The Clayton girls ran the 9th-fastest 4-by-4 in South Jersey history Thursday and qualified for the Penn Relays Championship of America.
Ariel Sharpe, Arianna Sharpe, Kelsey Thomas and Amirah Sharpe ran 3:47.39 to win the South Jersey Small-School 1,600-Meter Relay by 150 meters, break the meet record by 7 ½ seconds, post the 3rd-fastest time among more than 400 U.S. teams.
Clayton will race in the Championship of America at 5:05 p.m. on Friday.
Clayton destroyed the meet record of 3:54.82 set in 2010 by Willingboro’s Asia Goode, Patrice Rowe, Tiye Saran Mutazz and Vanessa Arientyl. The Clippers nearly ran under the Large-School meet record of 3:46.94 set in 1995 by Camden’s Tynisha Revels, Medina Salaam, Alishia Lawson and Aisha Lawson.
The time is fastest in state history by a Group 1 school, breaking the mark of 3:48.91 set by Penns Grove at the 2013 Meet of Champions.
Clayton also broke the Gloucester County record of 3:48.7, set in 1999 by Washington Township.
Ariel Sharpe led off with a 58.06 split, followed by Arianna Sharpe’s 53.55. Thomas split 61.43 and Amirah Sharpe anchored with a 54.36. The Sharpes are Bridge Program seniors. Thomas is a junior.
Camden placed second in 4:11.64.
The only schools to run faster than Clayton were Hydel of St. Catherine, Jamaica [3:39.34], Holmwood Tech of Christiana, Jamaica [3:41.95], Bullis School of Potomac, Md. [3:43.59], Paul Robeson of Brooklyn [3:44.36] and Edwin Allen of Clarendon, Jamaica [3:45.29].
Clayton’s time is No. 20 in state history, but only 10 schools have run faster: Union Catholic (5 times), Columbia (4 times), Willingboro (3 times) and Montclair, Plainfield, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Camden, Winslow Township, Trenton and Eastern (once each)
Here’s the all-time South Jersey sub-3:50 list:
3:43.94 … Willingboro, 2001
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
3:46.67 … Winslow Twp., 2018
3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
3:47.30 … Willingboro, 2003
3:47.39 … Clayton, 2022
3:47.41 … Winslow Twp., 2017
3:47.4h … Camden, 1978
3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
3:48.00 … Wilson, 2001
3:48.17 … Wilson, 2006
3:48.6y … Camden,, 1978
3:48.78 … Lenape, 2014
3:48.7h … Washington Twp., 1999
3:48.87 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
3:48.91 … Penns Grove, 2013
3:49.25 … Lenape, 2015
3:49.2y … Camden, 1979
3:49.30 … Winslow Twp., 2004
3:49.43 … Willingboro, 1997
3:49.53 … Willingboro, 1998
3:49.63 … Winslow Twp., 2016
3:49.93 … Willingboro, 2009
And the all-time New Jersey sub-3:48 list:
3:35.90 … Union Catholic, 2015
3:38.92 … Union Catholic, 2017
3:40.36 … Columbia, 2013
3:41.03 … Montclair, 1998
3:41.19 … Columbia, 2014
3:42.54 … Columbia, 2010
3:42.59 … Union Catholic, 2016
3;42.97 … Union Catholic, 2019
3:43.3h … Plainfield, 1981
3:44.64 … Willingboro, 2002
3:44.9h … Columbia, 1980
3:45.12 … Trenton, 2001
3:45.41 … Camden, 1995
3:45.67 … Willingboro, 1999
3:46.13 … Willingboro, 2000
3:46.67 … Winslow, 2018
3:46.73 … Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 2021
3:47.08 … Union Catholic, 2018
3:47.16 … Eastern, 2003
3:47.39 … Clayton, 2022
3:47.41 … Willingboro, 2001
3:47.41 … Winslow Twp., 2017
3:47.55 … Camden, 2006
3:47.7h … Columbia, 1982
3:47.7h … Trenton, 1983
3:47.94 … Columbia, 2009
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 
Congrats to Clayton awesome performance….the Camden Large school record of 3:46.94 is the longest standing class record on the books, it was a South Jersey record at the time one of 3 South Jersey records broken in 5 weeks in 1995 (4×2 and sprint medley) surely results that should get them in the SJTCA Hall of Fame
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technically it is now a community college record since 3 of the 4 girls graduated last year. please put an asterisk by the record
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They did not graduate. They are seniors at Clayton.
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