Haddonfield’s Allison Colflesh, Lindsay Colflesh, Ava Peifer and Olivia Stoner won the 1,600-meter relay to put an exclamation point on a tremendous weekend and clinch Haddonfield’s eighth state title and first since 2015.
Haddonfield’s 4-by-4 ran 4:00.38, edging Holmdel, which was second in 4:01.47. All are seniors except Peifer, who’s a freshman.
The win gave Haddonfield 70 points and a three-point margin of victory over Northern Valley of Demarest, which finished with 67 points in a two-team race. No other school finished with more than 43 points.
Haddonfield’s ace distance team had a monster weekend, scoring 62 of Haddonfield’s 70 points.
In the 800 Saturday afternoon, Allison Colflesh, Lindsay Colflesh and Stoner all ran 2:15-point, placing second, third and fourth behind Amanda Mircovich of River Dell, who ran 2:12.53.
In the 1,600, Sarah Naticchia and Allison Colflesh finished 1-2, both running sub-4:55, with Stoner PR’ing in seventh at 5:04.80.
And in the 3,200 Saturday morning, Naticchia placed second in 10:42.67 behind a meet-record 10:20.25 by Lakeland’s Angelina Perez.
Haddonfield’s 4-by-8 team of junior Jess Goode, sophomore Thea Spellmeyer, freshman Anne Earp and senior Payton Weiner placed second in 9:42.42 for eight more big points.
Including the 4-by-4 and two points from Lindsay Colflesh in the 400 (58.58) that’s 64 points in five events from Haddonfield’s distance team.
Haddonfield got six huge points in the intermediate hurdles from sophomore Grace Malcarney, who ran a PR 1:05.92 and placed third. Malcarney’s previous PR was a 1:06.64 and she was the No. 9 seed coming into states after a 1:08.77 at sectionals.
The Haddonfield girls won Group 1 state titles in 1998 and 1999 and have won Group 2 in 2001, 2004, 2012, 2014 and 2015. They lost a possible state championship last year but they sure made up for it this year!
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 