Kingsway and Willingboro locked up in a hot 800-meter relay over the weekend that resulted in the top two times in South Jersey so far this winter.
Kingsway ran 1:31.63 and Willingboro 1:31.91 to take the top two spots in the 4-by-200 at the Hispanic Games at the Armory.
Those times rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the state this year, behind Elizabeth, which ran 1:31.62 at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival late last month. In the trials, Willingboro ran 1:32.56 and Kingsway ran 1:33.19.
Junior Damon Dukes, sophomore Benny Liles Jr., junior Matthis Alexander and senior Evan Corcoran ran for Kingsway, and seniors Miles Allen, Jaylen Young and Geordan Collins and sophomore Jackson Murry ran for Willingboro.
On the MileSplit U.S. list, Kingsway is No. 18 and Boro No. 22, but it appears that there are some club teams listed ahead of them and they should be ineligible for any in-season high school lists.
Kingsway’s 1:31.63 is a school record, and it appears that the previous record was just 1:34.32 set at the Bubble last month. Before this year, the fastest Kingsway known time was a 1:35.15 in 2016 at the Group 4 state relays, also at the Bubble.
Willingboro’s school record is a 1:30.63 from 2007, and this 1:31.91 is the Chimeras’ fastest since 2012, when they ran a series of fast 4-by-8s, including a 1:30.58 at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic on the same Armory track (in December of 2011).
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 