Senior Dahlia Beasley, senior Kayla D’Ottaviano and freshman Layla Beasley each picked up three medals Saturday, and the Washington Township girls piled up a whopping 56 points to win the Group 4 competition at the 50th annual Woodbury Relays.
That’s the most points anybody has scored in Group 4 since Columbia made the trip from Maplewood down to Woodbury in 2013 with Olivia Baker and Company and scored 64 points.
Township is so deep they won three races and used 12 girls to do it.
Washington Township won the 400-meter relay, 3,200-meter relay and shuttle hurdles and won its 4th Woodbury Relays title. The Minutemaids also won Group 4 in 1999, 2001 and last year.
Township doubled up on 2nd-place Egg Harbor Township, 56-28. Egg Harbor held off Eastern [26], Williamstown [24] and Kingsway [24] in a wild four-way battle for 2nd place.
Dahlia Beasley ran on the winning 400-meter relay, the 2nd-place 800-meter relay and the 4th-place 1,600-meter relay, D’Ottaviano was on the winning 400-meter relay, 2nd-place 800-meter relay and 2nd-place sprint medley, and Layla Beasley ran on the 2nd-place sprint medley, 3rd-place distance medley and 4th-place 1,600-meter relay.
The shuttle hurdles team of junior Meciah Howell, senior Zarria Oliphant, junior Zaida Taylor-Burch and junior Dakota Jones won with a 1:05.49. The 4-by-8 ran 10:13.14 with junior Kaylee Russen, junior Emma-Rose Phillips, sophomore Hannah Saleh and junior Rachael Wilson, and the 4-by-1 ran 49.41 with D’Ottaviano, Dahlia Beasley, senior Alexandria Hetzel and senior Dylan Giloley.
Giloley, D’Ottaviano, Hetzel and Dahlia Beasley ran 1:42.97 for 2nd in the 4-by-200 and sophomore Hailey Kennedy, D’Ottaviano, senior Kaelyn Rodriquez and Layla Beasley ran 4:27.62 for 2nd in the sprint med. The 4-by-2 time is No. 5 in the state this year.
The DMR lineup was Russen, Layla Beasley, Saleh and sophomore Julia Blanchard, who ran 13:24.33, and Dahlia Beasley, Layla Beasley, Jones and Howell ran 4:15.41 for 4th in the 1,600-meter relay.
Eastern won the sprint medley in 4:08.70, fastest time in New Jersey this year and No. 12 in the country according to the MileSplit national data base.
Junior Samantha Osei-Kyei led off with a 58.17 split, senior Eva Sprewell and senior Lomaria Tengbeh ran the 200s and sophomore Natalie Dumas brought the Vikings home with a 2:17.21 anchor leg.
Eastern’s time is No. 8 in Camden County history and fastest since Sterling ran 4:02.60 at 2017 Greensboro Nationals. (In Group 3, Winslow ran 4:09.10, which is No. 9 on the all-time Camden County list.)
4:02.60 … Sterling, 2017
4:02.89 … Woodrow Wilson, 2002
4:03.04 … Camden, 1995
4:04.86 … Woodrow Wilson, 2009
4:05.2h … Winslow Twp., 2003
4:08.23 … Timber Creek, 2011
4:08.64 … Woodrow Wilson, 2003
4:08.70 … Eastern, 2024
4:09.10 … Winslow Twp., 2024
4:09.23 … Pennsauken, 2014
Kingsway won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:10.55 with junior Jonelle Lewis, junior eCamryn Stanard, junior Naveya Hall and freshman Mariyah Cumberlander.
Pennsauken’s 800-meter relay team of sophomore Sanaya Dupree, sophomore Sianni Wynn, junior Ameenah Rodriguez and Olivia Dupree ran 1:42.88, No. 4 in New Jersey this year.
Egg Harbor Township won the distance medley in 13:05.58 with senior Taylor Rooney, senior Amari Pinkett, sophomore Devyn Per and senior Michaela Schlemo.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 