The Clayton girls ran one of the fastest Group 1 1,600 relays in state history Saturday at Woodbury.
The Clippers ran 3:55.39 to win the Group 1 race, the 12th-fastest 4-by-4 in Woodbury Relays history.
Arianna Sharpe, Ariel Sharpe, Amirah Sharpe and Kelsey Thomas broke the Group 1 meet record of 3:56.02 set in 2013 by Faleesha Dowe and Penns Grove.
Their time would have been fast enough to win Group 4 in 41 of the 48 races in meet history or Group 3 in 45 of 48 years.
It’s fastest by any New Jersey Group 1 school overall since Highland Park ran 3:52.72 at the 2017 Meet of Champions and fastest by a South Jersey Group 1 since Penns Grove ran 3:48.91 at the 2013 M-of-C. Penns Grove in 2013 is the only Group 1 school to run faster than Clayton in at least 25 years.
The Sharpe sisters are attending Clayton as part of New Jersey’s pilot bridge year program. Thomas is a junior.
Clayton’s time is fastest in New Jersey this year.
The official results list Arianna Sharpe leading off with a 56.78 split, Ariel running 62.71, Amirah 59.11 and Thomas anchoring in 56.79.
Clayton will race at the Penn Relays at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the South Jersey Small-School 1,600-Meter Relay.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 