From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

You could tell from the prelims the final was going to be close. But this close? Nobody could have imagined that.

It was the 55-meter dash at the South Jersey Group 2 meet at the Bubble on Friday, and it resulted in the closest four-man finish anybody can remember.

In the 55 prelims, Haddonfield soph Luke Colehower ran 6.73 in the first of six heats and then the first five finishers in the final heat of the trials all ran between 6.68 and 6.79.

Each 100th of a second is worth a little less than 0.1 meters, so seven qualifiers in the span of 0.11 seconds projects to about a 30-inch difference between first and seventh.

But the final was even closer than that.

First of all, here’s how the trials shaped up:

6.68 … Mar-Quel Davis [Deptford]
6.72 … Myles Davis [Deptford]
6.73 … **Luke Colehower [Haddonfield]
6.76 … **Tyriq Bundy [Deptford]
6.77 … ***Hakeem Evans [Camden]
6.78 … **Marques Miller [Oakcrest]
6.79 … *Nicolo Adorno [Barnegat Twp.]
6.84 … Tariq Ali [Manchester Twp.]

In the final, the Deptford duo ran to their top two seeds, but Camden freshman Hakeem Evans – fifth in qualifying – moved up to third, edging ace Haddonfield quarter-miler Luke Colehower.

And all three finished in the span of 3-100ths of a second. That means about 11 inches separated four sprinters at the finish line.

Here’s what the final looked like:

6.66 … Mar-Quel Davis [Deptford]
6.67 … Myles Davis [Deptford]
6.68 … ***Hakeem Evans [Camden]
6.68 … **Luke Colehower [Haddonfield]
6.76 … Tyriq Bundy [Deptford]
6.78 … *Marques Miller [Oakcrest]
6.81 … *Nicolo Adorno [Barnegat Twp.]
6.82 … Tariq Ali [Manchester Twp.]