The Washington Township boys won their first state relays title in 13 years Saturday, winning three events on the way to the state Group 4 relays championship at the Bubble.
Township finished with a 46-35 margin of victory over 2nd-place Westfield, with South Brunswick 3rd with 31 points. Rancocas Valley also hit double digits with 11 points for 6th place.
This is the third straight year a Gloucester County school has won the state Group 4 relays title. Kingsway won in 2020 and 2022. The meet wasn’t held in 2021.
Washington Township began the day by running the No. 1 time in New Jersey in the shuttle hurdles with Kanye Mills, Yashahya Brown, Nico DiGiacomo and Zachary Kotel. You can read about that performance here.
The Minutemen picked up their 2nd win in the 800-meter relay, where Logan Perez, John Santos, Miles Reed and John Williams ran a season-best 1:32.35, No. 3 in South Jersey so far this winter. Township also won the 4-by-4 with Mills, Reed, Brown and Jack Schuck running 3:31.42.
In the 4-by-8, Tellus McDonald, Hunter Bostwick, Colin Keane and Aaron Kolosowsky ran 8:23.59 for 2nd. Keane, Santos, Perez and Brown ran 3:44.96 for 5th place in the sprint medley.
In the field, junior Carson Thomas [5-10] and senior Francois Hanson [5-8] placed 3rd in the high jump relay,
Rancocas Valley won the high jump relay with junior David Godbolt [6-0] and senior Donovan Ross [5-10] combining to go 11-10.
Millville placed 2nd in the pole vault relay, senior Zachary Hendershott clearing 11-6 and senior Travis Gandy 11-0. Hillsborough’s Brian O’Sullivan cleared 16-6, just off his U.S. No. 4 16-6 ¼ from last week’s Skyland Conference Championships at Ocean Breeze.
Egg Harbor Township took 3rd in the 4-by-8 with Amir Halim, Chase Mazur, Ryan Taylor and Christopher Manzo posting an 8:23.59 and finishing a step behind Washington Township.
Lenape picked up a 4th place in the distance medley, with Benjamin Rose, Will Whalen, Colin Hermack and Sean Brennan running 10:49.59, No. 1 this indoor season in South Jersey.
Other South Jersey schools that have won Group 4 state relays titles are Edgewood [1985, 1986], Shawnee [1992], Willingboro [1982, 1983, 1990, 1996], Lenape [1997, 1998], Winslow [2003] and Vineland [2004].
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 