Roughly five hours after Malachi James of Burlington City smashed the long-standing state wind-legal record in the 100-meter dash at the 55th NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Wednesday, Southern's Cole Cramer nearly broke it again!
While all the attention in the NJ track and field world was on the state wind-legal record of 10.28 that James ran at the M of C at Pennsauken High, Cramer made a strong challenge to the newly minted mark when he burned a 10.35 (wind-legal 1.0) to finish first in the 100 at the Brooks PR Invitational at Renton Memorial Stadium in Renton, Wash.
Cramer's time matches the previous state wind-legal record of 10.35 that Jamar Ervin of Camden ran at the 2000 Meet of Champions at South Brunswick High, which stood as the state record until James dropped his 10.28 on Wednesday afternoon.
How amazing is that!!!
After lasting 24 years, the state record of 10.35 was broken by one sprinter and matched by another in the span of a few hours on each coast!!!
In addition to Cramer's electrifying victory, two other Shore Conference athletes had impressive performances at Brooks.
Rumson junior Clemmie Lilley ran 2:07.87 to place seventh in the girls 800, and junior Joe Barrett of Christian Brothers Academy finished ninth in the boys 3,200 in 8:49.01.
Lilley came into the race as the state leader in the 800 with a 2:06.67, and Barrett ran 8:43.26 at the Arcadia Invitational in April, which is the fastest time in NJ history in a 3,200 race.