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Billy Hill raced his way into the Rutgers record book with an electrifying performance at Saturday's Big Ten Invitational at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Hill, a redshirt junior at Rutgers, shredded a 48-year-old school record when he threw down a 4:02.11 to place fourth in the mile on the 300-meter track, smashing the Rutgers indoor record of 4:05.9 that Ron Speirs ran at the Metropolitan Championships on Feb. 19 at Princeton University's Jadwin Gym. Hill also came back later to add a PR of 1:51.53 to place eighth in the 800m to complete a sensational double.
Hill, who starred at Franklin High School, shattered his mile PR of 4:07.76 that he ran at the David Hemerey Invitational at Boston University last February. Hill's high school PR for 1600m came when he placed fourth in 4:13.74 at the 2017 outdoor Meet of Champions.
Speirs, who starred at Paramus High, still holds the Rutgers outdoor school record in the mile of 4:00.8, which he ran at the 1975 IC4A Championships. Speirs went on to run a PR of 3:56.9 in the mile at the 1977 Penn Relays.
Hill was one of many Rutgers athletes that sparkled at the Big Ten Invitational.
Freshman Ka'Leila Abrille reset her own school record in the pole vault, clearing a height of 3.90m (12' 9.5") for third place. Just a week ago she cleared a height of 3.86m (12' 8") to establish the new program standard and place third at the PSU Tri Meet.
Overall, Rutgers claimed three victories, and collected a total of 14 top three finishes.
In the women's field events, Jacqueline Simmons (5.41m) and Ashley Atubi (North Plainfield High) (4.69m) took the top two spots in the long jump, respectively.
Junior Courteney Campbell (South Brunswick High grad) finished first in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.78m, while sophomore Claudine Smith (Atlantic City High) won the triple jump with a leap of 12.09m.
On the track, sophomore Reanda Richards (West Essex High) finished second in the 400m (54.31) and third in the 600m (1:32.46). Sophomore Icisys Sadler (Summit High) recorded a third-place finish of her own in the 60m hurdles (8.58).
The quartet of Olympia Martin (Ridgewood High), Alexandria Yarbrough, Erin Bertscha (Freehold Township), and Kiera Nealon (Manalapan High) crossed the line third in the distance medley relay, recording a time of 12:02.94.
Junior Taj Burgess (Carteret High) led the men on the track with a third-place finish in the 400m, clocking a time of 46.43. In the high jump, junior Qayyim Ali was the runner up in the high jump with a mark of 2.08m (6' 9.75").
Junior Semaj Willis (Trenton High) followed in third with a jump of 2.03m (6' 8") in the event. In the triple jump, sophomore Nadale Buntin (JP Stevens High) rounded out the top three finishers with a mark of 14.29m (46' 10.75).
Rutgers will return to the Spire Institute for the Big Ten Track and Field Championships Feb. 25-27.