Rutgers teammates Kyle Rakitis of Kingsway and Zeb Hinker of Lower Cape May Regional went 1-2 to lead the Scarlet Knights to the team title Friday at the Delaware Invitational.
Rakitis, in his second race for Rutgers, ran 26:00.7 and Hinker 26:00.8 over 8,000 meters at White Creek State Park in Newcastle County, and Rutgers outscored 2nd-place Delaware State 17-59.
Rakitis, a three-time Meet of Champions winner in the 1,600 at Kingsway, is a transfer from Virginia but never raced the Cavaliers. He ran 4:08.58 at the 2021 outdoor Meet of Champions, No. 2 in South Jersey history.
Rancocas Valley graduate Ryan Smith, a Rutgers freshman, placed 26th in 28:55.1.
In the women’s race, Rutgers freshman Lillie Widmer of Delsea finished 24th in 25:18.6 over 6,000 meters
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 