Rancocas Valley broke the school record in the 4-by-4 by two seconds Saturday.

Then R.V. broke the school record in the 4-by-4 by two seconds Saturday again.

Rancocas Valley, which has one of the oldest and richest track and field traditions in South Jersey, had never run sub-3:20 until the Penn Relays.

On Saturday afternoon, the Red Devils won the South Jersey 1,600-Meter Relay at Penn with a 3:18.10 and 4 1/2 hours later, R.V. placed a close second to Howard Tech of Wilmington in the Philadelphia Area Championship Race with a 3:16.33. Howard Tech ran 3:16.32.

Get this: That’s the fastest time by a South Jersey 4-by-4 in NINE YEARS!

Rob Hawkins (49.52), Sam Keleekai (48.68), Vincent Brown (50.24) and Brian Merriman (47.91) ran the No. 2 time in New Jersey this year, behind only Cory Poole and East Orange Campus, who ran 3:13.92 at Penn.

Rancocas Valley’s time is  fastest by a South Jersey 4-by-4 since 2008, when Absegami, led by Geof Navarro and Demetrius Rooks, ran 3:15.77 and Winslow, anchored by Barry Cephas, ran 3:16.13 to place first and second in the Meet of Champions.

It’s the fastest time by a Burlington County school since Willingboro ran 3:15.31 for second to Seton Hall Prep at the 2007 Meet of Champions.

Previous school record was 3:20.04 at last year’s Burlington County Open, on the Red Devils’ home track.

R.V’s record in the mile relay is 3:22.1, when Dave Ortega, Chris Harkins, John Stevenson and Andy Robinson won the 1976 South Jersey Group 4 title. That would convert to a 3:20.9 for the 4-by-400.

Interesting to note that Merriman is the son of Darryl Merriman, who was state Group 4 champ in the intermediate hurdles in 1982 running for Fred Rucker at Willingboro with a 53.1 and also won sectional titles that year in both the highs and intermediates.

The evolution of the 1,600-meter relay is pretty interesting.

Once upon a time, the 4-by-4 ruled in South Jersey.

Up through 1979, no South Jersey school had run faster than 3:17. Then six did it between 1980 and 1985 and then nobody did it for 10 years. Then from 1996 through 2008, 23 schools went sub-3:17 in the span of 13 years. Those were the glory days of the 4-by-4.

Heck, at the 2001 Meet of Champions, 3:13.85 got you third place! Two years later, 3:11.24 got you second!!!

But since 2009, a span of nine years, only four schools have broken 3:17 and none of them ran faster than 3:16.53.

Until Saturday.

Here’s a look at the all-time South Jersey 4-by-4 list. So RV’s time is No. 31 in South Jersey history but fastest since 2008!

3:09.91 … Camden, 2001
3:10.47 … Winslow Twp., 2003
3:11.24 … Willingboro, 2003
3:11.2h … Edgewood, 1984
3:12.14 … Edgewood, 1985
3:12.17 … Winslow Twp., 2002
3:12.27 … Winslow Twp., 2002
3:12.44 … Willingboro, 2001
3:13.50 … Camden, 2005
3:13.58 … Camden, 2004
3:13.71 … Winslow Twp., 2004
3:13.78 … Camden, 1980
3:13.85 … Edgewood, 2001
3:14.06 … Lenape, 2000
3:14.12 … Edgewood, 1983
3:14.2h … Willingboro, 1982
3:14.58 … Camden, 1999
3:14.79 … Willingboro, 2007
3:14.95 … Vineland, 2002
3:14.99 … Woodrow Wilson, 1996
3:15.00 … Lenape, 2000
3:15.04 … Willingboro, 2002
3:15.29 … Eastern, 2002
3:15.31 … Willingboro, 2007
3:15.34 … Camden, 1997
3:15.41 … Vineland, 2003
3:15.5h … Woodrow Wilson, 1984
3:15.77 … Absegami, 2008
3:16.08 … Camden, 2007
3:16.13 … Winslow Twp., 2008
3:16.33 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
3:16.46 … Camden, 2004
3:16.47 … Vineland, 2003
3:16.53 … Paul VI, 2016
3:16.57 … Cherry Hill East, 2016
3:16.61 … Oakcrest, 2011
3:16.65 … Timber Creek, 2003

junior Sydney Coppolino split 2:12 to anchor Sterling to an eye-popping 4:05.57 win in the sprint medley Saturday at the Rowland Relays at Haddon Township.

Sterling won the race by 130 meters over Cumberland Regional.

Sterling’s time is fastest in New Jersey this year and No. 13 on the all-time South Jersey list, fastest since Millville ran 4:04.44 in 2013. The Silver Knights broke the school record of 4:17.90 – set a week earlier at Woodbury — by more than 12 seconds.

Junior Aliya Harrison led off with a 59.7 for 400 meters, with junior Carly Fox and senior Janell Rowe both splitting 26 and change for the 200 legs. That set up Coppolino, who has run 2:13 scratch several times and finished fifth last spring in the Meet of Champions.

Sterling broke the Group 2 meet record of 4:18.30, set in 1983 by Washington Township — presumably with legendary Michelle Rowen anchoring — and also the overall meet record of 4:14.90, set in 2000 by Overbrook, presumably with Tara DeBrielle anchoring.

Here’s the all-time South Jersey SMR list:

3:59.6h … Willingboro, 2003
4:00.34 … Willingboro, 2006
4:00.71 … Willingboro, 2002
4:01.07 … Lenape, 2015
4:02.69 … Willingboro, 2004
4:02.89 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
4:03.04 … Camden, 1995
4:03.54 … Lenape, 2006
4:04.44 … Millville, 2013
4:04.86 … Woodrow Wilson, 2009
4:05.2h … Winslow Twp., 2003
4:05.36 … Willingboro, 2010
4:05.57 … Sterling, 2017
4:05.70 … Ocean City, 2004
4:06.06 … Ocean City, 2005
4:06.56 … Rancocas Valley, 2007
4:07.16 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2015

Interesting to note that the South Jersey record is listed in most places as 3:59.0 by Willingboro in 2003.

The reality is that when the Chimeras ran that time at the 2003 Carl Lewis Relays before FAT timing was used at that meet, a finish line clerk scribbled the “6” so sloppily that the results tent read it as a “0” and not a 6. I tried to correct the woman in the tent typing up the results, but she had no interest in getting the time correctly.

It didn’t help that my conversation with her was obstructed by excruciatingly loud and abrasive rap music blasting out of speakers strategically set up three inches from the results tent.

So despite the fact that everybody’s stopwatch – including mine – had something between 3:59.6 and 3:59.7 – the time has gone into the record books as 3:59.0.

But not my record book!