It’s been 38 years since Rancocas Valley won its only sectional track championship. The program has been rejuvenated under coach Jeff Dzuranin, and thanks to tremendous Day 1 performances from Sterling Pierce and Zakiyy Williams, among others, the Red Devils find themselves in terrific position for their first title since 1977.
Pierce ran a N.J. #1 10.72 in the 100 finals and Williams broke the meet record with a 47-4 1/2 in the triple jump Friday as R.V. pulled out to a 21-point lead at intermission in the South Jersey Group 4 meet at Egg Harbor Township.
With nine events to go, R.V. leads second-place Egg Harbor 60-39, with Lenape (25) and Jackson Memorial (24) next.
Let’s take a look at Rancocas Valley’s very productive Day 1:
100-METER DASH
Pierce ran a 2015 New Jersey-best 10.73 in the trials and then went a bit faster in the finals, winning in a school-record 10.72. Teammate Dyson Scott wasn’t far behind with a personal-best 11.00 for third. 16 points
1600-METER RUN
Junior Joshua DeJesus ran a four-second PR of 4:21.21, third-fastest in R.V. history behind Mark Strucku (4:18.7 converted from full mile in 1979) and Ian Waterhouse (4:16.93 in 2004), and placed second behind Ryan Rafferty of Jackson Memorial, who won in 4:19.35. 8 Points
400-METER INTERMEDIATE HURDLES
Bah, the No. 7 seed at 57.62, PR’d by about a second and finished fifth in 56.82. Quite a bounce-back after he finished seventh at the County Open six days earlier in 59.64. 2 points
HIGH JUMP
Another outstanding performance from Bah, who cleared 6-4 for the third straight major meet and finished third. 6 points
3,200-METER RELAY
Freshman Jacob Tyndale joined juniors Jose Colon-Cruz and DeJesus and senior Isaiah Curbelo to win in 8:00.98, about three seconds ahead of Egg Harbor. 10 points.
Triple Jump
Williams PR’d by about five inches and broke the meet record of 46-8, set in 2009 by Rob Whitfield of Toms River South. 10 points
Discus
Tremendous effort by senior Chris Bright, who was only the ninth seed but PR’d with a 154-9 for second place.
That’s more than 20 feet farther than he threw at the County Open and a PR by 14 feet. Bright’s previous PR was 140-4 at the BCSL Liberty Division meet two weeks ago.
Bright is a study in persistence. This is a kid that threw 108 feet at sectionals as a sophomore and 120 feet last year. This year, he scored eight huge points in the South Jersey championships. 8 points
