From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Senior Jaia James and juniors Janelle Marshall and Briyel Brown all ran on four teams that placed in the top three, and the Winslow girls rolled to their seventh state relays title since 2011.

Winslow outscored Colts Neck and Roxbury, who tied for second, 38-26 to win the state Group 3 title at the Bubble in Toms River.

The meet wasn’t held last year, but Winslow has now won four straight since 2018. The Eagles also won in 2011, 2013 and 2015, so they’ve won seven of the last 10 meets that were contested.

The only South Jersey girls programs in any group with more titles are Willingboro (11) and Haddonfield (8). 

Winslow only won one event, and that was the 4-by-200, where Jaia James, Marshall, Brown and junior Kamryn Holness ran 1:45.62.

But they placed 2nd in the sprint medley and 1,600-meter relay and 3rd in the shuttle hurdles and 3,200-meter relay. 

Winslow got started with Jaia James, Marshall, Holness and senior Jordan James running 35.07 in the shuttles, finishing less than half a second behind Middletown North (34.64).

The Eagles placed second in the sprint medley in 4:25.63, finishing just behind Summit, which ran 4:24.83. Jaia James, senior Victoria Campbell, Brown and Marshall ran for Winslow.

Winslow also placed second in the 1,600-meter relay, with Holness, Marshall, Brown and Jaia James running 4:08.11. Scotch Plains-Fanwood won the race in 4:01.45.

Winslow placed 3rd in the 4-by-800, with junior Alana Henry, senior Charly Dutton, senior Catherine Enwereji and freshman Ava Milner running 10:14.07.

Mainland placed second in the shuttles in 34.96 with seniors Emma Smith, Isabelle VandenBerg and Eva Morrison and junior Rayna Molina.

Timber Creek finished in a three-way tie for second in the high jump relay, with sophomore Guerlande Pierre clearing 4-10 and freshman Ashley Haynes 4-6.

Clearview placed 5th in the DMR in 13:15.98, and Northern Burlington was just behind in 6th in 13:16.48.

For Clearview, junior Abigail Kotran, sophomores Margaret Wisniewski and Allison Roes and junior Abby Waddington ran. Freshman Liliah Gordon, junior Zoe Larte, senior Keira Mansure and junior Paige Their ran for NBC.

Burlington Township and Highland both scored in the shot put relay. Seniors Isabella Ibe (31-0) and Chrystanna Decker (28-1) placed 4th for Township, and junior Jordan Kimbrough (27-10) and sophomore Rebecca Brown (27-7 1/2) took 5th for Highland.