Junior Peyton Shute, sophomore Marquis Taylor and senior Jabron Solomon – and a bunch of terrific relay legs – led Woodbury to its 12th state championship Saturday and first since 2011.
Woodbury clinched the team title before the 1,600-meter relay began, then won it anyway, finishing with a 71-60 margin of victory over Walkill Valley, with South Jersey Group 1 champ Glassboro 3rd with 58 points.
Shute – going for a rare one-day distance quad win – dropped out of the 1,600 after one lap as a precautionary measure because of some hamstring soreness, but he told Jim Lambert of MileSplit he should be fine for the 3,200 at the Meet of Champions Wednesday.
Shute won the 800 in 1:55.90 and the 3,200 in 9:25.91 and split 1:59.04 on the 4-by-8, which won in 8:13.09.
Taylor ran a huge PR 22.07 for 2nd in the 200 and 50.67 for 4th in the 400 and also led off the winning 4-by-1, which ran 42.56. His previous 200 PR was 22.56.
And Solomon placed 2nd in the long jump with a 22-0 ¼ and anchored the 4-by-1.
Woodbury’s other individual scorer was junior Jaylen Bailey, who placed 6th in the high jump, clearing 6-2. That’s an outdoor PR, although he did clear 6-2 indoors at Ocean Breeze back in February.
But the key to everything for the Thundering Herd was 30 out of 30 points in the three relays. Woodbury became the first South Jersey school since the 4-by-1 was added to the state series in 2013 to win all three relays at a state championship meet.
Woodbury set a school record with the 42.56, with junior Dante Vicharelli and senior Dorian Dunbar joining Taylor and Solomon.
Taylor, seniors Quincy Harvey and Jayden Johnson and Taylor made up the 4-by-4, with Taylor anchoring in 50.17.
And senior Michael Torelli, Floyd and Johnson set up Shute’s anchor on the 4-by-8.
Woodbury won its first eight state titles between 1969 and 1978. The Herd won in 1969, then won seven straight from 1972 through 1978, tied for 2nd-longest streak in state history (behind Glen Ridge’s nine straight from 1959 through 1967 and tied with Camden’s seven straight from 1995 through 2001).
Woodbury’s 12 total state titles are 5th-most in state history, behind Christian Brothers (27), Montclair (21), Glen Ridge (15) and Willingboro (14).
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 