Walter Pierce, who set the program record in the decathlon last year, is off to another strong start in the event at the 2026 NJAC meet
Watson earns Second Team honors as Raptors compete at NJAC meet
MAHWAH, N.J. (May 2, 2026) – The Rutgers University-Camden track & field teams collected numerous PR performances, saw a qualifier for tomorrow's women's 400-meter hurdles final, notched several top finishes and saw an impressive start on the two-day heptathlon competition as it opened the New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships here Saturday at Ramapo College.
Junior
Dyheim Watson finished second out of 19 athletes with a PR of 50.10 meters to earn NJAC Second Team honors in the men's hammer throw, adding to his NJAC Second Team honor in the weight throw during indoor season. On the women's side, senior
Kayla Franklin placed 10th of 25 in the hammer with a PR throw of 36.48 meters. Franklin also placed eighth of 17 in the women's javelin (31.21 meters). Junior
Mya Cabanas Montero was 12th in the javelin (23.54 meters) and 14th in the hammer (a PR of 32.47 meters).
In the women's 400-meter hurdles, freshman
Talia Thomasson qualified for Sunday's finals by finishing seventh of 11 in the preliminaries (1:08.41). She also placed ninth of 13 in the 100 hurdles with a PR of 16.65. For the men, senior
Jamir Driggins was 10th of 12 in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.76) and 20th of 24 in the 400-meter hurdles (a PR of 1:04.10).
Senior
Walter Pierce, who was the NJAC champion in the heptathlon during indoor track season with a program-record 4,230 points, opened his bid for all-conference recognition outdoors in the two-day decathlon competition. Pierce finished first of seven athletes in the shot put (a PR of 11.86 meters), third in both the 400-meter dash (52.27) and the high jump (a PR 1.71 meters), fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.88) and fifth in the long jump (5.13 meters). After one day he stands in third place, with the decathlon concluding Sunday with competition in the 110 hurdles, the discus, the pole vault, the javelin and the 1,500-meter run, in that order.
Freshman
Muhammad Elijah Samad-Muhammad placed 11th of 21 in the men's javelin (50.34 meters), while junior
Aaron Le was 15th (41.37 meters) and freshman
Justin Harms was 17th (a PR of 40.88 meters). Harms also finished 14th of 26 in the long jump (6.09 meters).
Freshman
Kamari Brown placed 17th of 32 in the 100-meter dash (11.23) and 22nd of 37 in the 200-meter dash (22.79), while junior
Sydnie Marshall led the women in the 200-meter dash (a PR of 27.17) and the 400-meter dash (1:02.35).
The NJAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will conclude on Sunday.
New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships
(at Ramapo College, Mahwah, NJ)
First Day
