Malachi James of Burlington City wasted no time blasting his way near the top of New Jersey's all-time lists in the 100 and 200-meter dashes!!
The Syracuse-bound James burned wind-legal times of 10.40 and 21.13 when he won both races at Sunday's USATF New York Youth Challenge Series Opener at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York. This past indoor season, James broke the meet records at the Meet of Champions when he ran 6.22 for 55m and 21.28 in the 200m to raise his total of M of C wins to 4. He won the 100m and 200m as a sophomore in 2022 before missing the season last spring with hamstring injuries.
The 10.40 by James, which came with 1.3 tailwind, vaults him all the up to No. 7 in state history in all conditions. His 21.13 (+1.6 wind) places James tied at No. 9 in NJ history in all conditions with current New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers of Paramus Catholic.
The fastest time in state history in the 100 is the 10.30 wind-aided (+2.2) run by Danny Johnson of Rahway at the 2001 Meet of Champions. The fastest wind-legal time recorded is the 10.35 (+2.0) that Jamar Ervin of Camden at the 2000 Meet of Champions. FYI-Fitzroy Ledgister of St. Peter's Prep ran a wind-aided 10.30 (+5.4) at the 2022 New Balance Nationals, and the late Mario Heslop of Franklin ran 10.30 (no wind gauge) at the 2019 Central Jersey Group 4 Championships.
In the 200, the fastest NJ time ever recorded is the wind-aided 20.51 (+2.8) run by Antonio Tarantino of Paul VI in the trials at the 2018 New Balance National Championships. Tarrantino ran a wind-legal 21.07 (+0.1) when he finished third in the final that year.
The fastest wind-legal 200 is state history is the 20.93 time (+.05 wind) run by Johnson at the 2001 Meet of Champions. FYI-Shamali Whittle of Nottingham ran 20.55 in 2022 (no wind gauge), and Heslop dropped a 20.74 at the 2019 Meet of Champions (the wind gauge failed to record a reading).