Woodbury junior Peyton Shute, running unpressed, posted the 4th-fastest 3,200 in Gloucester County history Thursday night at the Gloucester County Championships at Deptford.
Shute ran 9:11.11, fastest ever by a Gloucester County junior and 4th-fastest in New Jersey this year. He won by 150 meters over Williamstown’s Nicholas Krol, who was 2nd in 9:38.71.
Shute destroyed the meet record of 9:28.83 set in 2011 at Delsea by Washington Township’s Anthony Dentino.
This winter, Shute ran a PR 9:14.51 at indoor Group 1 states at the Bubble. His outdoor PR was 9:15.76 from last spring at Cherokee’s Night of Racing.
His time is fastest by any South Jersey Group 1 runner since Luke Petela of Haddon Township ran 8:58.32 at the 2015 Meet of Champions at South Plainfield.
The only Gloucester County 3,200 runners to go faster than Shute are former Gateway stars of the 1970s Mike Mantini [9:01.9h] and Greg Stremmel [9:06.2] with converted two-mile times and Delsea’s Andrew Littlehales, who ran 9:10.39 last year at Group 3 sectionals at Delsea.
The previous county junior class record was 9:14.93 set by Kingsway’s Kyle Rakitis at Cherokee’s Night of 3200s in April of 2021.
Here’s a look at the fastest 3200s and converted two miles in Gloucester County history:
9:01.9y … Mike Mantini [Gateway], 1979
9:06.2y … Greg Stremmel [Gateway], 1974
9:10.39 … Andrew Littlehales [Delsea], 2022
9:11.11 … Peyton Shute [Woodbury], 2023
9:11.88 … Paul Szulewski [Williamstown], 2011
9:14.31 … Anthony Dentino [Washington Twp.], 2011
9:14.93 … Kyle Rakitis [Kingsway], 2021
9:16.39 … Stone Caraccio [Kingsway], 2019
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 