Haddon Heights shattered the school record Thursday morning in the 4-by-8 and came within 3 ½ seconds of qualifying for the Championship of America race at the Penn Relays.
Jack Bolling’s 1:58.21 split led Heights to a 8:01.43, fastest by a South Jersey school this year and a school record by more than eight seconds.
Heights was the 6th-fastest New Jersey school in four 4-by-8 races at the 127th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field. Cumberland Valley High of Mechanicsburg, Pa., was the last qualifer for Friday’s championship race with a 7:57.84.
Colin Patterson led off with a 1:59.28 split, followed by Bolling, Matthew Iuvara’s 2:00.73 and Jonathan Hastings’ 2:03.22. All four are seniors.
Heights placed 4th in the second of four races and 18th of all 66 schools that qualified for Penn.
Highland ran 8:07.02 in the same race, led by Gavin Gallo’s 1:59.73 split. Cole Knoedler, Cortland Webb and Aziz Kane also raced for Highland.
Seton Hall Prep of West Orange [7:49.99], Chatham [7:51.26] and Toms River North [7:56.02] will represent New Jersey in the Championship of America race, scheduled for 5:50 p.m. Friday. Rumson-Fair Haven [7:58.46] and Summit [7:59.35] also ran sub-8.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 