With four even legs — all between 1:56.1 and 1:57.3 — Egg Harbor ran 7:47.13 to finish fifth in the Championship of America 3,200-meter relay at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field and first among United States schools.
Robert Dessoye (1:57.04), Alex Dessoye (1:56.04), Aidin Hendriks (1:57.30) and Eric Barnes (1:56.77) finished behind only four Jamaican schools — St. Elizabeth Tech of Santa Cruz, who won in 7:33.27, St. Jago of St. Catherine (7:39.67) and Calabar (7:43.62) and Jamaica College of Kingston (7:44.26).
Egg Harbor is now the only school in South Jersey history to run 7:47.5 or faster in consecutive years.
Egg Harbor’s time is No. 6 in South Jersey history and fastest in New Jersey this year. Here’s a list of every South Jersey time in history under 7:49:
7:40.71 … Pleasantville, 2013
7:40.99 … Willingboro, 1983
7:43.57 … Haddonfield, 2015
7:44.25 … Willingboro, 2003
7:46.2h … Deptford, 1967
7:47.13 … Egg Harbor, 2017
7:47.27 … Egg Harbor, 2016
7:47.66 … Kingsway, 2011
7:47.9h … Willingboro, 1982
7:48.25 … Vineland, 2012
7:48.3h … Woodbury, 1977
7:48.70 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
Earlier Saturday, with a completely different lineup, Egg Harbor ran 3:17.96 in the 1,600-meter relay, the second-fastest time in New Jersey this year.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 