Lenape becomes first S.J. 4×4 to break 3:50 at Penn in 12 years!!!

sjtcaweb
Lenape with coach Gerald Richardson.
Lenape with coach Gerald Richardson.

Running sub-3:50 at any point in the season is crazy fast.

Doing it in April is almost unheard of.

The Lenape girls became the first South Jersey 1,600-meter relay team in 12 years to break 3:50 at Penn Saturday with their 3:49.97 for third place in the Philadelphia Large-School Championship race at the 121st annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Sophomore Jasmine Staten got Lenape into the race with a brilliant 56.7 leadoff leg, an Marissa Topolski (58.6), Shannon Storms (58.5) and Carly Pettipaw (56.4) followed as Lenape finished behind only Newmann-Goretti of Philly (3:47.39) and Cheltenham (3:47.67).

Lenape qualified for the Large-School race with its 3:59.53 win in the South Jersey Championship race Thursday.

The last South Jersey school to dip under 3:50 at Penn was Willingboro in 2003. The Chimeras won the South Jersey Large-School race in 3:47.30 and qualified for the Championship of America but scratched because of an injury.

Lenape was also under 3:50 with its 3:48.78 for third at the Meet of Champions. Only Willingboro, Camden and Lenape in South Jersey track history have gone under 3:50 in consecutive years. Their 3:49.97 is No. 32 nationally.

Lenape’s 3:49.97 is No. 2 in New Jersey this year, behind Columbia’s 3:49.64, also at Penn. Here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey outdoor 1,600-meter relay list:

  • 3:43.94 … Willingboro, 2001
  • 3:44.54 … Willingboro, 2002
  • 3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
  • 3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
  • 3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
  • 3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
  • 3:47.30 … Willingboro, 2003
  • 3:47.4 ….. Camden, 1978
  • 3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
  • 3:48.0 ….. Wilson, 2001
  • 3:48.17 … Wilson, 2006
  • 3:48.7 ….. Washington Twp., 1999
  • 3:48.78 … Lenape, 2014
  • 3:48.91 … Penns Grove, 2013
  • 3:49.2 ….. Camden, 1979
  • 3:49.30 … Winslow Twp., 2004
  • 3:49.43 … Willingboro, 2004
  • 3:49.53 … Willingboro, 1998
  • 3:49.93 … Willingboro, 2009
  • 3:49.97 … Lenape, 2015

Willingboro has been under 3:50 eight years, Camden four, Wilson and Lenape twice, and Eastern, Penns Grove, Winslow Township and Washington Township once each.

Lenape also ran 49.57 at Penn, 19th-fastest of 248 schools that ran the 4-by-1. Ariel Mitchell, Jasmine Staten, Marissa Topolski and Sam Maynes ran on the 4-by-1. And they ran 12:16.79 for seventh in the DMR, with Camille Franklin, Staten, Pettipaw and Megan Quimby.

What a weekend for coaches Gerald Richardson and Jack Walsh and the Lady Indians!!!

Leave a comment