It didn't take long for some of New Jersey studs on the college level to drop some bombs on the track!
Penn senior Edwin Klanke, who starred at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City, made a huge breakthrough when he joined the sub 4 club with a monster personal-best time of 3:59.84 to finish third overall and first among collegiate runners in the mile at the Penn Opener on Saturday at the brand new Jane and David Ott Center for Track and Field in Penn's campus.
Klanke finished third behind Atlanta Track Club teammates Shane Steich (3:59.13) and Sean Dolan (3:59.69). Dolan, who starred at Villanova, ran at NJ's Hopewell Valley High.
Klanke's splits were 59.26, 2:00.11, 3:01.03 and then he closed in 58.81 to stop the clock at 3:59.84.
The 3:59.84 by Klanke shaved more than three seconds of his previous PR of 4:03.29 that he ran at Boston University at the David Hemery Valentine Invit. in February of 2023.
Klanke is the seventh runner in Penn's long and storied history to crack the 4-minute barrier indoors/outdoors combined, and is the fourth New Jersey high school grad to run under 4 while attending Penn. The other six are Thomas Awad, 3:57.03 indoors in 3:57.03, Ray Sellaro (North Hunterdon High), who went 3:57.89 indoors in 2022, Chris Hatler (Pope John High), who ran 3:59.21 in 2017, Colin Daly (River Dell High), who ran 3:59.74 indoors in 2020. Outdoors, Penn's sub 4 milers are Denis Fikes (3:55.0 in 1974), Awad (3:58.34 in 2014) and Michael Keehan (3:59.73 in 2023).
MURPH AND MARCO REWRITE RECORD BOOK
Villanova's Liam Murphy (Allentown High) and Marco Langon (Bridgewater-Rartan High) both destroyed the the longest-standing distance record in Villanova history and moved into the top 20 in NCAA indoor history with their historic races at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University.
Murphy, a 5th year senior, ran 13:10.42 to become the new absolute record holder in Wildcats history after having previously set the school indoor mark at this same meet last year. Langon, a junior, wasn't far behind Murphy, crossing the finish line in 13:14.11. The pair each cut more than 10 seconds off their previous personal bests and eclipsed the former overall school record of 13:20.63, was set by Sydney Maree at the outdoor NCAA Championships on June 2, 1979.
The record held by Maree was the oldest distance record still standing in the Wildcats record book and the fourth-oldest record in any men's track event. Maree held the indoor and outdoor Villanova records for more than 30 years before his indoor record was broken first by Patrick Tiernan in 2014 (13:37.73) and more recently shattered by Murphy last season (13:21.20).
Murphy is now No. 7 on the all-time NCAA indoor performance list in the 5000 meters, with Langon now No. 16 on that list. They each ran in the fast heat of the 5K at the Track & Tennis Center, with Murphy finishing second and Langon fourth in the race. Graham Blanks of Harvard, who won the NCAA cross-country title last month and just signed with New Balance, won the race in 12:59.89, the No. 2 time all time in NCAA indoor history.
The times by Murphy and Langon are also the two fastest collegiate times ever run by NJ high school grads and they are No. 2 and No. 3 on NJ's all-time indoor list. Edward Cheserek (St. Benedict's Prep) ran 13:08.05 as a pro indoors in 2019 in Boston.
Murphy and Langon are coming off sensational XC season when both earne NCAA All-American status and became the first pair of Villanova men's teammates to finish in the top 15 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships since 1970.
Rowan's Jamir Brown, who graduated from NJ's Riverside High last June, made a smashing college debut by dropping a 7.72 to break the NCAA Division 3 record when he finished first in the 60-meter hurdles at the FastTrack Season Opener at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island. Brown broke the NCAA Division 3 record of 7.75 that Luke Campbell of Salisbury University in Maryland ran to win the national title at the 2014 NCAA Division 3 Championships.
DWYER SETS TRACK ON FIRE
Penn State freshman Ajani Dwyer, who graduated from Washington Township last spring, nearly broke the school record in his first college meet when he left a lot of smoke on the track by winning the 60m dash in 6.55 at the Bison Opener at Bucknell University on Saturday.
Dwyer's 6.55 is No. 3 all-time in U.S. history on the U20 (under 20 years old) list, and just missed breaking the Penn State record of 6.54 set last year by NCAA champion, Olympian and NJ native Cheickna Traore. Traore, who graduated from Snyder High in Jersey City in 2019 and ran for Ramapo College before finishing up his college career in Happy Valley won the 200 at the NCAA Championships last June and represented the Ivory Coast when he ran the 200 at the Olympics in Paris this past summer.