Track And Field

OLYMPIC LEGEND Carl Lewis enjoys serving as an ambassador for the Hershey's Track and Field Games because he remembers when he was an aspiring young runner himself. Youngsters ages 9 to 14 are invited to participate in a qualifying meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northeast High School, with a chance to earn an expenses-paid trip to compete in the 2012 North American Final Meet in Hershey. "Years ago, I ran a track meet where the winners qualified to go to San Francisco," said Lewis, who grew up in Willingboro, N.J. "At that track meet I met this old runner named Jesse Owens.

La Salle's Tom Coyle wasn't looking out only for himself in Thursday afternoon's PIAA District 12 track and field championships. Knowing that the top two finishers in each event would qualify for next week's state meet at Shippensburg, Coyle wanted to win the 1,600-meter run in Class AAA and, at the same time, help teammate Jack Magee punch a ticket. "I had him run behind my shoulder, so I could set a good pace and pull him along for a fast time," Coyle said. "It worked out the way we wanted.

Here is a look at the all-South Jersey girls' track and field first team. 100 meters. Kim Moody, Woodbury, junior. Moody posted South Jersey's fastest fully automatic time of 12.10 seconds when she won the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 1 title. She won the Group 1 state title a week later. 200. Krystal Cantey, Winslow Township, junior. Cantey ran 24.19, the fastest time in the state, en route to winning the Meet of Champions title. Her winning time of 24.35 at the Group 4 state title was the third fastest time in New Jersey.

Some smart aleck might say Delsea won the South Jersey Group 2 title in track and field this season by three touchdowns. It wouldn't be completely wrong. For one thing, the Crusaders scored 133.5 points, the most by any team in the 16 public-school sectionals in the state during that May 21 weekend. For another, there were a lot of football players in key roles for the Delsea track and field team. But it was a group effort all season for the Crusaders. That's why they are The Inquirer's South Jersey boys' track and field team of the year.

Michelle Brown was flushed and out of breath for an unusually long time after she won the 400-meter race June 3 at the track and field Meet of Champions at South Plainfield High. The air was humid and the sun was blazing as she summoned the energy to speak. "I think I'm the first girl in history to win three straight 400s at the Meet of Champions," the Seneca senior said. Brown was clocked in 55.52 seconds, a shade slower than the 54.49 she recorded to win the state Group 3 title a week earlier at South Plainfield.

For 21 years Delsea's girls' teams had been toiling on the track and in the field without winning a state title. The last Saturday in May all of that changed at Egg Harbor Township's Silver Eagle Stadium. There, Delsea won its first outright title by scoring 65 points, 21 better than runner-up Haddonfield. The last time the Crusaders had won was in 1989, when they shared the crown with Kingsway. Sprinter Brianna Crofton, jumper Brianna Hunt and thrower Janiece Rose won their events on May 30 to give the Crusaders a big push toward the championship.

Where did Danielle Bobo develop her giant heart and gentle soul? Go back more than three years ago, to when Bobo began her track and field career at Penn Wood High. Then go back to before she was 13, when she ran for the Majestic Track Club. And to when she was 11, when she started with the Keystone Track Club. Bobo, who takes no credit for her success in the sport, said it all began with her grandmothers. Her maternal grandmother is Helen Maloney, and her paternal grandmother was Shirley Bobo, who died this past Christmas.

Richard J. Johnson, 50, of Burlington City, who was active in South Jersey and statewide scholastic track and field associations, died Wednesday at Memorial Hospital of Burlington County, Mount Holly, after apparently suffering a heart attack. The holder of the state record for the 180-yard low hurdles, which he won while attending Burlington City High School, Mr. Johnson maintained a lifelong interest in track and field sports. He served as a track and field coach at various locations for more than 30 years.

Bob Burdette, a man whose entire career was dedicated to track and field, always strode to the tick of his own stopwatch and marched to the line of his own tape measure. Found dead in his Swarthmore apartment on Nov. 19 from an apparent stroke, Mr. Burdette, who was 60, will be remembered for his lifelong devotion to the sport he loved, a sport he contributed to as an athlete, coach, administrator, official and statistician. "I don't know anyone who devoted more of his life to the sport than Bob," said Penn Relays director Dave Johnson, a friend and associate of Mr. Burdette for 35 years.

Athlete                  School            Major       GPA Anna Aagenes            Penn               Culture       3.75 Jen Baciu               Rutgers-Camden   Nursing       3.88 Stephanie Bearish      La Salle            Education    3.69 Robin England            Rutgers-Camden   Economics    3.98 Aileen Keogh            Haverford         Culture       3.

S.J. Track & Field Championships Preview Groups 1 and 2 At Buena, Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.   Athletes to Watch Woodbury junior Anthony Averett. He went 25 feet, 21/2 inches in the long jump at the Woodbury Relays and took second in the event at the Penn Relays. Woodbury senior Darrell Bush. He was second in the Meet of Champions in the 400 meters last year in 46.95. Bridgeton junior Braheme Days.

OLYMPIC LEGEND Carl Lewis enjoys serving as an ambassador for the Hershey's Track and Field Games because he remembers when he was an aspiring young runner himself. Youngsters ages 9 to 14 are invited to participate in a qualifying meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northeast High School, with a chance to earn an expenses-paid trip to compete in the 2012 North American Final Meet in Hershey. "Years ago, I ran a track meet where the winners qualified to go to San Francisco," said Lewis, who grew up in Willingboro, N.J. "At that track meet I met this old runner named Jesse Owens.

La Salle's Tom Coyle wasn't looking out only for himself in Thursday afternoon's PIAA District 12 track and field championships. Knowing that the top two finishers in each event would qualify for next week's state meet at Shippensburg, Coyle wanted to win the 1,600-meter run in Class AAA and, at the same time, help teammate Jack Magee punch a ticket. "I had him run behind my shoulder, so I could set a good pace and pull him along for a fast time," Coyle said. "It worked out the way we wanted.

Caitlyn Eltzholtz picked up her 100th career hit at an opportune time, singling and scoring in a five-run eighth inning that enabled Gloucester Catholic to finish off host Penns Grove, 10-5, on Thursday in Tri-County Conference softball. Eltzholtz batted 3 for 5 and scored three times for the Rams, who managed just two runs over the first six innings. Marissa Cappello pitched the final three innings to earn her third win of the week. Burlington County. Hana McNally scored the tying run on Maggie Hemler's two-out single in the seventh inning, and raced home on a two-out wild pitch in the ninth to complete host Holy Cross' 8-7, come-from-behind win over Cinnaminson.

Miguel Ruiz doubled in a run and John Bednarek did the rest for Cinnaminson's baseball team on Wednesday, pitching the Pirates' 1-0 win at Bordentown in the quarterfinals of the Burlington County Tournament. Bednarek scattered five hits in throwing the first shutout of the season for the Pirates, seeded No. 10 in the 12-team field. Bordentown is seeded No. 2 in the double-elimination event.   Softball Brooke Coleman pitched a five-hit shutout and Courtney Hankins homered to guide Pennsville past visiting Pitman, 2-0, in a Tri-County Conference game.

Mark McGowan homered and Drew Smick pitched a solid game in relief as Woodstown rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 7-5 upset of visiting Delsea in Tri-County Conference baseball Tuesday. Delsea (10-7) jumped out to an early lead against Wolverines starter Rich Stuart, but Woodstown (3-7) took the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning. McGowan went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, and Nick Battle and Sam Nowicki added two hits apiece in support of Smick, who got the win with 21/3 innings of relief.

Christina Bascara's single down the right-field line ended the offensive drought and handed Pennsbury a 1-0, nine-inning win over Neshaminy in a pitching-dominated Suburban One League softball game Tuesday. Pennsbury's Val Buehler posted the win with nine shutout innings, a pair of hits allowed, 10 strikeouts, and two walks. Lauren Quense's stat line mirrored Buehler as she went the distance, walked two, yielded two hits, and fanned 10, but she allowed the late run. Mackenzie Obert singled to lead off the ninth and scored on Bascara's hit. Friends Schools.

Shadows always are dancing on the old brick walls of Franklin Field during the Penn Relays. If you look closely enough, you can see the reflection of Jesse Owens' 220-yard leg for Ohio State in the sprint medley in 1936, and Larry James' anchor leg in the mile relay for Villanova in 1968, and Usain Bolt's half-human/half-hovercraft performance for Jamaica's 4x100 relay on that sunny Saturday afternoon in 2010. But there isn't a wall wide enough to contain the legacy of Dr. LeRoy Walker.

Among the 400-meter hurdles contestants who took to the track at Franklin Field for the opening race of the Friday program at the 1976 Penn Relays was a tall and slender man wearing glasses, whom few people recognized by his face or his name. But Edwin Moses, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, was familiar with Franklin Field, having trained there in each of the two previous summers in the hours away from his work as an industrial engineering intern with Lukens Steel Co. of Coatesville.