Best runners from NJ

except 12.9 was over 39 inch hurdles...

uhhhhhhh wrote:

And One wrote:

Nehemiah's high school personal bests were 12.9 in the 110 meter hurdles...

Yes, you heard that right, 12.MF9!

except 12.9 was over 39 inch hurdles...

Isn't that the standard high school hurdle height? So what would be your point?

AZ Coach wrote:

Mike Roche was actually on the 1976 Olympic team in the steeple. He wasn't a great runner at Cranford HS but blossomed under Gags at Rutgers. In the 1976 Olympic Trials steeple final, he fell at the last barrier, broke his arm, got up, finished third to make the team, and ran in Montreal wearing a cast.

Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned Marty Ludwikowski of Cherry Hill West who ran 29:03 for six miles on the track as a high schooler, Millburn's Steve O'Connell who legged a 4:09.2 mile in high school, and Kevin Byrne of Paramus Catholic who ran all sorts of great things including a pair of 4:08.0 miles on an 11-lap banked board track twice in eight days.

I am surprised to see Frank Gagliano and Miguel "Mike" Roache mentioned together . I believe that they must have overlapped briefly if at all at RU. Mike would have graduated in, I think, 76 or maybe 75 -- the same year, if I am not mistaken, that Gags moved up from Roselle Catholic to be Les Wallach's assistant at Rutgers.

Since someone mentioned Marty, I will mention his high school XC teammate at Cherry Hill (and mine on the Banks of the Old Raritan), Jay Vickery. . . I could tell stories.

Only one person mentioned Horace ashenfelter, really guys? He's a legend and has won gold in the steeple chase, cmon.

Some early on DID MENTION Carl Lewis; I would think he, Horace, Browning Ross, and Marty (not Steve) Liquori would be top of this heap

billy777771 wrote:

Only one person mentioned Horace ashenfelter, really guys? He's a legend and has won gold in the steeple chase, cmon.

Horace Ashenfelter wasn't from New Jersey, he was from Pennsylvania.

Ed Cheserek

Well, in that case, how about Craig Masback? Sure he's from NY, but he went to college and competed in NJ.

GOAT ever wrote:

Ed Cheserek

Joe LeMay was our best tall distance runner. At 6'-4" he went 27:59.

Gagliano did not go directly to Rutgers from Roselle Catholic. He was assisting Fred Dwyer at Manhattan before RU. Manhattan won the Indoor NCAA meet ('73 or "74?) with mostly middle distance stars (Keogh, Colon, Savage, Squires, others) and Kenny McBride in the jumps. After "75, for a few years, many of these guys and others including Roche, Ron Speirs and Bill Sieben of RU trained under Gagliano after graduation at Rutgers.

Bump! Devin Hart and Liam Murphy placing 11th & 14th at NCAA XC place them among NJ's All-Time best!