Juniors Kahlil Ali, Premier Wynn and Bryce Tucker each ran on three winning relay teams to lift Pennsauken to its second state relays championship at the Bubble.
Although team scores aren’t listed anywhere in the results, I came up with Pennsauken 32, Timber Creek 30 in the Group 3 competition. Pennsauken also won the team title in 2018, when it tied for the Group 3 title with Timber Creek at 28 points each.
Ali, Wynn, Tucker and sophomore Elijah Jennings ran 1:32.46 to win the 800-meter relay and 3:40.98 to win the the 800-meter relay. Ali, Wynn, junior Joel Oquendo and Tucker ran 3:31.17.17 to win the 1,600-meter relay, clinching the team title by finishing two places ahead of Timber Creek.
Pennsauken now ranks No. 5 in the state in the 4-by-2, No. 6 in the sprint medley and No. 4 in the 4-by-4.
Going into the 4-by-4, Timber Creek led Pennsauken 24-22, so Pennsauken essentially had to finish two spots ahead to lock up the team title, and with an anchor like Tucker – the Meet of Champions intermediates champ last spring – the Indians pulled it off.
Pennsauken picked up two big points in the distance medley, with sophomore Ladanian McGrath, senior Nadir Paige, Tucker and Oquendo placing fifth in a school-record 11:02.69 and Oquendo anchoring in a personal-best 4:31.
Paige is the only senior who scored for Pennsauken, which won the state Group 3 title outdoors last year as well.
Timber Creek picked up 10 big points in the high jump relay, with senior Jaden Johnson clearing 6-2 and junior Zyheem Coleman Frazier 6-0.
Timber Creek placed 3rd in the shuttle hurdles in 33.80 with seniors Chance Pearson and senior Prince O’Dunlami and juniors Tytan Frazier and Darien Cade, 3rd in the 800-meter relay with Tytan Frazier, sophomore Nasir Ali, senior Austin Brown and junior Zyheem Coleman Frazier running 1:35.83 and 3rd in the 4-by-4 with Brown, Zyheem Coleman Frazier, Tytan Frazier and Ali running 3:38.21.
The Chargers also scored in the shot put relay, where Cade (43-6) and senior Austin Brown (32-0 1/2) placed 6th. Big props to the versatile Cade for scoring in the shuttle hurdles and shot put, two events that couldn’t be more different.
Ocean City placed 4th in the DMR in 11:00.45 with seniors Owen Ritti, Reece Wagner and Aodhan Daly and junior Nick Scarangelli.
Senior Freddi Alford, junior Michael Areiquin, junior Asa Murray and senior Omar Smith ran 1:37.70 in the 4-by-200 for Highland, taking 5th place, and junior Gavin Gallo, sophomore Aziz Muhammad-Kane, junior Anthony Imperatore and sophomore Cortland Webb ran 8:41.82 for 6th in the 4-by-8.
For Mainland, sophomore Arjun Appel, juniors Andrew Ramos and William Spollen and senior Kenneth Park ran 37.12 for 6th place in the shuttle hurdles.
Winslow Township placed second in the pole vault relay, senior Amari Dickerson clearing 10-0 and senior Marquir Debrue 9-0.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 