Kayla Franklin...competed in four events, winning the discus, placing third in the javelin and finishing sixth in both the hammer and shot put
Franklin, Scarlet Raptors shine at ECAC Championships
WESTMINSTER, Md. (May 9, 2026) – Senior
Kayla Franklin had a stellar performance in four events, the Rutgers University-Camden outdoor track & field teams compiled five first-place finishes and freshman
Talia Thomasson set a program record in the 400-meter hurdles as the Scarlet Raptors had an outstanding day at the ECAC DIII Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held Saturday at McDaniel College.
Both Rutgers-Camden teams finished sixth out of 12 programs, with the men scoring 76 points and the women scoring 55.
Franklin finished first of 16 athletes in the discus (a PR of 38.89 meters), was third of 16 in the javelin (30.23 meters) and was sixth of 16 in both the hammer (36.07 meters) and the shot put (10.71 meters).
On the men's side, the Raptors had four first-place finishes. Junior
Dyheim Watson finished first of 16 in the hammer (49.76 meters) and 10th of 15 in the discus (35.67 meters), while freshman
Muhammad Elijah Samad-Muhammad placed first among 16 athletes in the javelin (50.16 meters). Senior
Jamir Driggins won the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles (15.59) out of 11 athletes before finishing second of eight in the finals (15.42, barely missing his PR of 15.41). He also finished 12th of 15 in the 400 hurdles ((1:05.18).
The men's 4x400 team also finished first, beating a field of nine teams in a time of 3:24.60. Members of that team included senior
Walter Pierce, sophomore
Kristopher Ewell and freshmen
Oluwatobi Popoola and
Joseph Simone. Popoola also placed ninth of 15 in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.48) and 13th of 14 in the 400-meter dash (56.09), Pierce was sixth in the 400-meter dash (a PR of 51.34) and 14th of 16 in the shot put (10.65 meters) and Ewell was third in the 400-meter dash (49.58).
In the women's 400-meter hurdles, Thomasson set a program record of 1:07.38 while finishing second out of 11 athletes. Her time broke the program mark of 1:07.98 set by Maabo Kludze at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships on April 13, 1996. She also finished third of 10 in qualifying for the 100-meter hurdles (a short-lived PR of 16.40) and then finished second of eight in the finals with a new PR of 15.93.
Freshman
Asha Pensa Johnson finished right behind Franklin in the discus, placing second with a distance of 37.83 meters, while also notching a fifth-place finish in the shot put (10.78 meters). Freshman
Arianna Lalli was ninth in the hammer (a PR of 34.47 meters) and 13th in the discus (26.81 meters) and junior
Mya Cabanas Montero was 11th in the hammer (32.36 meters) and 16th in the javelin (19.71 meters).
Freshman
Dejia Robert placed fourth of 15 at 800 meters (2:30.23).
Freshman
Jayden Deleon placed second of 12 in the high jump (2.00 meters), while freshman
Abdulbasit Shodolu was sixth in the event, tying his PR of 1.88 meters.
Freshman
Kamari Brown also had a stellar performance, qualifying for the 100-meter finals by finishing eighth of 15 (11.17) and then placing fourth of eight in the finals (11.19). He also placed third of 13 in the 200-meter dash (22.28).
Freshman
Willyam Dupreville finished fourth of nine in the triple jump (13.19 meters) and freshman
Dylan Davies was eighth of 15 in the 1,500-meter run (a PR of 4:27.60).
Junior
Aaron Le finished eighth in the javelin (40.91 meters), while freshmen
Monroe Hall was 11th in the shot put (a PR of 11.07 meters) and freshman
Michael Hawkins was 16th in the shot put (9.94 meters).
Several Scarlet Raptors will return to action on Monday at the Widener Final Qualifier.
ECAC Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championships
(at McDaniel College, Westminster, MD)
Men: 1. Methodist, 168.5; 2. Juniata, 103; 3. McDaniel, 100; 4. Delaware Valley, 84; 5. Kean, 80;
6. Rutgers-Camden, 76; 7. Goucher, 55; 8. FDU-Florham, 42.5; 9. Johns Hopkins, 22; 10. Rutgers-Newark, 13; 11. Keystone, 11; 12. Vermont State-Johnson, 3.
Women: 1. Juniata, 128.5; 2. Delaware Valley, 95; 3. McDaniel, 86.5; 4. Kean, 70; 5. Johns Hopkins, 65;
6. Rutgers-Camden, 55; 7. Rutgers-Newark, 54; 8. FDU-Florham, 52; 9. Methodist, 39; 10. Vermont State-Johnson, 37; 11. Goucher, 25; 12. Keystone, 6.
Rutgers-Camden Records
* Women's 400-M hurdles,
Talia Thomasson, 1:07.38 (Old: 1:07.98 by Maabo Kludze at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships on April 13, 1996)
Rutgers-Camden Winners
* Men's Javelin,
Muhammad Elijah Samad-Muhammad, 50.16 M
* Men's Hammer,
Dyheim Watson, 49.76 M
* Men's 110-M hurdles, preliminaries,
Jamir Driggins, 15.59
* Men's 4x400,
Walter Pierce,
Oluwatobi Popoola,
Joseph Simone,
Kristopher Ewell, 3:24.60
* Women's Discus,
Kayla Franklin, 38.89 M
