Junior Marquis Taylor ran on three winning relay teams and added a 4th-place in a fourth event to lead Woodbury to its 11th team title in its own relay meet.
Senior Jayden Johnson, seniort Peyton Shute, sophomore Shiwoe Varpilah, senior Dante Viccharelli and senior Dorian Dunbar each ran on two 1st-place relay teams.
The host Thundering Herd also won Group 1 at the Woodbury Relays in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1997, 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2023.
Woodbury scored 60 of a possible 70 points and needed them to hold off an outstanding Glassboro team that finished 2nd with 50 points.
Woodbury won the 400-meter relay in 43.57, the sprint medley in 3:34.53, the distance medley in 10:51.07 and the 1,600-meter relay in 3:29.34.
In the sprint medley, Woodbury ran a New Jersey No. 4 3:34.53, fastest by a South Jersey Group 1 school in 45 years, since the 1979 Woodbury team ran 3:31.5 (hand timed and converted from yards). Taylor led off with a 50.81, Viccharelli, Dunbar ran the 200s and Shute anchored with a 1:57.86 leg.
Shute anchored the winning DMR with a 4:17.15 leg after senior Charlie Floyd ran the 1,200, Johnson the 400 and sophomore Elijah Young the 800.
Woodbury’s 4-by-1 team included Varpilah, Viccharelli, Dunbar and Taylor, and the winning 4-by-4 was Johnson, Varpilah, sophomore Jasir Brown and Taylor, who anchored in 49.86.
Senior Jaylen Bailey, Brown, junior Fabian Gonzalez and junior Jasuan Solomon ran 1:07.73 for 2nd in the shuttle hurdles, and Johnson, Floyd, Young and Shute placed 2nd in the 4-by-8, with Shute splitting 1:57.21.
Woodbury also scored in a very fast 800-meter relay, with Varpilah, Viccharelli, Jeremiah Graham and Taylor running 1:31.86. The race produced the five-fastest Group 1 4-by-2 times in New Jersey this year (and seven of the eight-fastest).
Glassboro’s senior Brysheen Ferguson, freshman Xavier Sabbi, sophomore Amari Sabbi and senior Cartrell Moore ran the 2nd-fastest 4-by-200 ever by a South Jersey Group 1 school and the No. 5 time in New Jersey this year, winning in 1:30.04.
Glassboro [1:30.04], Clayton [1:30.48], Salem [1:31.59], Woodbury [1:31.86], Audubon [1:32.75], Haddon Township [1:33.30] and Palmyra [1:33.86] all ran sub-1:34, which is unheard of for a Group 1 race. The race produced the No. 2, No. 4, No. 10 and No. 13 times in South Jersey this year.
Senior Desmond Vassell, senior Joseph Hadrick, sophomore Ison Keith and junior Dayshaun Day gave Glassboro a win in the shuttle hurdles in 1:06.27.
In the 3,200-meter relay, junior Cole Lucas’s 2:01.36 anchor gave Woodstown a win. Sophomores Jacob Marino, Bryce Ayars and Joshua Crawford handled the first three legs for the Wolverines, who ran 8:27.55.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 