From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

The names change, the years go by and one thing never changes: Lenape always has fast middle-distance teams.

The Lenape girls put together a very fast relay double Thursday afternoon at the Bubble in Toms River, with the 1,600-meter relay team winning 4:01.68 and the sprint medley team 4:08.21.

Both marks are No. 1 in New Jersey this year.

Let’s start with Lenape’s sprint medley.

The team of sophomores Jasmine Staten and Megan Quimby and seniors Samantha Maynes and Carly Pettipaw ran 4:08.21.

Pettipaw led off in 59.5, followed by Staten (25.7) and Maynes (26.7) to set up Quimby, who anchored in 2:15.5.

–> The time is No. 4 in the U.S. so far this year, behind only Rush-Henrietta of New York (4:04.72 at the Dartmouth Relays), Oak Park, Ich. (4:07.41 at the MITS meet at Eastern Michigan) and Kellenberg, N.Y. (4:07.89 at the Millrose Trials at the Armory).

–> It’s also a state relays meet Group 4 and overall state relays meet record, breaking the marks of 4:08.84 set by Columbia last year.

–> It’s No. 4 in South Jersey history, behind Willingboro’s 4:01.41 in 2003, Haddonfield’s 4:03.93 in 2003 and Washington Township’s 4:04.38 in 2010.

–> It’s also No. 19 in state history and broke the indoor school record of 4:10.51 that Lenape ran in 2007.

Here’s a list of the all-time South Jersey indoor sprint medley top 15 times:

• 4:01.41 Willingboro, 2003
• 4:03.93 Haddonfield, 2001
• 4:04.38 Washington Twp., 2010
• 4:08.21 Lenape, 2015
• 4:09.27 Millville, 2008
• 4:10.01 Willingboro, 2004
• 4:10.17 Camden, 1995
• 4:10.18 Willingboro, 2005
• 4:10.43 Kingsway, 2013
• 4:10.51 Lenape, 2007
• 4:11.02 Lenape, 2006
• 4:11.19 Woodrow Wilson, 2005
• 4:11.61 Millville, 2009
• 4:11.66 Willingboro, 2006
• 4:11.93 Cherokee, 2012

Lenape’s outdoor sprint medley school record is 4:03.54, set when the Indians placed seventh at  New Balance Nationals, earning All-America honors for Dana Cataldo, Kahmil Johnson, Kendra Johnson and Erika Griffith.

Then there was the 4:01.68 for the 1,600-meter relay, which isn’t quite as fast as the sprint medley but is still very fast for this early in the season.

Sophomore Jasmine Staten, junior Shannon Storms, senior Marissa Topolski and senior Carly Pettipaw ran 4:01.68, with Staten leading off in 60.1, Storms coming through in 60.8, Topolski splitting 61.2 and Pettipaw anchoring in 58.5.

Lenape’s time is No. 1 in New Jersey so far this year and No. 15 nationally. And while the Indians fell a few seconds shy of the meet record set last year by Columbia, they did post the No.  6 time in any group in meet history.

Here’s a list of all the sub-4:02 times in state relays history:

√ 3:57.35 Columbia, Group 4, 2014
√ 3:59.01 Columbia, Group 4, 1997
√ 4:00.75 Montclair, Group 4, 1998
√ 4:01.05 Columbia, Group 4, 2013
√ 4:01.39 Willingboro, Group 4, 1997
√ 4:01.68 Lenape, Group 4, 2015
√ 4:01.73 Union, Group 4, 2013

Full results from the state Group 4 girls results can be found here.