It was one of the most remarkable performances in South Jersey track history.
And it happened 53 years ago.
It was June 1, 1967, and Deptford was entered in the two-mile relay at the old Delaware Valley Meet of Champions at Franklin Field.
Coach Jim Hawkins’ Deptford middle-distance squad was on a roll that year. The Spartans – in only he school’s seventh year of existence – had won the two-mile relay at the Kiwanis Relays at William Tenant in a meet-record 8:10.6 and then gone to the Long Branch Relays and set a meet record of 8:01.3.
Then they went to the Northeastern Meet of Champions at Highland Park and set another meet record and South Jersey record of 7:54.0, breaking the meet record of 7:58.4 set a year earlier by Essex Catholic.
At the Penn Relays, the same quarter – Wayne Jenkins, Tom Williams, Jerry Clark and Irv Jenkins – won the South Jersey mile relay in 3:22.8, breaking the meet record of 3:24.3 set in 1963 by Haddon Heights.
Same four guys won S.J. mile relay at Penn in 3:22.8, broke record of 3:24.3 set in 1963 by Haddon Heights.
So Deptford was undefeated going into the Delaware Valley M-of-C and chasing not only their own South Jersey record of 7:54.0 – that converts to a 7:51.2 for a 3,200-meter relay – but the meet record of 7:52.1, set a year earlier by Malvern.
Wayne Jenkins led off with a huge 1:56.9 split, Williams ran 1:57.4, Clark came through in 1:58.8 and Irv Jenkins anchored in 1:56.1
Deptford had run 7:49.0, won the race, broke the meet record and shattered the South Jersey record.
At the time, that was the only South Jersey performance in the all-time New Jersey two-mile relay top-50 (according to my 1968 New Jersey Track Annual).
Here’s the story from the June 2, 1967, Courier-Post:
Deptford’s performance stood as the South Jersey record for 16 years until Willingboro won the 1983 Penn Relays in 7:40.99 on the same track as part of their Penn Relays 4-by-800-DMR double.
It was another 20 years until another South Jersey school ran faster.
To this day, more than half a century after Deptford turned in that miraculous performance, it remains No.7 in South Jersey history!
That’s truly incredible!
Here’s the full all-time South Jersey boys outdoor 3,200-meter relay top-50 performance list!
All-Time S.J. 3,200-Meter Relay Top 50
7:40.43 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2017
7:40.71 … Pleasantville, 2013
7:40.99 … Willingboro, 1983
7:43.57 … Haddonfield, 2015
7:44.25 … Willingboro, 2003
7:46.28 … Delsea, 2018
7:46.2h … Deptford, 1967
7:47.27 … Egg Harbor, 2016
7:47.66 … Kingsway, 2011
7:47.96 … Haddonfield, 2016
7:47.9h … Willingboro, 1982
7:48.16 … Kingsway, 2013
7:48.25 … Vineland, 2012
7:48.3h … Woodbury, 1977
7:48.70 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
7:48.92 … Highland, 2018
7:49.34 … Cherokee, 2000
7:49.67 … Washington Twp., 2009
7:49.72 … Haddonfield, 2019
7:49.85 … Cherokee, 2012
7:49.95 … Delsea, 2018
7:49.9h … Willingboro, 1978
7:50.1h … Camden, 1977
7:50.26 … Ocean City, 2003
7:50.3h … Willingboro,
7:50.87 … Haddonfield, 2014
7:51.07 … Washington Twp., 2008
7:51.09 … Mainland Reg., 2004
7:51.52 … Vineland, 2010
7:52.53 … Willingboro, 2002
7:52.60 … Cherokee, 2011
7:52.66 … Cherokee, 1998
7:52.75 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
7:52.7h … Willingboro, 1978
7:52.90 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
7:53.03 … Bishop Eustace, 1997
7:53.44 … Shawnee, 1991
7:53.99 … Highland, 1991
7:54.16 … Woodrow Wilson, 2011
7:54.5h … Paul VI, 1991
7:54.74 … Paul VI, 1990
7:54.78 … Highland, 2017
7:54.94 … Kingsway, 2014
7:55.0h … Edgewood, 1984
7:55.19 … Pleasantville, 2012
7:55.53 … Delsea, 2017
7:55.63 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
7:55.67 … Rancocas Valley, 2014
7:56.30 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
7:56.36 … Ocean City, 2017
7:56.5h … Vineland, 1966
