From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

The Willingboro boys ran their fastest 4-by-200 in 12 years Saturday at the Hispanic Games at the Armory.

The Chimeras won the 800-meter relay final in 1:30.59, No. 4 in the state this year and No. 4 in Burlington County history.

Unfortunately, the Armory results don’t list names. A possible lineup would include senior Rae-Juan Gayle, senior Jackson Murry – also a 14-foot pole vaulter – junior Theo Pryrce and senior hurdler Eric Foster. But if anybody reading this knows the Chimeras’ actual lineup please let us know in the comments section.

Thanks to a few people who gave us the lineup! It was indeed Gayle to Murry to Foster to Pryce, and as Eric let us know it was the first time that lineup had raced together!

Willingboro missed its school record by 1-100th of a second but obviously will have several more chances to get that. The 2012 team ran 1:30.58 at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic, also at the Armory. Names from that race are also unavailable because it was at the Armory, but the lineup likely included hurdler Isaac Williams and sprinter Darius Holmes.

Livingston High of Essex County led the qualifiers with a 1:29.76 and North Rockland of Thiells, N.Y., ran 1:31.01. But North Rockland didn’t race in the final, and Livingston finished 3rd in 1:30.90. Willingboro edged St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City in the final. St. Peter’s ran 1:30.72.

Willingboro’s time is fastest by a Burlington County school indoors in seven years, since Rancocas Valley won Easterns with a 1:29.29 at the Armory in 2017. Lenape set the county – and then-state – record with its 1:28.46 at 2000 Easterns.