From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

What a way to open sectionals!

The Timber Creek girls – freshman Samiyah Puckett, sophomore Ryan Jennings and juniors Nyla Jones and Naylah Jones – ran the 9th-fastest 400-meter relay in South Jersey history Friday afternoon at the South Jersey Group 3 sectionals.

Timber Creek ran 47.32 in the first final of the day at Delsea.

Timber Creek broke the South Jersey Group 3 sectional meet record of 47.78 set by Delsea in 2017 and the overall South Jersey sectional mark of 47.60 set by Egg Harbor in 2018.

The NJSIAA meet program – which is always full of mistakes – lists the overall sectional record as 47.14 by Piscataway in 2014, but Piscataway actually won the 2014 North 2 Group 4 relay at Ridge in 47.74, so it looks like Timber Creek does now hold the fastest sectional time ever run.

Timber Creek was already No. 2 in New Jersey with its 47.53 at Fast Times at Cherokee. Union Catholic ran 47.29 at the Penn Relays.

Here’s a look at every South Jersey school that’s run sub-48:

46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.06 … Winslow Twp., 2014
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.19 … Winslow Twp., 2018
47.25 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
47.27 … Delsea, 2017
47.32 … Timber Creek, 2023
47.36 … Eastern, 2019
47.40 … Winslow Twp., 2016
47.3h … Willingboro, 1981
47.45 … Willingboro, 1994
47.49 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
47.53 … Millville, 2019
47.53 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
47.54 … Winslow Twp., 2003
47.54 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
47.4h … Camden,, 1978
47.4y … Camden, 1979
47.75 … Eastern, 2002
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2005
47.76 … Winslow Twp., 2012
47.79 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2021
47.82 … Moorestown, 2000
47.85 … Deptford, 2015
47.87 … Winslow Twp., 2011
47.94 … Camden, 2000
47.98 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2019

And here’s a look at the state list:

45.50 … Montclair, 1998
45.89 … Columbia, 2010
46.08 … Trenton, 1984
46.42 … Franklin Twp., 2003
46.84 … Piscataway, 2014
46.87 … Eastern, 2003
46.89 … Franklin Twp., 2001
46.90 … Paramus Catholic, 2010
46.96 … Columbia, 2009
46.98 … Winslow Twp., 2017
47.02 … Columbia, 2005
47.05 … Union Catholic, 2019
47.05 … Union Catholic, 2022
47.06 … Winslow Twp., 2014
47.07 … Summit, 2017
47.09 … Shabazz, 1986
47.12 … Columbia, 2012
46.9h … Willingboro, 1980
47.17 … Paramus Catholic, 2018
47.18 … Winslow Twp., 2013
47.19 … Winslow Twp., 2018
47.21 … Union, 2021
47.22 … Trenton, 2002
47.22 … Columbia, 2014
47.25 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
47.27 … Trenton, 1983
47.27 … Delsea, 2017
47.29 … Union Catholic, 2023
47.32 … Timber Creek, 2023