Atlantic County Tech and Oakcrest hooked up in a fast 400-meter relay Friday at the Atlantic County Championships at Buena, with both running under 43 seconds.
Atlantic County Tech ran 42.76 to edge Oakcrest, which was a very close 2nd in 42.89. Pleasantville and Mainland weren’t far behind in 43.15 and 43.21.
That’s four teams within less than half a second, all four finishing within four meters of each other.
Sophomore J’Mar Boyer, junior Mahkel Hall, senior Gavin Caracciolo and junior Yamdry Hernandez ran for Atlantic County Tech, seniors Jamaad Richardson Davis, Asad Hunt, Clayton Husta and Samuel Mensah for Oakcrest, senior Yusuf Golden, freshman Semaj Dozier, senior A’shod Hill and senior Brandon St. Martin for Pleasantville and junior Chis Keena, junior Jonathon Perez, freshman Dallas Rowell and freshman Zaki Marcus for Mainland Regional.
Atlantic County Tech and Oakcrest, located just two miles apart in Hamilton Township, are now No. 3 and 5 in South Jersey this year, and Pleasantville and Mainland are No. 7 and 8. So half of the eight-fastest schools in South Jersey are from Atlantic County.
ACT’s 42.76 is a school record, and Oakcrest’s 42.89 is their fastest since Stephen Adkisson, Reginald Morton, Darnell Charles and Fabian Santiago set the Alantic County record of 41.80 at the 2012 Woodbury Relays. The times are No. 12 and 15 in Atlantic County history.
All-Time Atlantic County 400-Meter Relay List
41.80 … Oakcrest, 2012
41.83 … Oakcrest, 2011
41.9h … Pleasantville, 1994
42.10 … Egg Harbor Township, 2023
42.12 … Pleasantville, 1999
42.38 … Pleasantville, 2008
42.43 … Atlantic City, 2018
42.57 … Egg Harbor Township, 2015
42.59 … St. Joe’s-Hammonton, 2015
42.64 … St. Joe’s-Hammonton, 2013
42.72 … Egg Harbor Township, 2019
42.76 … Atlantic County Tech, 2024
42.82 … Egg Harbor Township, 2017
42.83 … Egg Harbor Township, 2013
42.89 … Oakcrest, 2024
42.91 … Pleasantville, 2023
42.94 … Pleasantville, 2019
42.96 … St. Augustine, 2019
42.97 … Holy Spirit, 2013
Egg Harbor won the boys team title 96-85 over Hammonton, with Mainland [69], Oakcrest [62], Atlantic County Tech [62] and Cedar Creek [61] all within eight points.
Mainland won the girls meet 171-100 over Absegami, with Egg Harbort Township [71], Hammonton [60 ½] and Atlantic County Tech [52] also over 50 points.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 