
60-5 ¼ … Chris Bolden [Edgewood], 1990
60-3 … Dontaye Rivera [Pleasantville], 2012
60-1 … Bill Banks [Wilson], 1973

All-Time New Jersey 65-Foot Club
75-10 ¼ …..Nick Vena [Morristown], 2011
69-8 ¼ …..Kevin DiGiorgio [Bayonne], 1997
69-2 … Benjamin Shue [Bergen Catholic], 2024
68-8 ½ … Braheme Days Jr. [Bridgeton] 2012
68-3 … Andy Papathanassiou [Emerson], 1985
68-0 ¾ …..Luke Grodeska [St. Rose], 2016
68-0 ¼ …..Glenn DiGiorgio [Bayonne], 2002
67-4 ¼ …..Jordan West [Rahway], 2017
67-3 ¾ … Josh Huisman [St. Rose], 2024
66-4 ½ … Elvin Bethea [Trenton], 1964
66-4 …..Rudy Guevara [Essex Catholic], 1971
66-0 ½ … Steve Adams [St. Joe’s-Montvale], 1970
66-0 ¼ … Mike Alleman [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 2008
65-10 ¼ … Bruce Heide [Springfield], 1975
65-9 … Fabian Gonzalez [Southern Reg.], 2023
65-8 … Vaughn Skidmore [Ocean Twp.], 1976
65-4 ¾ … Cole Tucker [Colts Neck], 2021
65-2 …..Bob Mattia [Union], 1975
65-2 … Aaron Echternacht [Hopewell Valley], 1991
65-1 ¾ … Anthony Liakhnovich [Hammonton], 2025
65-1 ½ … Chris Licata [Gill St. Bernard’s], 2018
65-1 … Ron Klotzer [Union], 1974
65-0 … Bob Mattia [Union], 1975