Remarkable sophomore Nester Wea pulled off a rare state championship quad win at the state Group 2 meet Saturday at Delsea, leading the Willingboro girls to their first state title in more than two decades.
Wea became the first girl in the peerless history of Willingboro track to win three individual events or four total events at a state championship.
Wea ran PRs of 11.96 to win the 100, 24.63 to win the 200 and 56.05 to win the 400 and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team, which ran 48.36.
Willingboro, which lost to Haddonfield by 52 points at sectionals last weekend, outscored Haddonfield 72-61 to win its first state championship since the 2002 team – led by Okechi Ogbuokiri, Halimah Bashir and Kim Allen – edged Red Bank 58-57 to win the state Group 3 title at Egg Harbor.
Wea is the first sophomore from South Jersey to win three individual events at a state meet in 24 years, since Olympian Erin Donohue of Haddonfield won four in 1999 – the 800 [2:16.27], 1,600 [5:00.04], 3,200 [10:54.11] and javelin [132-0].
Wea’s improvement this spring has been unprecedented. She didn’t even place at sectionals in any of her events this indoor season and five weeks ago had PRs of 26.39 in the 200 and 62.26 in the 400 and had never run a 100.
Before sectionals last weekend, she hadn’t run faster than 12.34, 24.99 or 58.83.
Wea is the first South Jersey girl to win a state Group quad – or an individual triple – since Deptford’s Kiera Lester did it at South Plainfield as a junior, winning the 100 [12.41, 12.27 in trials], 200 [24.32] and 400 [55.72] and anchoring the 4-by-1 [48.14].
It had been 13 years since a Willingboro girl even doubled at states. The last to do it was Vanessa Arientyl in the 100 highs [14.38] and intermediates [1:02.54]
But she’s now one of the greatest athletes in Willingboro’s proud history and has two years remaining to add to her burgeoning legacy.
But Wea had plenty of help in Saturday’s condensed one-day meet.
Sophomore Chanel Swain threw 39-1 ½ to become Willingboro’s first state shot put champion in 40 years – since Cheryl Muse won Group 4 with a 39-5 ½ at Rutgers in Piscataway in 1982. Swain also placed 5th in the discus with a 103-3.
And freshman Kaila Speight ran PRs of 24.83 for 2nd place in the 200 and 12.30 for 5th in the 100 to contribute 10 points and also led off the winning 4-by-1 and ran the 3rd leg on the winning 4-by-4, which ran 3:56.18.
Wea, Swain and Speight combined for 52 of Willingboro’s 72 points, and the 20 others came on the two relay wins.
Freshmen Aaliyah Robinson and Jaden Murry joined Speight and Wea on the 4-by-1, and freshman Sunny Oyibo, Robinson and freshman Jaden Murry joined Speight on the 4-by-4.
Willingboro won Group 4 in 1980 and 1981 with legendary Michelle Glover and Carol Lewis, then won Group 3 in 1999 and 2002.
With five total championships, Willingboro now trails only Winslow [8], Haddonfield [8] and Bridgeton [6] for most outdoor state team championships among South Jersey schools. Bishop Eustace, Camden, Paul VI, Williamstown and Woodbury each have four.
This is Willingboro’s first year back in Group 2 after several years in Group 1. Boro is one of the smallest Group 2 schools in the state.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 